Terrified driver is kidnapped by his own runaway electric car – and has to dial 999 and crash into a police van before he can stop
A terrified electric car driver has revealed he was kidnapped by his runaway £30,000 MG ZS EV after the vehicle suffered a ‘catastrophic failure’ in a bizarre case that saw him dodge red lights and roundabouts before calling the police to ram it off the road.
53-year-old Brian Morrison claims he was heading home from work at around 10pm on Sunday when his new electric car started traveling at 30mph.
Unable to use the brakes, the Glaswegian called the police, who stopped the vehicle by slowly crashing it into their van.
Mr. Morrison said: ‘I realized something was wrong as I approached a roundabout and tried to slow down, but I couldn’t. Then I heard a loud grinding sound that sounded like brake pads. Since it was such a new car, I knew it couldn’t be a problem with them.
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Brian Morrison, 53, says he was driving home from work on Sunday when his new MG ZS EV suffered a ‘catastrophic failure’ and started driving itself at 30mph
Police stop Mr Morrison’s car after the terrifying incident in Glasgow. A police car can be seen at the back and another van at the front
‘I managed to get around the roundabout at about 50km per hour, and then had a long road ahead of me, so I assumed the roundabout would stop without me accelerating, but it didn’t.
‘I have mobility problems so I couldn’t even jump out – I was completely stuck in the car going 50km/h.
“It may not sound that fast, but when you have no control over the speed and you’re completely stuck, it’s terrifying.”
Mr Morrison initially called his wife in a panic to ask her to come outside and warn the cars ahead that he could not stop.
After realizing he would soon have to navigate traffic lights and several roundabouts – and worrying about collisions with pedestrians and cafe patrons – he called 999.
“The car just ran away on its own, I couldn’t do anything,” he said.
‘When I called 999 they sent the police to help and got some engineers on the phone to sort out the problem, asking if it was a self-driving car.
Mr Morrison, from Glasgow, said he was “lucky” the incident had occurred late in the evening, just after 10pm. Pictured here is Mr Morrison’s car (left) being stopped by police
Describing how the incident started, the driver said: ‘I realized something was wrong as I approached a roundabout and wanted to slow down but I couldn’t’
‘It was the first time the call handlers had encountered it and they had no idea what to do.
“So eventually three police vehicles arrived, driving in front of and behind me.
‘I was concentrating 100% on steering, so when a police van pulled up next to me and asked if I was Brian and if I was okay, I just shouted, ‘No, I’m not, I can’t stop.’ ‘
Police initially told Mr Morrison to throw his electronic key through the window of their van before driving away, but this failed to disable the engine.
They told him to try different ways to turn off the car, but they failed.
They eventually told Mr Morrison to deliberately drive into the back of their van before entering a more built-up area.
Mr Morrison said: ‘After I tried to switch the car off my whole dashboard lit up with glitches, and then it all disappeared after a second and all I had was a big red car symbol saying ‘drive safely, stop driving immediately drive’ or something like that. .
‘Eventually I came to a roundabout, which slowed the car down to about 15mph, and the police van was waiting for me on the other side.
Mr Morrison with the MG ZS EV, which costs £30,000
“I got into the back of the van as it was moving before they hit the brakes to stop me.
‘Then a police officer jumped into my car and did something that made the car appear to be standing still.
‘However, when I got out they tried to move their van and the car kept moving – so they had to sit there with the van for a while until the RAC arrived.
‘I still have no idea what happened, but when the RAC got to me about three hours later he plugged the car in to do a diagnostic check and there were pages of errors.
“He said he had never seen anything like it and decided he wasn’t willing to turn the engine on to see what was wrong.”
Mr Morrison’s assurances say they are now investigating the incident. He is seen behind the wheel of the car
Mr Morrison’s assurances say they are now investigating the incident.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ‘At around 10.35pm on Sunday 1 October we received a report of a driver who was unable to stop his electric car on the A803 towards Kirkintilloch.
‘The car was traveling at low speed and officers made a controlled stop with the aid of a police vehicle. There was no damage to either vehicle. The driver ensured the vehicle was recovered.”
MG Cars Europe was contacted for comment.