‘Greater Manchester Police thought I was a drug dealer because I have tattoos, Turkey teeth and a £100,000 Audi’. Zac Cooper, 27, has told how traffic cops swooped when he pulled into his local supermarket and seized his pride and joy

    https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchester-police-thought-drug-31277709

    Posted by ITMidget

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    45 Comments

    1. BigBeanMarketing on

      > Zac, 27, from Gorton, had been filming clips for his social media channels to promote his business which provides ‘hacks’ to get cheaper insurance.

      >> The vehicle was seized under Section 165 of the Road Traffic Act which gives police powers to seize cars being driven without a licence or correct insurance.

      I’m assuming that these “hacks” aren’t quite legitimate.

    2. fiddly_foodle_bird on

      *”I dress as a drug dealer, act like a drug dealer, speak like a drug dealer and every aspect of my demeanour and personality and appearance is done to make people think I;m a drug dealer… Waaaaahhh, why would the Police possibly think I’m a drug dealer”…*

    3. >Zac, 27, from Gorton, had been filming clips for his social media channels to promote his business which provides ‘hacks’ to get cheaper insurance

      A quick look on Instagram shows 13.2k followers, a through link to an airfreshener company that [has a misconfigured website](http://autofreshuk.com/)

      Which isn’t a huge account and while it may make him enough to earn, it isn’t new custom RS7 money.

      >Especially with the way I was driving around, it screams out illegal drug dealer.

      He admits he was driving like a twat.

      >Zac claims he has never had an explanation from the police about what was wrong with his insurance and that his finance company took the car back because the mere fact he lost possession of the car meant he breached the finance agreement.

      This screams ‘money laundering investigation so they can’t tell him the exact reason’ to me. Or possibly insurance fraud given his ‘influencer’ topic.

      >He says he has lost a £20,000 deposit and the four instalments of £800 he had paid before the car was seized. Undeterred, he says he’s saving up to buy an Audi RS8, also on finance, later this year.

      I mean he’s not helping himself here.

      >Asked how he could afford such expensive cars, Zac said he was doing ‘very well. He is a director of a publishing company, Control Gateway Ltd, according to Companies House.

      This is [the company](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14254585). Which is under ‘other publishing activities’. Accounts haven’t been published for this year, but last accounts listed it as a 1 employee operation with less than 5k in the bank last time they were published.

      Should be interesting to see what the next accounts show, considering they’re due this month…

    4. Better_Concert1106 on

      I bet his house is full of crushed velvet and live love laugh shite.. bonus points for fake grass and a hot tub in the garden.

    5. The scam here isn’t really the police seizure, after all the police are entitled to seize vehicle if they have reasonable suspicion of an offence. From the fact he broadcasts online about how to “hack” the insurance system they may have that reasonable suspicion.

      The problem is that the police charge ludicrous and often unaffordable storage fees, that you have to pay even when they decide to take no action or make no charge.

      I remember hearing about people paying hundreds to get their car back, even though they were never charged.

      Edit: I’m leaving the above there because it’s a valid concern, however it seems his insurance was cancelled, so he was driving without insurance, so the seizure is valid.

    6. RaymondBumcheese on

      ‘They thought I was a drug dealer but I’m just another insta wannabe paying 2K a month for a leased sports car’

    7. LackingHumanity on

      ‘He suspects police saw his… shaved head’

      Are drug dealers known for being bald?

    8. adults-in-the-room on

      It’s far more likely his insurance is invalid which is why they wouldn’t let him leave in it.

    9. Equivalent_Thing_324 on

      Why does he have a car, looks like he could roll anywhere he wanted. Euro Buddha

    10. HelloW0rldBye on

      Influencer who’s main bit is providing “insurance” hacks, So the police sized the car and the insurance was then cancelled. So that all sounds like he’s into insurance fraud.

      Later on he said he managed some onlyfans. Sounds like a Tate wannabe.

      Probably also a drug dealer.

    11. ucardiologist on

      Influenceurs these days are basically people that no one would actually employ around 35 years old that still live with mum and dad and have no actual friends and live in a paralel reality that they try to project on their online victims/followers.
      Please add some more if I missed anything

    12. evolveandprosper on

      The insurance “hack” that he used for this car probably involved misrepresentations during the process of applying for it. When the police asked the insurance company about the policy, the company cancelled it, which indicates that there was something dodgy about it. The finance company then repossesed it because it was no longer insured – and continuous insurance would have been a requirement of the finance deal. That repossession has nothing to do with the police – they simply returned the car to its legal owner. He may not be prosecuted for no insurance because, technically, there was a policy in place when he was stopped. The insurance company won’t bother trying to get him charged with anything – cancelling his insurance is their punishment. He is now pretty much uninsurable so his prospects of getting an Audi RS8 is a fantasy.

    13. “When he purchased the RS7, it was black but he covered it in a khaki ‘wrap’ which he said made it unique in the UK.”

      Does that have to be declared to the insurance company..?

    14. Putting a wrap on whilst under finance is probably why they asked for it back as its a modification and will be under there t&c

    15. RRIronside27 on

      So it was seized for no insurance and there is actually nothing about the encounter other than the guy’s opinion to suggest the police were concerned he was a drug dealer or that he looked like one. Why even print this garbage?

    16. Personal_Director441 on

      TBF 95% of the clips on Traffic cops where they pull over drug dealers is usually a shitty Audi.

    17. Dry_Yogurtcloset1962 on

      Maybe not a dealer but Deano here definitely enjoys a few keys with the lads watching Love Island after a hard days work down the insurance office paying off the 35 year mortgage on his 2 bed new build semi

    18. He’s lucky this didn’t happen in the US or he could have ended up in a concentration camp in El Salvador.

    19. Wait, does he know “the one thing insurance companies don’t want you to know” ?

    20. FirstManufacturer648 on

      Turkey teeth and “manages” only fans accounts, I reckon that’s enough to lock him up for a few years.

    21. You can’t insure a car in the middle of nowhere where it might be cheaper, you can’t say your car is gated or garaged overnight if it isn’t. You can’t mod your car and not say anything to your insurance company.

      The second you do those things you have breached the terms of insurance and you’re are not insured. That’s before get in to fudging dates of birth etc

    22. itsapotatosalad on

      I have sleeve tattoos, an expensive flashy bmw and wear somewhat expensive clothes and nice watches. Never been accused of being a drug dealer, probably because I have a legitimate job. I’m not a drug dealer either.

    23. This isn’t news. It’s all just unverified gossip. Even a pretty hopeless solicitor would have had the car returned by now if it was all legitimate.

    24. It’s been a while since I left the UK and I just had to do a quick check that no, turkeys don’t have teeth, or rather if they do, this isn’t that.

    25. ElectronicBruce on

      Maybe he told his insurance he’s a drug dealer, as it probably has a lower risk level than ‘influencer’… (checks out Whistlindiesel’s YouTube page) 😉

    26. esperstrazza on

      First time I hear of Turkey teeth.

      Reading the article and comments, I don’t think the police was wrong.

    27. Is it bad to judge people by appearance? This was the first impression. I was sure that he was not an ordinary person. For example, he was bald and his car was very valuable, which could be seen from his appearance. The second impression was his overall aura. I’m glad it was caught, but should it be thrown in jail? And you should speak the truth with a clear conscience instead of talking about other things.

    28. bad-mean-daddy on

      Calling himself Zac studd, whilst looking like a baby and “managing onlyfans accounts” should have been enough of a reason to arrest him

    29. Imreallyadonut on

      Flex: “I’ve got a £100k Audi”

      Reality: “I’ve got a £700pcm liability.”

    30. Comrade-Hayley on

      This a complete nothing burger cops can seize any suspicious vehicle under the Proceeds of Crime Act as long as it’s proportionate to the potential risk I’d say driving around such a flashy car is at least somewhat suspect

      Edit: whoops just saw it was the Road Traffic Act which probably means no/suspended licence, no insurance, no tax or no MOT

    31. If you don’t want to be mistaken for a drug dealer, then don’t dress like a drug dealer, have drug dealer teeth and a drug dealer car, haha.

      I jest. But reading the article he was actually done for insurance reasons. So you had to dig for the truth.