Bruno accused of stealing

The boxer, 49, told the BBC that the incident happened when he was driving his Mercedes ML 500, worth £50,000, through Hertfordshire.

"They were a disgrace," Bruno said, "to stop and ask: 'have you nicked the car?' I thought they were joking, I thought it was Candid Camera - but it weren't Candid Camera, it was serious."

Explaining that his car has a personalised number plate and insisting a simple check before approaching would have spared him embarrassment, Bruno said their explanation rang hollow.

"They said: 'There's a lot of high performance cars, sir, being stolen around the area.' I could see them laughing like two hyenas in the car, but I didn't find it funny.

"They recognised me," Bruno continued, "like Tom and Jerry, and Peter Pan, and Batman, but I think, I didn't want to give them no hassle, showed them the documents, waited there for 10 minutes, and done what I had to do.

"Because the police are the police, they are the law of the land, you've got to keep up to the rules and regulations of the law of the land."

Bruno went on to say that, in his experience, there were plenty of police officers who were as "good as gold".

A spokeswoman for Hertfordshire Police said: "Hertfordshire Constabulary takes pride in its reputation for treating members of the public with the utmost respect and dignity at all times.

"We take complaints from members of the public who believe they have not been treated in this manner extremely seriously.

"To date, we have not received a formal complaint in relation to this alleged incident and would encourage anyone who believes they have not been treated in an appropriate manner to contact us without delay."