Even if a motorist behaves...

Even if a motorist behaves perfectly legally and responsibly on the road, but is found to have purchased the vehicle through ill-gotten gains - drug dealing, people trafficking, that sort of thing - by all means let the authorities take away the wheels. Come to that, the yacht, the house in Marbella and the gold medallions, too.

But impounding runabouts belonging to decent people who are caught committing minor motoring infringements? I don"t think so. Especially as some of these vehicles are crushed, which makes no economic, environmental or humanitarian sense.

Do late-night party animals playing loud music have their stereo systems confiscated and wrecked? Are town-centre yobs ordered to remove their hooded tops and baseball caps, then told their attire will be destroyed? Cyclists jumping red lights, foreign lorry drivers ploughing into motorists, traffic cops doing grossly inappropriate speeds in non-emergency situations - do such people have their personal or professional possessions taken away from them and ruined? I think not.

Yet under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002, private motorists are indeed having their vehicles taken from them, because, for example, they"re being driven "anti-socially" - whatever that means. Are extra-large 4x4s anti-social because they can swallow vast quantities of petrol? Is a Chrysler Viper guilty of the same crime because it"s deliberately fast, noisy and aggressive? Or do more modest, much older cars qualify when they have the temerity to proceed along posh, tree-lined avenues where politicians and police chiefs tend to live?

I really don"t know. But I do understand that cops in Caerphilly, Derbyshire, Devon and Cornwall, Kent and Wiltshire are using their new powers to seize vehicles. First, the authorities picked off motorists with their money-making cameras. Next, they attempted to price us out of the market with record levels of motoring duties, congestion taxes and tolls. Now, they"re trying to cull us by seizing our cars and destroying them.