Man 'kidnapped' by his runaway electric car in Glasgow and forced to crash into police vehicle to stop

His ordeal only ended when he crashed at slow speed into a police vehicle

Brian Morrison and his MG ZS EV Photo: SWNS

A man says he was ''kidnapped'' by his own runaway electric car and was forced to dodge red lights and roundabouts before crashing into a police vehicle.

Brian Morrison, 53, said his MG ZS EV fully electric vehicle suffered a ''catastrophic malfunction'' and started driving itself as he headed home from work on Sunday. He dialled 999 from behind the wheel as the car became stuck on 30mph and the brakes would not work.

Police were eventually forced to forcibly stop the runaway car by allowing it to slowly crash into their police van.

Mr Morrison had to dial 999 from behind the wheel. Photo: SWNS

A roadside repair mechanic later said they had “never seen” anything like the incident.

Mr Morrison, from Glasgow, said that he was lucky that the incident had taken place late at night at just after 10pm.

He said: "I realised something was wrong when I was coming up to a roundabout, and went to slow down - but it didn't do it.

"I managed to get around roundabout going at about 30mph, and and then had long road ahead of me, so I assumed it would stop without me accelerating - but it didn't.

The police finally brought the car to a halt. Photo: Brian Morrison / SWNS

"I have mobility issues, so I couldn't even jump out - I was completely trapped inside the car going at 30mph.”

After realising that he would soon have to navigate traffic lights and several roundabouts, and worried about crashing into pedestrians, he called 999.

He said: "The car was just running away on its own, there was nothing I could do.

"When I dialled 999, they sent police to help and put some engineers on the line to try and solve the problem, and they were asking if it was a self-driving car.

"It was the first time that the call handlers had experienced the issue, and they had no idea what to do.

''So eventually three police vehicles arrived and were driving in front of me and behind me.

"I was 100 per cent concentrating on my steering, so when a police van pulled up besides me and asked if I was Brian and if I was okay, I just yelled 'No i'm not, I cant stop'."

Police initially tried having Mr Morrison throw his electronic key through their van window before driving off - but this failed to disengage the engine. After that, they asked him to try forcibly shutting off the engine by pressing the power button three times, which also failed.

Mr Morrison said: " Eventually I came up to a roundabout, which slowed the car down to about 15mph, and the Police van was waiting for me on the other side.

"I went into the back of the van while it was moving, before they put on the brakes to stop me.”

A police Scotland spokesperson confirmed officers “carried out a controlled halt” with the aid of a police vehicle.

MG Motor UK said: ''MG Motor UK has been urgently trying to make contact with Mr Morrison so that his vehicle can be fully inspected by our engineering team.

''We take this matter very seriously and now that contact has been made we will be making every effort to resolve matters quickly and comprehensively for him.'