A DRIVER stopped on the M6 in north Cumbria because police believed he was uninsured had no credible explanation for having £13,000 hidden under a back seat, a court heard.

At Carlisle’s Rickergate court, a police financial investigator outlined how officers stopped a grey BMW in the early afternoon of August 31 as the driver drove southwards on the M6 near Southwaite Services, carrying two male passengers.

The officers believed the driver was not insured.

When he was asked to speak to the officers about this, he was taken to the police vehicle, and he produced a document which he said proved he had arranged a one-day insurance policy to cover him for driving the car.

“He appeared a bit nervous,” said the investigator.

“When he was asked to say where he was going, he said he was going to Manchester to buy a car. The two passengers in the car gave the police officers a different account of why they were in the car and they too seemed nervous."

Despite the occupants of the car saying there was nothing in the BMW that should not have been there, when police searched it they found bundles of cash laid flat beneath one of the back seats in such a way that they were totally concealed.

The total amount found was £13,000.

“The two men [the passengers] said it wasn’t’ theirs,” said the prosecutor. The driver, however, said the money was his and that he had been given it as a loan by his uncle, who lives in London.

He was given the loan so that he could buy the car, he said.

The police investigator said: “The uncle confirmed that he hadn’t given him the money but he said he had loaned him money previously, but he definitely hadn’t loaned him the £13,000.”

The officer added: “It’s my strong belief that this money has come from unlawful conduct and that it is criminal property.

"He [the driver] has lied to the police. He continued his journey and didn’t go to Manchester; he went to the Merseyside area.”

One of the passengers gave a name for which there was no official trace while the second passenger appears to be in the country illegally and was currently going through the process of seeking asylum.

There was also a suggestion of a connection between the driver, who lives in Glasgow, and cannabis cultivation in Scotland.

After hearing the police application, magistrates approved it, saying there were reasonable grounds for the police investigation of the cash's origins to continue.

They ruled that Cumbria Police can continue holding the cash for three months. The defendant did not formally oppose the application and was not in the courtroom when magistrates considered their decision.

If the money is found to have a legitimate source, it will be returned to the driver in whose car it was found.