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The council has a duty to remove abandoned vehicles – we work proactively to reduce the numbers by prompt investigation and removal if required.
It is an offence to abandon a vehicle, or part of a vehicle, on a highway or on any land in the open air – a person found guilty of this offence can face a fine of up to £2,500.
A fixed Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) can also be issued for this offence.
For further information, please see the document ‘Vehicle removal policies and procedures‘ in the Documents section below.
Vehicles no longer require a tax disc. You can check a vehicle’s tax online – if untaxed you can report to the DVLA. Find more information about reporting an untaxed vehicle at gov.uk.
The following characteristics are usually common to abandoned vehicles, and help us to decide on abandonment:
It is an offence to store non-motor vehicles and structures such as caravans, trailers and boats on the highway. We have a duty to remove these under the Highways Act 1980 and we work proactively to reduce the numbers by prompt investigation and removal if required.
We ask that owners of caravans, trailers, boats, horseboxes etc not to take up parking space by leaving them parked on the street. They take up much-needed parking space on the roads of the city. Read our report on storage of non-motorised vehicles below.
Under the Highways Act 1980 we will put a legal notice on the property, warning that if you don’t remove it within 28 days it will be taken into storage. If the property is not claimed within 14 days, it will be disposed of.
If an item is taken into storage, a fee must be paid to claim it. This starts at £60 for the removal, with storage costs added from £7.14 per day. Once claimed, the property cannot be returned to the public street.
Tips for owners of non-motor vehicles:
There are a number of stages related to abandoned vehicles, below is given a brief overview of this process: