Who do you call when the Police takes your car?

agrinnall

pusched wrote: »

She just told me that the police has the rights to take the car and they have no means to return it!

This is clearly nonsense, if they can take it away then they can bring it back. What they really mean is that they won't bring it back, which is an entirely different thing, and something that I think you should challenge.

forgotmyname

Report it stolen. Hire a car and send them the bill?

Battery goes flat after a few days you need a new battery or sort out whats draining the battery so quickly.

iammumtoone

I have had a car taken away for forensics luckily it was parked local at the time and taken to the local pound.

I needed something from inside it so was allowed to go to the pound to collect my belonging, the police were every helpful telling me I could contact the pound direct to arrange. I was not allowed to go near or touch the car the pound manager got out what I requested but I did get to look round it at a distance. I also took the key to them at the same time.

I realise this was different for me as I was local, do you have any other means of transport to get to see your car? You really need to look at it to see if it has been damaged for a possible insurance claim.

phoenix_w

Fat_Walt wrote: »

So you've personal experience of police corruption?

Completely off topic, of course, I'm not talking big mafioso crime here, I'm referring to them taking the easy route rather than doing their job.

A fairly innocuous example from my own repertoire: I worked in a shop where a repeat offender criminal stole something, it was reported and rather than book him the copper went to the guy's house - retrieved the cash from them and bought it back. Essentially relegating themselves to being a bad guys delivery service.

A more serious example from my colleague: His car got hit and majorly damaged by someone who left a note full of false information on his windshield. He ended up doing his own detective work and used CCTV from the building to identify the perpetrator who worked nearby and confronted them - they admitted they damaged his car. He went to the police to hand over the "leaving the scene" information and got told they couldn't be bothered to investigate because it's in the hands of the insurers.

I have a few more if we ever find ourselves together in a pub someday :-)

Robisere

OP I feel a great deal of sympathy for you. In your circumstances, I would check your County Constabulary online, find the name of the Chief Constable, and write to him regarding this. Keep it brief and fact-oriented, dates and names of the officers involved if you have them, as in 'Officer xxxxxx (and officer xxxx if more than one) called on xx/xx/xxxx to take my car whilst I was not at home. describe as much of the conversations with Police as you can recall. Tell the C.C. that you are without transport and your working life may be compromised as a result.

That is what I did some years ago, when I was arrested by a poice officer for a crime of assault. I had witnesses who told police that I was with them at the time. Their statements were ignored. Two detectives came to my home to rearrest me the next day, received a message whilst at my house, to say that the "victim" had admitted falling on his head onto the corner of a brick wall, whilst drunk. This man had made up a story that I had attacked him in the dark, at a time when I was in a Social Club for more than 2 hours, before going home. the'victim, had been injured whilst I was away, it transpired that he made up the story as revenge for failing to get permission to change some features of his house. He mistakenly believed that I was the neighbour who had objected to the Planning Authority about this.

The C.C. in my case sent me a fine apology and a small sum in compensation. It is my belief that you should receive a little more than a small sum.

interstellaflyer

Car_54 wrote: »

Isn't it reasonable that the investigation of a serious violent crime (possibly a murder) should take priority over the OP's inconvenience?

Is it not also reasonable for the police to have the means of compensating people in these situations, the op wasn't involved in the crime, the car was taken because there may have been some phorensic evidence on it not because the op was involved, I'm sure you would be more than a little annoyed if your car had be taken without your knowledge and then given the run around when trying to get some idea of how to get it back or how long they need it, wha t if the op needs the car for work, what if like me the op doesn't have money to hire a car in the mean time?

DoaM

If the OP's car was taken and no notice was left with the OP / sent to the registered keeper's address then (to all intents and purposes) the vehicle has been stolen.

Of course the OP subsequently found out what happened, but this wasn't volunteered by the police.

OP should not be out of pocket or inconvenienced by the police actions.

Johno100

DoaM wrote: »

If the OP's car was taken and no notice was left with the OP / sent to the registered keeper's address then (to all intents and purposes) the vehicle has been stolen.

Yes, you would at the very least have expected a note to have been pushed through the OP's door if he wasn't in for a personal visit to explain what was going on. That failure in itself is grounds for an official complaint, but one I'm sure the OP would readily withdraw if the forensic review and return of his vehicle was expedited.

Happychappy

By far the easiest way to get answers is ring up and ask to speak to an Inspector and make an official complaint, they are duty bound to make enquiries and respond, it is not a complaint about an individual officer, purely a procedural complaint in that nobody has informed you or kept you informed.

I assume the car was registered in your name and therefore the owner was known to the police, so no excuse, unless you were involved in the case.

Richard53

If the police break down the door of your house by mistake, because the reported criminal activity was next door, it is my understanding that they would make good any damage at their expense.


I would say that if you suffer any damage to the car (towing it away without the keys, breaking into the interior, perhaps) or inconvenience (being without the car for a significant period, financial losses) then it is up to them to put it right.


But I could be being optimistic here. There was a break-in at my workplace a few years ago. The police asked if they could take away my leather key-case (taken from my desk and used to open cabinets etc) for forensics, and of course I agreed. It was one of the very few personal things I had when my father died, and I was sentimentally attached to it, so after a week or two I asked when I was going to get it back. Sorry, Sir, it's been destroyed. Didn't we tell you?


A very minor matter in the grand scheme of things, but it p!ssed me off at the time, and still niggles me a bit.