Bolton Jaguar driver thought he'd die after brakes failed

Nathan Owen was driving on the M57 as he made his way home to Bolton from his job in Ormskirk on Wednesday, March 6, when his vehicle started to speed up.

The Bolton News reported yesterday how police swarmed the motorway just after 2pm and shut two lanes after being called by the panicked motorist.

The 31-year-old said: “The car literally just started speeding up. I was overtaking a car on the motorway to get into the fast lane and I tried to slow down, and the car didn’t want to slow down.

“I had no brakes and it just kept on speeding me up.

“I thought I was going to die, or I’m going to crash into somebody else.”

He said the dashboard indicated a possible battery error.

The car was escorted to a stop by police (Image: Jaguar stopped between police vehicles on the motorway)

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Nathan, originally from Prestatyn, Wales, is a  support worker, who has lived in Harwood since November 2022.

On Wednesday, traffic had to be stopped on the motorway as police officers helped escort Nathan, who had called 999, while he anxiously waited for his car’s battery to deplete – reaching the M62.

Nathan thanked police and the 999 call handler for keeping him calm and keeping him safe.

Nathan's car repeatedly touched that of the police car in front during a terrifying 35 minutes (Image: Nathan Owen)

He said: “I had a police car in front of me, a police car alongside me, and a lot of police cars behind me trying to stop the motorway. I was still driving on a live motorway – I had the fast lane, and the middle lane, but they had two other lanes on the other side, live traffic was still happening there.

“I was on the phone for 35 minutes but it literally felt like I was on the phone for about two hours, three hours. Just literally thought I was going and going, it was just horrible.

“Obviously it’s an electric car, so I had 50 to 60 miles left in the vehicle, so the operator said they would keep a police car in front of me and alongside me for when my car runs out of electricity.

“I was just driving and driving and the next minute my car said 10 miles, five miles, and then it literally stopped – it literally just ran out of electricity.”

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Nathan had told officers that he was unable to brake and that he was travelling on the M58 in Merseyside.

Officers attended the scene and escorted the vehicle as it travelled onto the M57 and then onto the M62 eastbound through Warrington.

Once on the M62, officers from Cheshire Police, Merseyside Police, and Greater Manchester Police, worked together to stop all other traffic.

They then used a police car to help to bring the car to a stop at around 2.40pm.

This was between junction 10, Croft, and junction 11, Birchwood.

All traffic was held until the incident was resolved.

After his car finally stopped, Nathan said he froze in place due to the magnitude of what had happened.

He said: “I just froze in my car. The police officers then surrounded my car from each side, one in front, one behind, and one alongside me. I managed to unlock my car – my door handles come out of my door so a police officer couldn’t get into the car anyway unless I pressed this button.

“I literally just froze, I was just sat in my seat, still got my hands on the steering wheel – just froze. This police officer was asking me if I was OK and if I wanted to get out of the car.

“I got out the car and I think that’s when it hit me the most, I was just shaking. It was just a weird feeling. I could have died or I could have killed somebody.

“If I didn’t do the thing at the start and phone the police it could have ended really really badly for myself or somebody else.”

Nathan is now having to get the train to work as he does not have access to his car, increasing his door-to-door journey time from around half-an-hour to two hours.

A Jaguar Land Rover spokesperson said: "Following the incident involving a Jaguar I-PACE on the M62 on the afternoon of 6th March, we are looking into this matter with urgency.

“A full review is underway to determine the cause of this incident, which is still yet to be established. The safety of our clients and vehicles is JLR's highest priority.”

A spokesman for North West Motorway Police said they "used  tactics to stop an electric vehicle with an electric fault where the driver was unable to brake".

This article was updated with a new comment from Jaguar Land Rover at 11:55am on Thursday, March 7.

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.