POLICE have apologised for seizing a £200,000 Ferrari for having no insurance and posting the incident on social media after it emerged the owner, a Bolton businessman, was covered after all.

Businessman Dean Livesey was driving the 203mph Ferrari 488 GTB on the A56 Accrington bypass on Tuesday when an officer stopped the supercar.

The officer checked its status on the database and it came up as uninsured. It also had no front number plate.

Despite Mr Livesey ringing NFU Mutual who confirmed it was insured, the seizure went ahead and was posted on the police’s Lancs Tac Ops Twitter account with hashtags including ‘#StraightToCourt’.

Now the 31-year-old, who runs an energy firm in Padiham and lives in Bolton, has received a letter from his insurer confirming all was in order but there was an ‘administration error’.

The police and NFU Mutual have apologised for the mix-up.

Mr Livesey wants a personal apology from the officer involved.

He said: “It was a complete waste of everybody’s time and a bit embarrassing. I have made an official complaint,

“I admit the lack of a front number plate. That was my fault but I wasn’t booked for that.

“The sergeant refused to speak to NFU Mutual.

“He was overwhelmed by the nature of the car he had just stopped. He was being over-zealous. It was premature and absolutely unjustified to put this on Twitter.

“I would have been daft to leave a Ferrari uninsured. I like my cars and I am very careful about these things.

“An apology from the police is all very well, but I would like a personal one from the officer concerned.

“I have no problem with NFU Mutual. Mistakes are made and they reimbursed me the £150 I had to pay to get my car back.”

A police spokesman said: “We tweeted about the seizure of a Ferrari 488 due to a number plate offence and no insurance.

“It’s since come to light it was insured but wasn’t on the database due to an insurance company error. We’re happy to clarify this and apologise for any issues caused.”

An NFU Mutual spokesman said: “This was the result of an unfortunate administrative error on our part and for that we wholeheartedly apologise.”