A CINDERFORD town councillor has complained to the police after an unmarked police car almost reversed into his taxi.

Hackney carriage driver Mark Turner, who runs OneCall Cabs, was driving down Cinderford High Street when a Ford Focus began reversing towards him near the junction with Wesley Road.

Cllr Turner beeped his horn and slammed on the brakes before the unmarked police car turned round and the officer told him to calm down.

Cllr Turner said: “I didn’t know it was a police officer. If it had blue flashing lights then maybe I wouldn’t have pressed on the horn, but it was a ten year old car and it could have been some drunk kid reversing up the High Street.

“I told him I was a taxi driver and he said he was in a hurry and would deal with me later.”

The officer questioned why Cllr Turner wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and he replied saying Hackney drivers are not required to wear one.

The officer then questioned whether he was in a taxi saying: “A taxi? In that thing?”

Cllr Turner had recorded the whole incident with a camera on his dashboard and at first when he complained he says Gloucestershire Police told him they wanted to confiscate his recording.

“I phoned the police on Sunday to complain as I didn’t know if it was a bogus policeman.

“They ran a check through their system and it turned out to be one of their cars but they said they wanted the video and that I was infringing data protection laws.

“But I received a call later from a local police officer saying that that was ‘absolute rubbish’ and I was in a public space recording so there was no problem in recording.

“He just asked me for a link to the video and that they were going to view it.

Cllr Turner has lodged an official complaint about the matter and is awaiting a resolution.

A police spokesperson said: “We are aware that Mr Turner confronted one of our Special Constables about his manner of driving while he was driving an unmarked car on-duty .

“We do not believe the constable was committing an offence or driving carelessly or dangerously. He was slowly reversing the car around a corner displaying hazard warning lights after being called to an incident.

"Those behind had more than enough time to slow down.”