Removal charges, scrapping car.

Amara

Good evening.
My car broke down in Thursday, just outside my town, flat battery. We've removed it with intention to charge it up overnight and come back for it next day. However , I've got a call from police that car windows have been smashed and they removed to place nearly an hour driving away. I've called there and have been told I need to pay £150 removal charges and if I want to scrap the car , I have to either come there, collect it and scrap myself and pay another £20/per day storage charges, either sign over them and they'll do it, but I won't get any money for it. It sounds unfair. Any advice, please?

McKneff

That's normal, what is it that you want, for them to buy it from you.......


That's life..... you choose

Babbawah

Your car became unsafe when the windows were smashed & the Police were right to have it removed. However, it can be argued that they should at least attempt to contact you first before removal by the contractor.

Did they do this?

If not, you should complain to the Police that had you been given the chance you would have returned to the car to make it safe, thus you wouldn't have incurred any statutory removal & storage charges.

Amara

Babbawah wrote: »

Your car became unsafe when the windows were smashed & the Police were right to have it removed. However, it can be argued that they should at least attempt to contact you first before removal by the contractor.

Did they do this?

If not, you should complain to the Police that had you been given the chance you would have returned to the car to make it safe, thus you wouldn't have incurred any statutory removal & storage charges.

No, nobody has contacted me. Car was left in safe place, policeman admitted it, it looks like some stupid kids had fun .

Babbawah

Amara wrote: »

No, nobody has contacted me. Car was left in safe place, policeman admitted it, it looks like some stupid kids had fun .

Regardless of how safe a place you parked it, it became unsafe when the windows were smashed. The Police cannot leave a vehicle unattended in a public place in this condition.

i.e kids smash windows . . . Police arrive, kids scatter . . . Police leave . . . kids return, set fire to car.

If it were my car I would argue with the Police that they should have attempted to contact ME before their recovery contractor to give ME the chance to secure or remove the car.

AdrianC

Amara wrote: »

Any advice, please?

If you plan to keep the car, you could just pass the bill for recovery to your insurer along with the one for the vandalism damage.

But, nope, what the Police did is absolutely fair enough. If you wanted to arrange for the car to be recovered yourself, you should have done that when it first broke down.

Captaincodpiece

Babbawah wrote: »

Regardless of how safe a place you parked it, it became unsafe when the windows were smashed. The Police cannot leave a vehicle unattended in a public place in this condition.

i.e kids smash windows . . . Police arrive, kids scatter . . . Police leave . . . kids return, set fire to car.

If it were my car I would argue with the Police that they should have attempted to contact ME before their recovery contractor to give ME the chance to secure or remove the car.

Bit of a contradiction there, how would you have secured it?

If it's not causing and obstruction an insecure vehicle is nothing to do with the police and they are not obliged to move it unless it's been burnt out.

Babbawah

Captaincodpiece wrote: »

Bit of a contradiction there, how would you have secured it?

If it's not causing and obstruction an insecure vehicle is nothing to do with the police and they are not obliged to move it unless it's been burnt out.

I could quite easily secure a vehicle that is awaiting a new/charged battery simply by "sitting" in it untill the new/charged battery arrived !

You are wrong about an insecure vehicle being nothing to do with the Police & they ARE obliged to ensure it's safe if it's left in a public place.

This has nothing to do with whether the Police were right or wrong to move the vehicle, this is about giving the owner the chance to put right what is wrong before they incur any costs.

Captaincodpiece

Babbawah wrote: »

I could quite easily secure a vehicle that is awaiting a new/charged battery simply by "sitting" in it untill the new/charged battery arrived !

You are wrong about an insecure vehicle being nothing to do with the Police & they ARE obliged to move it to a place of safety if it's in a public place.

This has nothing to do with whether the Police were right or wrong to move the vehicle, this is about giving the owner the chance to put right what is wrong before they incur any costs.

Says who?
They are only obliged to remove burnt out vehicles as they are considered a risk to public health.


And if it were the case why aren't the removing convertibles left with the roof down in the summer.

Captaincodpiece

Babbawah wrote: »

I could quite easily secure a vehicle that is awaiting a new/charged battery simply by "sitting" in it untill the new/charged battery arrived !

You are wrong about an insecure vehicle being nothing to do with the Police & they ARE obliged to ensure it's safe if it's left in a public place.

This has nothing to do with whether the Police were right or wrong to move the vehicle, this is about giving the owner the chance to put right what is wrong before they incur any costs.

I'd beg to differ, if the police have removed the vehicle for an inappropriate reason why should he be liable for costs.

Rover_Driver

Captaincodpiece wrote: »

If it's not causing and obstruction an insecure vehicle is nothing to do with the police and they are not obliged to move it unless it's been burnt out.

The police have powers to remove abandoned vehicles:


s.99, Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and
s.4, The Road Vehicles Removal & Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986.