Part VIII Control and Enforcement

Removal or immobilisation of vehicles

102 Charges for removal, storage and disposal of vehicles.

(1)

The provisions of this section shall have effect where a vehicle—

(a)

is removed from a parking place in pursuance of an order to which section 101 of this Act applies, or

(b)

is removed from a road, or from land in the open air, in pursuance of regulations under section 99 of this Act.

(2)

In any such case—

(a)

the appropriate authority shall be entitled to recover from any person responsible such charges as may be prescribed in respect of the removal of the vehicle;

(b)

the chief officer of a police force or a local authority in whose custody any such vehicle is during any period shall be entitled to recover from any person responsible charges ascertained by reference to a prescribed scale in respect of that period; and

(c)

the chief officer of a police force or a local authority who dispose of any such vehicle in pursuance of section 101 of this Act shall be entitled to recover from any person responsible charges determined in the prescribed manner in respect of its disposal.

(3)

Any sum recoverable by virtue of this section shall, in England or Wales, be recoverable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction or, in the case of a sum not exceeding £20, summarily as a civil debt.

(4)

Without prejudice to subsection (3) above, where by virtue of paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) above any sum is recoverable in respect of a vehicle by the chief officer of a police force or a local authority in whose custody the vehicle is, the chief officer or local authority shall be entitled to retain custody of it until that sum has been paid.

(5)

The court by which a person is convicted of an offence under section 2(1) of the M1Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 in respect of a motor vehicle may, on the application of an authority and in addition to any other order made by the court in relation to that person, order him to pay to the authority any sum which, in the opinion of the court, the authority are entitled to recover from him under this section in respect of the vehicle.

(6)

For the purposes of this section a vehicle removed, as mentioned in subsection (1) above, F1by the council of a non-metropolitan district in England shall be treated as in the custody of the council of the county comprising that district while it is in the custody of the district council by whom it was so removed.

(7)

Any sum recovered under this section by the chief officer of a police force shall be paid into the police fund.

(8)

In this section—

“appropriate authority”—

  1. (a)

    in relation to a vehicle removed by a constable or a person acting in aid of a police force, means the chief officer of the police force to which the constable belongs or in whose aid that person was acting, and

  2. (b)

    in relation to a vehicle removed (by a person other than a constable or person acting in aid of a police force) from a parking place outside Greater London provided or controlled by a local authority, or from a parking place designated under section 6 of this Act, or from a place (not being a parking place) on a road or land in the open air, means the local authority in whose area that place is,

and for the purposes of paragraph (b) above a parking place provided under a letting or arrangements made by a local authority in pursuance of section 33(4) of this Act shall be treated as provided by the local authority;

“person responsible”, in relation to a vehicle, means—

(a)

the owner of the vehicle at the time when it was put in the place from which it was removed as mentioned in subsection (1) above, unless he shows that he was not concerned in, and did not know of, its being put there;

(b)

any person by whom the vehicle was put in that place;

(c)

any person convicted of an offence under section 2(1) of the M2Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 in consequence of the putting of the vehicle in that place; and

“local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by section 100(5) and “vehicle” has the meaning assigned to it by section 99(5) of this Act.