Open consultation

Amendments to secondary legislation on the police removal, storage and disposal of vehicles (accessible)

Updated 29 May 2025

This consultation begins on 28 May 2025

This consultation ends on 8 July 2025

About this consultation

To groups and/or individuals impacted or representing the interests of those impacted by the removal, storage and disposal vehicle recovery charges, including but not limited to: the public, representatives of victims, the police, vehicle recovery operators and associated bodies.

Duration

From 28/05/2025 to 08/07/2025

Enquiries

Email Vehicle_Recovery@homeoffice.gov.uk

How to respond

Respond to the questions in this consultation online or by email to Vehicle_Recovery@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Response paper

We aim to publish a government response to this consultation within three months of it closing. The response will be made available online.

Introduction

Tackling anti-social behaviour, including that which involves vehicles such as off-road bikes and e-scooters, is a top priority for this government’s Plan for Change including our Safer Streets Mission. It is why we have made tackling anti-social behaviour a central part of that mission, with a particular emphasis on improving the police response, alongside tougher powers to take enforcement action against perpetrators.

The government’s Crime and Policing Bill, introduced on 25 February 2025, proposes to remove the requirement for the police constable to give a warning prior to seizing a vehicle under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002. Removing this requirement will make these powers easier to apply, allowing police to put an immediate stop to offending and seize vehicles which are used anti-socially and blight our communities.

This consultation sets out the government’s proposals to amend secondary legislation to reduce the disposal timeframes for seized vehicles. The objective is to allow the police to quickly dispose of vehicles which are used in an anti-social manner to deliver swift justice and prevent reoffending.

The consultation document sets out the background to the current legislation covering powers to remove, store and dispose of vehicles, and the charges and terminology that are applicable when doing so. It seeks views on changes to the timeframes for the disposal of seized vehicles, harmonising the disposal timeframes for different seizure powers and a change to the terminology for the time unit measurement of ‘working days’ to ‘days’.

It will also consider new levels of statutory charges applied to the removal, storage and disposal of vehicles in England and Wales. These statutory charges will apply where the police have cause to remove or recover a vehicle in certain circumstances, including vehicular anti-social behaviour. The statutory charges were last subject to review in 2021 which led to a rise in the statutory fees in April 2023. Amending the regulations to reduce the disposal timeframes provides a good opportunity to review the charges to ensure that they are fair both to those carrying out the recoveries and to those whose vehicles are being recovered. This consultation document seeks views on whether the statutory fees are adequate to provide a financially sustainable service for police vehicle recovery.

Removals ordered by the police are necessary in a variety of situations including enforcing the law and to remove obstructions and potential dangers. The police may also need to remove vehicles in circumstances where vehicles have been abandoned or are parked in contravention of the law or driven without insurance or a driving licence. Vehicle removals also help prevent theft of vehicles, their use for criminal purposes, their becoming a focus for crime or environmental degradation and their being driven whilst in a dangerous condition (which may not be immediately apparent). In some cases, the police may need to remove a vehicle for forensic examination.

The physical tasks of removal, storage and subsequent disposal are carried out on behalf of the police/local authorities by contracted recovery operators. Police contracts require operators to deal with a range of different vehicles, provide a guaranteed speedy response, and to have specialist equipment, secure storage facilities, and an efficient administration department. Vehicles are often accident-damaged, do not free wheel, are difficult to access, have restrictions due to forensic requirements and must be removed and stored with the highest standards of professionalism.

The work that the recovery operator industry undertakes for the police/local authorities is valued by both the police/local authorities and government, and the community at large receives its benefits.

This consultation will allow our stakeholders the chance to consider and provide feedback on the proposals prior to regulations being laid before Parliament to introduce revised charges and amendments to the disposal regulations.

This consultation does not cover the way in which the police use their power to order vehicle removal, or the operation of recovery schemes and contracts. These are matters for the police, in consultation with interested parties as they consider appropriate.

We are aware of industry and policing concerns about the costs of recovery, storage and disposal of electric vehicles. Although consideration of the impacts from electric vehicles are outside of the scope of the consultation, we will continue to work with police forces and industry to collect evidence on the costs of electric vehicles and review how this should impact the statutory fees.

Background information

Police vehicle recovery powers

Police vehicle removal, storage and disposal powers

• s.59 of The Police Reform Act 2002 provides the police with the power to remove vehicles that are driven carelessly or inconsiderately on road or without authorisation off-road and in a manner causing, or likely to cause, alarm, distress or annoyance.
• s.165A of The Road Traffic Act 1988 provides the police with the power to remove vehicles if they have reasonable grounds to believe that it is being driven without appropriate licence or insurance.
• s.62 of The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides the police with the power to remove vehicles if they are being used in unlawful trespass.
• s.99 of The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 applies to vehicles that are illegally, dangerously or obstructively parked, broken down or abandoned, including those abandoned after theft in order to maintain the flow of traffic on the highway, ensure public safety or to “clear the Queen’s Highway”. Local authorities also have corresponding powers to the 1984 Act under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978.

Why carry out a review of statutory regulations?

Anti-social behaviour involving vehicles is a real concern to communities and is frequently raised with the government, MPs, officials, PCCs and Chief Constables. Anti-social behaviour involving vehicles is wide ranging and encompasses off-road bike misuse, illegal motorbike and car racing, noisy and dangerous motorbike use and aggressive or inconsiderate driving. At the more serious end, some vehicles, particularly e-scooters and e-bikes, are used to facilitate drug dealing, organised acquisitive crime and serious violence. It is a highly visible crime type which blights communities.

​The ease with which offenders can reclaim vehicles can mean that there is insufficient deterrent to stop persistent offending. the government wants to allow the police to quickly crush or otherwise dispose of seized vehicles to prevent reoffending and deter anti-social behaviour involving vehicles.

Therefore, we have included proposals in our consultation to reduce the time that the police and recovery operators (on behalf of the police) have to wait before disposing of a seized vehicle.

Vehicle recovery legislation specifies disposal timeframes in ‘working days’ and ‘days’ depending on the respective regulation. Seven working days would equate to nine days when Saturday and Sunday are included. This is specified in the Police Reform Act 2002 and Road Traffic Act 1998 with timeframes for serving the seizure notice and, on the time, allowed for the vehicle to be reclaimed before disposal can occur. An amendment to the terminology for the time unit measurement of ‘working days’ to ‘days’ will enable consistency across all the legislation for storage and disposal timeframes.

​We previously increased the statutory fees in April 2023 to reflect inflation over the period between 2008 and 2021. The increase was welcomed by policing and industry and eased some of the pressures on the industry. We committed to holding the next review of the statutory fees in 2025.

We assess that some increase in charges may be necessary because otherwise it is likely to become uneconomic for contractors to continue these operations. If contractors decided to stop work for the police, this would have a detrimental effect on the police’s ability to enforce the law and remove obstructions or potential dangers. It would also impact on the police’s ability to prevent;

• theft of the vehicles,

• vehicles being used for crime or becoming a focus for crime

• environmental degradation

• vehicles being driven in a dangerous condition

The aim of the charges has never been to impose a penalty on vehicle drivers or owners. This remains the case. The need for removal of a vehicle does not necessarily result entirely, or at all, from a culpable action or neglect on the part of the owner or driver. Where a criminal offence might have been committed, it is for the police to deal with that as a separate matter.

There will be occasions where the owner/driver of the vehicle can recover the vehicle using their own recovery agents. However, there needs to be a balance between the choice of the owner or driver to have their vehicle recovered and the duty on the police to investigate crime and ensure the road networks remain open and free from obstructions.

Requirements on police contractors

There are obvious cases for increased costs such as employees’ wages. There have also been increases to fuel and equipment costs over the last few years. the government undertook a Vehicle Recovery Fee Options Analysis in early 2025 to consider if it is appropriate to amend the charges to ensure recovery operations remain viable.

Summary of current statutory charges

In England and Wales, there are four separate regulations currently in use by the police which contain statutory charges for the removal, storage and disposal of vehicles. The Road Traffic Act 1988 is not devolved and covers England, Wales and Scotland.

Tables of charges

As set out in: The Removal, Storage and Disposal of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

Removals

Vehicle position and condition	Vehicle equal to or less than 3.5 tonnes Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM)	Vehicle exceeding 3.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 7.5 tonnes	Vehicle exceeding 7.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 18 MAM	Vehicle exceeding 18 tonnes MAM
Vehicle on road, upright and not substantially damaged or any two wheeled vehicle whatever its condition or position on or off the road	£192	£256	£448	£448
Vehicle, excluding a two wheeled vehicle, on road but either not upright or substantially damaged or both	£320	£832	Unladen-£2,561 Laden-£3,842	Unladen-£3,842 Laden-£5,763
Vehicle, excluding a two wheeled vehicle, off road, upright and not substantially damaged	£256	£512	Unladen-£1,281 Laden-£1,921	Unladen-£1,921 Laden-£2,561
Vehicle, excluding a two wheeled vehicle, off road but either not upright or substantially damaged or both	£384	£1,089	Unladen-£3,842 Laden-£5,763	Unladen-£5,763 Laden-£7,684

Storage (for each period of 24 hours or part thereof)

Two wheeled vehicle	Vehicle, not including a two wheeled vehicle, equal to or less than 3.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 3.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 7.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 7.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 18 MAM	Vehicle exceeding 18 tonnes MAM
£13	£26	£32	£38	£45

Disposal (Only contained within The Removal, Storage and Disposal of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Regulations 2023)

Two wheeled vehicle	Vehicle, not including a two wheeled vehicle, equal to or less than 3.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 3.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 7.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 7.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 18 MAM	Vehicle exceeding 18 tonnes MAM
£64	£96	£128	£160	£192

Summary of disposal timeframes

In England and Wales, there are three separate regulations currently in use by the police which contain statutory disposal timeframes for the removal, storage and disposal of vehicles. The Road Traffic Act 1988 is not devolved and covers England, Wales and Scotland.

The Police Reform Act 2002

Gives the Secretary of State the powers to prescribe regulations in respect of the removal and storage of those vehicles. Under these regulations – the authority may not dispose of a vehicle until:

Disposal timeframes

1. 14 days from the seizure date
2. 7 working days from date of delivery of the seizure notice or
3. 7 working days from the date it was claimed.

Notes

Prescribed in The Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2002

And amended by The Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 2005

The Road Traffic Act 1988

Gives the Secretary of State the powers to prescribe regulations in respect of the removal and storage of those vehicles. Under these regulations – the authority may not dispose of a vehicle until:

Disposal timeframes

1. 14 days from the seizure date
2. 7 working days from date of delivery of the seizure notice or
3. 7 working days from the date it was claimed.

Notes

Prescribed in The Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005.

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

Gives the Secretary of State the powers to prescribe regulations in respect of the removal and storage of those vehicles. Under these regulations – the authority may not dispose of a vehicle until:

Disposal timeframes

1. 3 months from the seizure date
2. 21 days from date of delivery of the seizure notice or
3. 7 days from the date it was claimed.

Notes

Prescribed in The Police (Retention and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1995.

The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978

Gives the Secretary of State the powers to prescribe regulations in respect of the removal and storage of those vehicles.

Disposal timeframes

1. 24 hrs in which a seizure notice must be affixed to a vehicle before removing it for destruction.
2. 7 days during which owner may remove vehicle from when the notice was served before disposal.
3. 7 days during which owner may remove vehicle before disposal.

Notes

Prescribed in The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986

And amended by the following- The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002

And The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2005

We have no plans to change the current seizure/disposal timeframes in the regulations the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978.

The proposals

We would welcome responses to the following questions set out in this consultation paper.

Q1a. To what extent do you agree or disagree that we should reduce the timeframe that the police or other authority must retain a seized vehicle before disposal from 14 days to 48 hours for those vehicles seized under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002?

The relevant Regulation 7(5(a) Disposal of motor vehicles^{[footnote 1]} specifies that the authority may not dispose of the vehicle during the period of 14 days starting with the date on which the vehicle was seized.

Reducing the timeframe will allow the police to more quickly dispose of the vehicle. This is intended to stop offenders from reclaiming the vehicles and reoffending.

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Q1b. Please give reasons for your answer.

Q2a. To what extent do you agree or disagree that we amend timeframes prescribed in ‘working days’ to ‘days’?

The vehicle recovery legislation specifies both ‘working days’ and ‘days’. Seven working days equates to nine days when Saturday and Sunday are included. This is specified in the Police Reform Act 2002 and Road Traffic Act 1998 regulations with timeframes for serving the seizure notice and allowance for the vehicle to be reclaimed. An amendment to the terminology for the time unit measurement of ‘working days’ to ‘days will enable consistency across the legislation for storage and disposal timeframes.

The Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 includes a definition of specified information for working days as

• “working days” shall be taken to exclude Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Day, Good Friday and any day which, under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 is a bank holiday in England and Wales.

The Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005 includes a definition of specified information for working days as

• “working days” shall be taken to exclude Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Day, Good Friday and, in relation to a vehicle retained in England and Wales, any day which, under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, is a bank holiday in England and Wales and, in relation to a vehicle retained in Scotland, any day which, under that Act, is a bank holiday in Scotland.

The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986 and The Police (Retention and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1995 do not include any definition of specified information for working days.

Seven working days can therefore equate to nine days for the period of storage.

Amending ‘working days’ to ‘days’ will enable quicker disposal, a reduction in storage timeframes and consistency across all regulations.

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Q2b. Please give reasons for your answer.

Q3a. To what extent do you agree or disagree on the following combination to harmonise and reduce disposal timeframes?

We consider an amendment to the disposal timeframe prescribed by in The Police (Retention and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1995 with harmonisation with the disposal timeframes as set out in The Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005 and The Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 to all become

1. 7 days from the seizure date

2. 7 working days from date of delivery of the seizure notice or

3. 7 working days from the date it was claimed.

We also consider an amendment from working days to days and reduce the disposal timeframes from when an authority may not dispose for 14 days from the seizure date to 48 hours as set out in The Police (Retention and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1995 and 7 days as set out in The Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005 and The Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 2005

These proposed changes can be summarised as-

Disposal outcome	Police Reform Act 2002	Road Traffic Act 1988	Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
Days from the seizure date	48 hours (currently 14 days)	7 days (currently 14 days)	7 days (currently 3 months)
Days from date of delivery of the seizure notice	7 days (currently 7 working days)	7 days(currently 7 working days)	7 days (currently 21 days)
Days from the date vehicle was claimed	7 days (currently 7 working days)	7 days (currently 7 working days)	7 days (unchanged)

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Q3b. Please give reasons for your answer.

Statutory charges for police vehicle recovery

The statutory charges for police vehicle recovery were last subject to a review in 2021 and since this time increased costs have applied to this type of work. There are obvious causes of increased costs such as higher employee wages, and increased fuel and equipment costs over the last four years.

We feel it is now time to review the charges to ensure that they are fair both to those carrying out the recoveries and to those whose vehicles are being recovered.

Q4a. (Do-nothing) maintaining fees at current levels.

Although the revenue from the current fees offset the costs for individual vehicle recoveries, there is considerable shortfall in fees recovered, due to vehicles that are not reclaimed (mostly vehicles used for crime). By maintaining the current level of fees this shortfall will continue to be incurred with nothing being done to offset any of the losses.

We could do nothing and thereby no increased costs will be passed onto motorists.

However, this could impact on the police and vehicle operators’ ability to deliver a financially sustainable service to the public. This would reduce their ability to enforce the law against anti-social, uninsured and unlicensed driving and keep the roads clear of dangerous obstructions.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the do-nothing option - maintaining fees at current levels - as described above?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Q4b. Please give reasons for your answer.

Q5a. Increase current charges according to the rate of inflation from 2021. This accounts for an increase of the current fees in line with the rate of inflation since 2021.

Inflationary increase of 16.2%

Removals

Vehicle position and condition	Vehicle equal to or less than 3.5 tonnes Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM)	Vehicle exceeding 3.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 7.5 tonnes	Vehicle exceeding 7.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 18 MAM	Vehicle exceeding 18 tonnes MAM
Vehicle on road, upright and not substantially damaged or any two wheeled vehicle whatever its condition or position on or off the road	£223.10	£297.47	£520.58	£520.58
Vehicle, excluding a two wheeled vehicle, on road but either not upright or substantially damaged or both	£371.84	£966.78	Unladen - £2,975.88 Laden - £4,464.40	Unladen - £4,464.40 Laden - £6,696.61
Vehicle, excluding a two wheeled vehicle, off road, upright and not substantially damaged	£297.47	£594.94	Unladen - £1,488.52 Laden - £2,232.20	Unladen - £2,232.20 Laden - £2,975.88
Vehicle, excluding a two wheeled vehicle, off road but either not upright or substantially damaged or both	£446.21	£1,265.42	Unladen - £4,464.40 Laden - £6,696.61	Unladen - £6,696.61 Laden - £8,928.81

Storage (for each period of 24 hours or part thereof)

Two wheeled vehicle	Vehicle, not including a two wheeled vehicle, equal to or less than 3.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 3.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 7.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 7.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 18 MAM	Vehicle exceeding 18 tonnes MAM
£15.11	£30.21	£37.18	£44.16	£52.29

Disposal

Two wheeled vehicle	Vehicle, not including a two wheeled vehicle, equal to or less than 3.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 3.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 7.5 tonnes MAM	Vehicle exceeding 7.5 tonnes MAM but equal to or less than 18 MAM	Vehicle exceeding 18 tonnes MAM
£74.37	£111.55	£148.74	£185.92	£223.10

To what extent do you agree or disagree with an inflationary increase of 16.2% as described above?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

Q5b. Please give reasons for your answer.

Q5c. If you agree with an inflationary increase of 16.2%, do you agree these fees should be rounded to pounds in line with previous charges?

Please give reasons for your answer.

Q6. Could you provide evidence on how your costs have changed since fees were last updated in 2021?

Please provide details on the proportional change in costs you have faced, which costs have change, and what fee change would offset this change.

Q7. Are there any potential unintended consequences of any of these proposals or other factors not currently taken into account that we should consider?

Summary

If all the above proposals on disposal timeframes are agreed and implemented, then the revised timelines for seizure and disposal timeframes will become: -

Under the Police Reform Act 2002, Road Traffic Act 1998 and Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the authority may not dispose of a vehicle until:

Disposal outcome	Police Reform Act 2002	Road Traffic Act 1988	Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
Days from the seizure date	48 hours (currently 14 days)	7 days (currently 14 days)	7 days (currently 3 months)
Days from date of delivery of the seizure notice	7 days (currently 7 working days)	7 days (currently 7 working days)	7 days (currently 21 days)
Days from the date vehicle was claimed	7 days (currently 7 working days)	7 days (currently 7 working days)	7 days (unchanged)

Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, the authority may not seize or dispose of a vehicle until:

Disposal outcome	Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984/ Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978
Period before which seizure notice must be affixed to a vehicle before removing it for destruction.	24 hrs (unchanged)
Period during which owner may remove vehicle from when the notice was served before disposal.	7 days (unchanged)
Period during which owner may remove vehicle before disposal.	7 days (unchanged)

Impact of proposals

Equalities statement

Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 places a duty on Ministers and Departments, when exercising their functions, to have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate conduct which is unlawful under the 2010 Act, advance equality of opportunity between different groups and foster good relationships between different groups. We will undertake a full assessment of the impact of each of our proposals to ensure compliance.

About you

Please use this section to tell us about yourself. Please note you are completing this section voluntarily; your details will be held securely according to the Data Protection Act 2018. We have not asked you for any personal data, however your opinions may constitute personal data and by responding electronically we will have your IP address and/or your email address. These personal data will be deleted one month after the findings of the consultation have been published. We will publish details of who has responded where we have this information.

Job title or capacity in which you are responding to this consultation (for example: police officer, member of the public)

Company name/organisation (if applicable)

Contact details and how to respond

You may respond to the questions in this consultation online or by email to Vehicle_Recovery@homeoffice.gov.uk

Alternatively, you can send in responses to:

Vehicle Recovery Consultation
Police Powers Unit, Policing Policy Directorate, Public Safety Group, Home Office
6th Floor Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London
SW1P 4DF

Complaints or comments

If you have any complaints or comments about the consultation process you should contact us at the address above.

Extra copies

Alternative format versions of this publication can be requested from the Home Office at the above address.

Publication of response

We aim to publish a government response to this consultation as soon as possible

Representative groups

Representative groups are asked to give a summary of the people and organisations they represent when they respond.

Confidentiality

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004).

If you want the information you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Home Office.

The Home Office will process your personal data in accordance with the DPA and in most circumstances, this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.

1. The Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 ↩