A GARAGE owner claims he was threatened with a taser during a row about the seizure of a car.

Shehzad Hussain, who runs Evolution Tyres in Avenue Street, says a traffic officer “overreacted” and called for 13 officers to help him impound a black Vauxhall Corsa for having no road tax.

Mr Hussain says he was confronted by a traffic officer holding a taser as he tried to drive home and collect some identification for a BMW which also did not have any tax.

Police say no taser was drawn, however.

The BMW, which was also black, was not seized when Mr Hussain proved ownership, but he says it was damaged when impounders initially tried to lift it onto the trailer.

The black Corsa, a customer’s car which had just been painted, was seized because no one could prove ownership.

Mr Hussain says he also had to pay £520 for both cars not having any tax.

He said: “It’s ridiculous. Haven’t they got anything better to do like catch drug dealers and rapists, rather than send 13 officers to seize a car?

“I appreciate that the cars didn’t have any tax and technically they were on the road, but we have not had a problem with moving cars round in the past.

"We are a small garage and can’t fit them all inside.

“They were going to take the BMW too, but I had no ID on me.

"Then when I got into my car to get some, one of the officers put the taser to my head and threatened to zap me.”

Mr Hussain said he had moved two cars with no tax out of the garage to allow another to go in when the traffic officer pounced.

He said: “The Corsa had just been painted and buffed. I moved it onto the front while I put another car in. It was there for a matter of minutes before the officer swooped.

“We’ve been here two years and never had any problems like this before.”

Police confirmed that a black Vauxhall Corsa was seized at 10.05am on behalf of the DVLA and say that the situation became heated after a large group of men came to object to the seizure.

They said that no officers drew tasers during the incident and dispute Mr Hussain's account of events.

Backup was requested at about 11.15am, and "a large number" of police attended the scene, witnesses said.