"The police had no right to destroy a high valuable asset"
Fugitive fraudster Zahid Khan is suing West Midlands Police for crushing his £200,000 Ferrari.
The conman was found guilty of a number plate scam in 2018, however, he fled to Dubai to avoid a 10-year jail sentence.
He has now lodged an extraordinary claim against the police.
Khan hit the headlines when he parked the Ferrari on the pavement by the steps of Birmingham Crown Court in April 2017.
Police later seized the vehicle.
In May 2017, Khan appeared in court in a bid to prove that he had purchased the vehicle legally. However, he was told it had already been destroyed.
Police explained that the Ferrari was crushed because it had no valid insurance and was a Category B vehicle, which are officially classed as unroadworthy, meaning the shell has to be destroyed.
Khan was later convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud, perverting the course of justice and concealing and converting criminal property in relation to the number plate scam, where he registered existing plates with the DVLA under his own name and sold them on.
Khan fled to Dubai in the summer of 2018 and was subsequently jailed in his absence.
Since fleeing to Dubai, he has been living a Playboy lifestyle.
He has also received a confiscation order totalling £116,319 under the Proceeds of Crime Act and must serve a further 14 months in prison if he does not comply.
It has now been revealed that Khan is planning to sue the police over the crushing of his Ferrari.
He told the Daily Mail: “I have now started proceedings against West Midlands Police for their unlawful conduct in relation to my Ferrari 458 spider worth 200k.
“The police had no right to destroy a high valuable asset, to cover up their lies they made numerous different reasons to why they destroyed it but nothing can justify the fact it was a lot of wasted money.
“The police could have sold the car via a police auction or even sold the car in parts, the car was worth more in parts.
“To give an example a used engine for a Ferrari costs more than £30,000, so you can just imagine what all the parts would have come to if sold.
‘It’s so upsetting that we live in a country where every road we drive on has potholes and we also have police complaining there is not enough money so they are cutting down on officers
“This Ferrari could have been sold to fund the police or even pay towards getting the potholes fixed, there was so much the police could have done with the money instead they go a crush my Ferrari.
“Why could they not give this money to a charity or even the NHS? To do something good?
“The police acted in bad faith and were totally out of order by doing what they did, their actions were deliberate.”
“I am so glad after four long years since the car was unlawfully destroyed a case has been filed in the civil courts for damages and disclosure, the police are now being sued for their unlawful actions.”
A Notice of Issue was sent on February 4, 2021, and the case is now with London County Court.
A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said:
“Zahid Khan has previously lodged a letter of claim directly with the force which has already been denied.
“We have now received notification he has issued proceedings before the court, we will respond to the claim via the court process in due course.”
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