Police in a Spanish seaside resort loved by British holidaymakers have been exposed for an embarrassing blunder regarding their cars.
The mayor of Alicante has been forced to investigate why “Policia Local” cars were not insured or did not have any proof of payment.
This could mean his own police force is breaking the law as in Spain it’s an offence to drive a vehicle without proof of insurance document inside.
Mayor Luis Barcala has demanded an immediate inquiry into how this could have happened and “why it happened”.
He has also enforced an immediate check to ensure all police vehicles are properly insured and have all their documents in order.
SITAP, one of the unions representing Spanish police officers, revealed that, as of September 16, “several” police cars in Alicante had been in use despite having expired insurance, according to The Olive Press.
It said the issue was brought to the attention of police chiefs, who denied the claims, adding: “They ordered them to stay on the street because they have no more cars.”
The police officers themselves also denounced the claims in a social media post that strongly denied they had been “patrolling in these cars without insurance for almost a month”.
Some of the police cars are said to be 16 years old. Last week, officers took the ones with no proof of insurance off the roads so as to not break their own laws.
SITAP said they were told by police chiefs that the insurance issue “was a mistake and was going to be corrected”.
Unions have now demanded a meeting with Barcala, who said he would not be publicly speaking on the issue for the time being.
