POLICE will be allowed to continue holding an estimated £15,000 in cash which was seized from a car stopped by police on the M6 near Tebay.

The south-bound Mercedes C200 car was pulled over between Junctions 38 and 39 on Thursday, October 5, because it was being driven too fast – at speeds of between 85mph and 90mph, Carlisle’s Rickergate court was told.

A Cumbria Police financial investigator said the police officers involved became suspicious when the driver and his passenger – who were interviewed separately – gave conflicting accounts for their journey.

This prompted police to search car.

In the glove compartment, the offices found between £2,000 and £3,000. Police also found a red plastic bag in the car's passenger footwell.

It contained what officers estimated to be more than £10,000 in bundles of cash.

The police application, outlined in court, described how the Mercedes was stopped mid-afternoon and driver immediately identified himself.

He told the police officer who questioned him that he and his passenger were on their way to Manchester to look at a dog, with a view to possibly buying it.

He suggested that the dog would cost between £2,000 and £3,000.

When police spoke to the passenger, he made no mention of any plan to view or buy a dog. It was at this point that the officers decided to search the car and found the cash.

There was also confusion, the court heard, over whether the driver wanted to claim the cash as being his.

After initially denying any knowledge of the money in the plastic bag, the driver claimed that £5,000 of the money was in fact his, claiming he that had earned it from his work as a painter and decorator.

The men were unable to provide an address where they planned to view the dog that they claimed they were interested in buying.

The investigator said police wanted the court to allow Cumbria Constabulary to continue holding the money as they continue their investigation.

Approving the application, Deputy District Judge Jayne Bryan said there were sufficient grounds to suspect that the money seized was the product of or in some way connected to criminality.

Neither the driver, who is from Edinburgh, or his passenger, from Kingston upon Thames, were in court for the hearing.