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A recent vacation break to Miami almost ended in disaster when the police stopped our car due to a broken tail light.

My girlfriend and I had decided to take a last minute package holiday to Florida. We’d found a great fly-drive deal that gave us 7 nights to enjoy the gulf coast beaches and theme parks of Orlando during late spring, before the summer rush.

We flew from Gatwick to Orlando airport and went straight to the car hire desk to collect the keys to our car. We’d pre-booked our first two nights in the Clarion Hotel and a hire car for the duration of our stay. If we liked the hotel our plan was to stay put, otherwise we would be free to move on to another location.

After resting up for the first night and enjoying a fantastic meal in the hotel restaurant we spent the following day sightseeing and shopping. We finished a wonderful day with an excellent meal at a well known seafood restaurant that provided some great entertainment as well as fantastic service. It was on the drive back to our hotel that things took a turn for the worse.

When we got onto the highway a police car pulled in behind us and inidicated that we should stop. The police officer told me that one of my car brake lights wasn’t working and he asked me to step out of the car to take a look. I told the police that we had just hired the car after arriving from the UK only yesterday. The friendly and helpful police officer then asked me to open the boot so that he could take a look at the tail lamp.

He shone his torch into the boot and immediately we could see traces of what looked like a white powder all over the trunk lining. The police officer suddenly became serious and he went back to his car where he spent some minutes communicating on his radio. Within only a few minutes a second police car arrived with two officers inside. They told us that we were to accompany them to the police station to answer a few questions.

It was at the police station that it became clear that they didn’t really believe our story and they suspected that we were in fact drug dealers. My girlfriend was incredibly upset by the whole experience. It took no less than nine hours for the police to finally corroborate our story and verify who we were.

Luckily for us the car hire desk was still manned, even at that late hour, and they were able to provide the police with details of the person who had hired the car before us. I’ve no idea if the police ever managed to catch up with the individual responsible for carrying drugs in the boot of the car.

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Travel tip: We saved a fortune on airport parking by booking online, in advance. Also, make certain that your travel insurance policy covers you for legal expenses abroad.