An uninsured driver has had his BMW seized by police after a stop exposed false details. 

The driver was stopped in Crown Street in Ipswich, on Monday, after being caught not wearing a seatbelt.

Officers carried out checks and found the driver was not listed on the insurance policy.

He produced a certificate on his phone, but after checks with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau police helpline it showed the certificate was for someone else, with a temporary policy that expired in July.

A police spokesman said the driver had edited the certificate to show his name and include the dates he was driving on.

The driver had also taken out a new temporary policy at the roadside while officers conducted checks.

The new certificate used incorrect details to get a cheaper premium.

The BMW was seized for being driven without insurance and the driver was given a Traffic Offence Report for driving without insurance and driving without a seatbelt.

The stop was part of operation drive insured, a week-long campaign organised by the MIB who protect people from uninsured and hit-and-run drivers.

PC Will Hudson, of the joint Norfolk and Suffolk roads and armed policing team, said: “This is a very timely example of the lengths some people are prepared to go to in order to drive on our roads without insurance.

“Driving without insurance is not a trivial matter – just ask someone who has had their car damaged, written-off, or worse they have been injured in a collision with an uninsured driver. It can leave you financially worse off, or unable to receive any compensation, which is where the MIB come in to assist.

“The MIB were a great help to us on this occasion in conducting the document checks and were crucial to ensuring that this driver could no longer put others at risk.”