Police screw up. legal help please?

Middlers

The police recover stolen vehicles to protect them from being restolen, set on fire and/or to prevent further loss to the owner. The garages they use are all bona-fide garages which have been vetted for security and have secure compounds in which to store your property until it can be collected. Fingerprinting etc will be done prior to the owner collecting - it is not normally held past this time as the owner has an option to collect asap. The police charge a nominal fee to each garage for each recovery - this goes towards the administration of this service. When you report your car stolen you would normally be asked if you want informing immediately it is found whatever the hour, whether you would like it recovering if found (if found in an inappropriate position ie causing obstruction or similar it will be recovered whatever your requests). Your £105 covers the call-out of a garage at any hour (that is at least one person and a recovery truck) and the recovery of your vehicle to a safe location and it's first nights storage. Subsequent storage is charged at around £12 per day. Good value these days. This is all recoverable from your insurance and shouldn't affect your insurance if you have paid the little extra for claims protection. If the police catch the criminal you could be compensated through the courts.
If you lose your pet dog and it is brought into the police station and housed until collection you are liable to a collection fee which covers it's food and lodging - this is no different. If all that the police do for people was put through the taxes alot of people would not be able to afford their council tax. As these things don't happen to everyone it is only fair that those it happens to pay and not those who have not had their car stolen or let their dog loose.

daveturney

well thank you, most of you anyway.
it seems this is an ongoing inconvenience to the victim.

a letter to my MP and chief const. are on the way.
it is some screwed up world we live in.

daveturney

Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, police have the power to charge costs for recovering abandoned vehicles.


ok, apart from upon the police now know that the vehicle was not abandodned, it was stolen ( and abandoned )
thinline in legal wording i think?

Butlers1982

well thank you,

Dont mention it, its what we are here for . . . . . .

spender

Within London normally they ask when you report the car stolen whether you want it removed to a storage pound as normally car insurance covers this. If you answer no they leave it where it is found.

daveturney

spender wrote: »

Within London normally they ask when you report the car stolen whether you want it removed to a storage pound as normally car insurance covers this. If you answer no they leave it where it is found.

im in newcastle..and by the time we knew it ahd gone, it had allready been picked up without us knowing.

digp

computerwoman wrote: »

your car insurance should cover this and that's why the police don't pay...that's why you have insurance...:D

Nonsense.

It's because Blair and his idiots changed the law making it mandatory for you to pay. The police no doubt get a cut so out goes common sense and they just tow cars. It would be interesting to know how the car storage companies get their contracts. Doubt it is open market tender.

digp

Middlers wrote: »

The police recover stolen vehicles to protect them from being restolen, set on fire and/or to prevent further loss to the owner. The garages they use are all bona-fide garages which have been vetted for security and have secure compounds in which to store your property until it can be collected. Fingerprinting etc will be done prior to the owner collecting - it is not normally held past this time as the owner has an option to collect asap. The police charge a nominal fee to each garage for each recovery - this goes towards the administration of this service. When you report your car stolen you would normally be asked if you want informing immediately it is found whatever the hour, whether you would like it recovering if found (if found in an inappropriate position ie causing obstruction or similar it will be recovered whatever your requests). Your £105 covers the call-out of a garage at any hour (that is at least one person and a recovery truck) and the recovery of your vehicle to a safe location and it's first nights storage. Subsequent storage is charged at around £12 per day. Good value these days. This is all recoverable from your insurance and shouldn't affect your insurance if you have paid the little extra for claims protection. If the police catch the criminal you could be compensated through the courts.
If you lose your pet dog and it is brought into the police station and housed until collection you are liable to a collection fee which covers it's food and lodging - this is no different. If all that the police do for people was put through the taxes alot of people would not be able to afford their council tax. As these things don't happen to everyone it is only fair that those it happens to pay and not those who have not had their car stolen or let their dog loose.

Work for them do you?

oldbill1969

digp wrote: »

Work for them do you?

Why be sarcastic, you have been provided with the facts on how the Police deal with these matters.
I can imagine the press headlines if the Police found a stolen vehicle and left it because they were unable to contact the owner, then it was stolen again.
Or perhaps a Police Officer should stay with the vehicle for an indefinate time until they were able to get hold of the owner. It seems that the police will never win. Damned if you do, damned if you don't

daveturney

the problem it seems is not with "the police", but with the system as it seems, some forces operate a "we uplift the car, we pay" as other forces simply pass the buck.

I still firmly beleive that as i pay my taxes, this £105 should be covered in the work done to solve the crime commited. The finger prints gained will not only help me but also add to a database and could even help solve older or future crimes.

The car was only taken to the garage on the order that it needed to be finger printed. Not because it was blocking the way, or in the middle of the road or feild, because the police force of newcastle wanted to finger print it...this was decided long before they knew whos car it was and long before it was reported stolen.