
Ford Focus Car
Students at Swindon College have been making good use of vehicles that have been seized by the police for having no tax or insurance
If unclaimed by owners the vehicles are to be given to Swindon College to help pupils learn motor mechanic skills and vehicle maintenance skills.
A college spokesperson said having access to the vehicles has enabled students to enhance their work experience capabilities and future prospects as well as providing them with more confidence from the practice they have received working on and around the cars.
A Pugeot 206 has currently been loaned with more models to follow in time.
Vehicle lecturer Peter Morgan said the college was always short of cars and he got the idea after speaking to the local police.
"I saw an officer at one of their drink-driving exhibitions and asked what happened to the vehicles that got seized" he said.
Mr Morgan said the reply was that more than a thousand cars are seized each year, and from that figure approximately a third a year are unclaimed.
Sgt. Craig Hardy of Wiltshire Police said the scheme meant something useful came out of the unclaimed seized cars rather than them being crushed. "It gives the college the chance to choose if they want front-wheel drive cars, rear-wheel drive cars or four-wheel drive to work on. The sky's the limit with that many cars".
Thursday January 19th 2012
The Onlines