/ 3 February 2006

Grand prix cars attached by court

Fifty A1 Grand Prix cars were attached by court order at the Durban International Airport and were unable to leave the country on Thursday night, The Star newspaper reported on Friday.

This followed a wrangle between their international owners and a local insurance company, the paper said.

On Wednesday, lawyers for Johannesburg-based insurance brokers Aon South Africa made an urgent application before Durban High Court Judge Herbert Msimang, claiming they were owed around R36-million in unpaid insurance premiums.

The application was made against eight foreign companies who own the cars. The judge heard argument and granted the order, which was served on A1’s Theo Watson.

The cars, which took part in the SA A1 Grand Prix on the weekend, were already loaded on palettes at the airport to be transported by cargo planes when they were attached.

However, the dispute, which posed a threat to next week’s A1 Grand Prix race in Indonesia, was apparently settled out of court late on Thursday night, the paper reported. – Sapa