£150 fine for removal of vehicle

From the Shuttle we get another story about the police charging the victims of vehicular crime for cost of removing their vehicles. The first in April when the person in question was told that they were removing her car for forensic analysis. And now another this month with a £150 charge for removal of a moped.

In both cases the spokesperson stated

"Under the provisions of the Road Traffic Act, such removals were subject to a minimum statutory fee of £150, which was the responsibility of the vehicle’s registered keeper and their insurers."

word for word in both cases. Now I neglectfully let it go in the first case, but with a repeat I asked the question that everyone should ask when dealing with the police - "Which Act and what Section of that Act?"

Now the former had been answered, The Road Traffic Act, the second has been unanswered twice; so I had a look. Guess what there's nothing there; there is a provision to allow the police to "seize vehicles driven without licence or insurance" in 165A and to charge under 165B, but nothing about "vehicles that had been stolen and abandoned [and are] removed from the roadside to prevent further theft or damage.".

So I cast my net wider and well yes there is such a provision it's in the Road Safety Act Schedule 4 which allows the police to immobilise or remove vehicles and even provides a handy dandy chart of charges; except there's a problem this only applies to certain types of use none of which is 'leaving your vehicle somewhere'.

More net casting I stumble across the Wiltshire police page regarding Vehicle Recovery the key point is part 2 "Stolen Vehicle"

The applicable legislation is section 99 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Huzzah let us away. Bingo section 99 and onwards. Any [...] or [sic]'s are mine own additions anything else in such brackets are legal amendments to the original.

99.Removal of vehicles illegally, obstructively or dangerously parked, or abandoned or broken down.
— (1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for the removal of vehicles which have been permitted to remain at rest—
[...](c) on a road, or on any land in the open air, in such a position or in such condition or in such circumstances as to appear, to an authority empowered by the regulations to remove such vehicles, to have been abandoned without lawful authority,

So there we go 99.1(c) allows the removal of vehicles.

100. Interim disposal of vehicles removed under s. 99.
[...]
(4) While a vehicle is in the custody of an authority in pursuance of this section or of regulations under section 99 of this Act, other than a vehicle which in the opinion of that authority is in such a condition that it ought to be destroyed, it shall be the duty of that authority to take such steps as are reasonably necessary for the safe custody of the vehicle.

They have to look after it.

101. Ultimate disposal of vehicles abandoned and removeable [sic] under this Act.
— (1) Subject to subsections (3) to [F14 (5A)] below, a competent authority may, in such manner as they think fit, dispose of a vehicle which appears to them to be abandoned and which has been, or could at any time be, removed in pursuance of—
[..]
(3) The time at which a competent authority may dispose of a vehicle under subsection (1) above is as follows, that is to say—
[...]
(c) in any other case, any time after such steps as may be prescribed have been taken by a competent authority (or partly by one competent authority and partly by the other) to find a person appearing to the authority taking such steps to be the owner of the vehicle and either—
(i) they have failed to find such a person, or
(ii) he has failed to comply with a notice served on him in the prescribed manner by a competent authority requiring him to remove the vehicle from their custody within the prescribed period.
but, in a case where it appears to the authority proposing to dispose of the vehicle that a licence is in force in respect of the vehicle, not a time earlier than the expiry of the licence.

They can dispose of the vehicle but not without reasonable attempts to contact the owner and not before the licence expires.

[101] (4) If, before a vehicle [F15 found outside Greater London] is disposed of by an authority in pursuance of subsections (1) to (3) above, the vehicle is claimed by a person who satisfies the authority that he is its owner and pays such sums in respect of its removal and storage as may be prescribed to the authority entitled to those sums, the authority shall permit him to remove the vehicle from their custody within such period as may be prescribed.

and

102. Charges for removal, storage and disposal of vehicles.
— (1) The provisions of this section shall have effect where a vehicle—
[...](b) is removed from a road, or from land in the open air, in pursuance of regulations under section 99 of this Act.
(2) In any such case—
(a) the appropriate authority shall be entitled to recover from any person responsible such charges as may be prescribed in respect of the removal of the vehicle;
(b) the chief officer of a police force or a local authority [F36 other than a London authority] in whose custody any such vehicle is during any period shall be entitled to recover from any person responsible charges ascertained by reference to a prescribed scale in respect of that period; F37 . . .
(c)
the chief officer of a police force or a local authority [F36 other than a London authority] who dispose of any such vehicle in pursuance of section 101 of this Act shall be entitled to recover from any person responsible charges determined in the prescribed manner in respect of its disposal. [ F38 and
[...]
(4) Without prejudice to subsection (3) above, where by virtue of paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) above any sum is recoverable in respect of a vehicle by the chief officer of a police force or a local authority in whose custody the vehicle is, the chief officer or local authority shall be entitled to retain custody of it until that sum has been paid.

Okay seems simple enough except I still can't find this minimum statutory fee of £150 mentioned. More digging and I find a Home Office PDFed consultation paper which mentions on page 11 "Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Prescribed Sums and Charges etc) Regulations 1989". Charrrrrge! And there it is in Table 1 Column 2 under section 4. With table 2 for storage.

So that throwaway quote about being able to charge under "the Road Traffic Act" is um a little incorrect let us say. Specifically the quote should have read 'under section 99 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act we can remove the vehicle and charge a fee as detailed under the Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Prescribed Sums and Charges etc) Regulations" Tell me you're doing it because the Road Traffic Act says you can and I will as I have done in the comments ask you to quote the relevant section... and if they're not reading this entry I wish them good luck with that.

[Update - 10/7: It suddenly occurred to me that there was an exemption for vehicles removed for forensic examination such that charges would be met by the police. I'm right except there's an exception to the exemption and that is if the car has been stolen or abandoned. So you can turn up to pick up your stolen vehicle, be told they want to take it for examination and that get landed with a bill for them doing so - neat]