A motorist claims police drove away from him after he pointed out a gaping hole in their front tyre.
Philip Nicholson was pulled over for a vehicle check in Gairloch on Sunday.
Officers found no problems with his car, but as they spoke Mr Nicholson spotted the police car’s nearside tyre was threadbare, with a gaping hole.
He claims when he pointed out it out to the two officers, they drove off without getting out to check out the fault.
Video footage seen by The P&J shows Mr Nicholson standing with his phone, asking the pair to reverse back to show the tyre before he shout stop to get a snap of it.
He is heard on the film saying: “I want to check if the car is roadworthy as I don’t think it is.
“You’re happy driving on that?
“You’re going to kill someone with that tyre.”
Police car tyre was threadbare
A police spokeswoman has now confirmed the vehicle had been removed for repair.
In one photograph shown to The Press and Journal the tyre on the vehicle has a large slit and is bald in areas.
The MOT certificate for roadworthiness for any vehicle on the road says a tyre will be dangerous or a major fault if it is “distorted or worn to the extent the wheel or tyre is likely to become detached.”
Mr Nicholson said: “I was pulled over by police officers when I noticed their wheel. They pulled me over to check my car when I saw the damage to their own vehicle on Saturday afternoon in Gairloch.
“The tyre was ripped and threadbare at places. You could even see the metal.
“When I tried to take a photo they said it was an offence to photograph them, and they seemed to be running away from me. As I was taking photos they were driving away as quickly as possible.
“But if they were checking my car, surely I had a right to know that their tyres were fit.”
When Mr Nicholson checked his photos again the next day, they confirmed he had not imagined the problem.
He said: “Police officers should be driving cars that are roadworthy, and they weren’t It is not right and it is not fair that they should be allowed to judge others. It is a crime for anyone to drive a vehicle like that.”
Mr Nicholson said he saw the vehicle for another hour around the town.
A police spokeswoman declined to comment further.
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