Car Parking

Polly Green
Member - 12 posts

Dear Ameera,

This general answer below was provided by Dale Collins, of Osborne Clarke solicitors, when the same question was asked by another member. Dale will be back on the panel on 26 April 2004.

Your local council have a duty under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, to remove vehicles abandoned in the open air (including private land), and have the ability to prosecute the recorded owner for breaches.

The general procedure adopted is as follows;

If the vehicle is suspected of being abandoned and considered to be in such a condition that it should be destroyed:

- vehicle inspected

- notice attached to vehicle for 24 hours

- vehicle removed

If the vehicle is reported to be abandoned and is in intact and its condition can be described as good / fair or poor:

- owner traced through DVLA

- notice of seven days given to owner

- notice of seven days of intention to destroy fixed to vehicle

- vehicle destroyed

Vehicles that are burnt out or are hazardous threats will be removed and destroyed immediately.

If the Council removes the vehicle and has it scrapped or placed in storage, all costs will be passed onto the current keeper as registered with the DVLA.

Thus, my practical advice is for you to notify the council rather than become involved in the dirty business of notice serving and removal!

Dale Collins

0117 9174 064

dale.collins@osborneclarke.com

Philip Palethorpe
Member - 12 posts

Agree with the advice of Dale Collins.

This procedure has worked well for us, with the co-operation of the local council.

We report any untaxed vehicle in our grounds to the council for the appropriate action.

Anonymous

I was very interested to read this article as in the past when vehicles have been abandoned in our private carparks, we have had to pay a fee to the local council to have them removed.

Has anyone else ever paid for this service & can the Council charge for this service?

Anonymous

St Albans DC charged me for removal of a stolen vehicle saying as it was on private land it was not their resposibility to pay for its removal

Philip Palethorpe
Member - 12 posts

There is now a nominal charge, but in my opinion, well worth it to get the vehicles removed hassle-free.

Anonymous

The matter has been resolved, and we did have to contact the owner through DVLA, and he responded to a registered letter, and on hearing we would remove the car, the car was removed by the keeper.

The local council would not remove the car as it was on private property.

Similarly the local police could not do anything as it was in a good condition and again on private property.

We are now investigating employing a wheel clamping company to sign and police the area.

Many thanks for your comments

Anonymous

I believe the comments regarding removing vehicles from private land may now be incorrect. The federation of historic vehicle clubs recently successfully campaigned to ensure vehicles on private land cannot be removed at short notice - a week or so was proposed - as the proposal was open to abuse and could include an individual having their own vehicle removed from their own land at their own cost!

Anonymous

It was interesting reading all that. Working for an Airport we regularly have to deal with abandonded cars and have had no success with the local council in the past.

Therefore we have tried to remove the vehicles via the DVLA route but the owners have rarely picked the cars up leaving the Airport with a huge storage and removal bill.

It would be interesting to clarify whether the council are still under a duty to remove vehicles off private land too as Tim has mentioned.

Anonymous

Land in the open air relates to land open to the pulbic. If you have barriers then the local authorities have no responsibility, ans the land is in effect closed. In the case of any private land a 15 day notice must be served on the land owner first by the authority to allow the land owner time to object to the authority coming onto their land. Then a 7 day notice should be attached to the vehicle. However the landowner should have taken all reasonable steps to locate the owner including requesting the owners details from the DVLA (believe this currently costs 5 pounds). If there is a known owner or one comes forward during the 7 day notice period the vehicle is no longer abandoned and can't be removed by the authority. Also the authority can refuse to take any action if the cost of removing said vehicle to the nearest adopted public highway is prohibitive. I believe the charges mentioned earlier may well be to suppliment the difference between the cost of removing it from the private land and the cost of removing the same vehicle had it been on the road. And before you think it, I believe moving a vehicle to the road could constitue theft of a motor vehicle.

Anonymous

Hi We have just purchased a farm with a large hgv abandoned on it we have contacted the owner but he refuses to move it can we still get the council to remove it ?can anyone please advise?

Anonymous

There is an abandonded vehicle in my apartment complex that I would like to retain for personal usage if possible. It is said to belong to the tennant that once occupied my residence. The vehicle has been abandonded for at least 3 months now and I would like to know of any possible options that I may have? I know that you can assume an abandonded home but what about abandonded vehicles?