Bailiffs in St. Petersburg have seized a Porsche Cayenne worth about 2 million rubles ($66,000) due to unpaid road tax of 530,000 rubles ($17,500) as part of the so-called Potok-D project, the city’s bailiff service said.

“A resident of St. Petersburg, who has not paid road tax since he bought his car in 2007, was stopped by traffic officials at the Moskovsky Prospect [in downtown St. Petersburg],” bailiffs said.

“They decided to seize the car as the debt was too big for the driver to pay in full. At the moment, the owner is in search of money to repay his debt,” they said.

The local bailiffs department launched the Potok-D project to catch vehicle tax evaders.

Another man who owned a luxury Jaguar, agreed to pay his debt of over 100,000 rubles (about $3,300) on the spot after being stopped by bailiffs.

Nine Potok-D groups are operating on the streets of St. Petersburg. The system has access to a database of debtors and informs traffic police about passing tax evaders, using a device similar to cameras used by traffic police to register traffic violations. .

Bailiffs on duty together with the traffic police inform the driver about the debt owed and usually request it be paid on the spot.