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Power to immobilise or seize and detain vehicle belonging to person against whom warrant of arrest is in force

Road Traffic Act 1961

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—(1) Where a vehicle which is being used or parked on a road or in a parking place is registered in the name of a person against whom a warrant of arrest is in force, a police officer or an employee of the Authority may —(a)immobilise the vehicle or cause the vehicle to be immobilised, if it is stationary; or(b)seize the vehicle and detain it at a place of safety or cause the vehicle to be seized and detained at a place of safety,and the vehicle must remain so immobilised or detained at the risk of the owner thereof until it is released by order of a Magistrate, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar.(2) The powers conferred by subsection (1) on a police officer may also be exercised by the police officer in respect of any vehicle which is registered in the name of a person against whom a warrant of arrest is in force and which is being used or parked in a public place.(3) Without affecting subsections (1) and (2) but subject to subsection (4), where a police officer, in attempting to execute a warrant of arrest at any private premises, finds at those private premises any vehicle which is registered in the name of the person against whom the warrant of arrest has been issued, the police officer may —(a)immobilise the vehicle or cause the vehicle to be immobilised, if it is stationary; or(b)seize the vehicle and detain it at a place of safety or cause the vehicle to be seized and detained at a place of safety,and the vehicle must remain so immobilised or detained at the risk of the owner thereof until it is released by order of a Magistrate, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar.(4) Nothing in subsection (3) authorises a police officer to immobilise or seize and detain any vehicle which the police officer finds at any private premises unless, despite all reasonable effort, the police officer is unable at the private premises to effect the arrest of the person against whom the warrant of arrest has been issued.(5) For the purposes of subsections (1), (2) and (3) —(a)a police officer or an employee of the Authority may require any person who is driving or who is in charge of the vehicle —(i)to stop the vehicle;(ii)to take the vehicle to any place of safety specified by the police officer or employee of the Authority; or(iii)to render such other cooperation as the police officer or employee of the Authority may reasonably require; and(b)a Magistrate, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar may —(i)refuse to order the release of any vehicle that has been immobilised or seized and detained under either of those subsections until the person in whose name the vehicle is registered has been arrested in connection with the warrant of arrest in force against him or her or has surrendered himself or herself to a police officer or the warrant of arrest in force against him or her has been cancelled by a court; and(ii)require the person to whom the vehicle is released to pay any charges prescribed for the release of the vehicle.(6) Where a police officer or an employee of the Authority has immobilised or seized and detained a vehicle under this section, he or she must with all reasonable despatch notify the person in whose name the vehicle is registered of the immobilisation or seizure —(a)of the procedure by which the person may secure the release of the vehicle; and(b)that unless within 3 months of the date specified in the notification the person surrenders himself or herself to a police officer in connection with the warrant of arrest in force against him or her, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Authority may proceed to sell or dispose of the vehicle.(7) The notification under subsection (6) may be given —(a)where the vehicle has been immobilised, by affixing a notice onto the windscreen or any other conspicuous part of the vehicle; or(b)where the vehicle has been seized and detained, in a manner allowed under section 131A.(8) Any person who —(a)without the authority of a police officer or an employee of the Authority removes or tampers with any notice affixed onto a vehicle under subsection (7)(a); or(b)without the authority of a Magistrate, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar —(i)removes or tampers with any device or appliance which has been fixed to a vehicle by a police officer or an employee of the Authority for the purpose of immobilising it pursuant to this section; or(ii)removes any vehicle from the place at which it has been immobilised or from the place of safety where it is being detained or causes the vehicle to be so removed,shall be guilty of an offence.(9) If upon the expiry of 3 months from the date specified in the notification given under subsection (6) the person in whose name the vehicle is registered has not surrendered himself or herself to a police officer or has not been arrested in connection with the warrant of arrest in force against him or her, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Authority, after giving one month’s notice in the Gazette of the Deputy Commissioner of Police’s or the Authority’s intention to do so, may sell the vehicle by public auction or otherwise dispose of the vehicle in any manner that the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Authority thinks fit.(10) The proceeds (if any) from the sale or disposal of the vehicle must be applied in payment of —(a)any taxes, fees or charges under this Act or the rules which may be due from the person in whose name the vehicle is registered; and(b)any charges incurred in carrying out the provisions of this section,and the surplus (if any) must be paid to the person in whose name the vehicle is registered, or if not claimed by the person within 12 months after the date of the sale or disposal, is forfeited to the Government.(11) Any person who obstructs or hinders the Authority or any employee of the Authority, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or any police officer acting in the discharge of his or her duty under this section shall be guilty of an offence.(12) The Authority or any employee of the Authority, the Deputy Commissioner of Police and any police officer shall not be liable for any damage to or loss of any vehicle or the contents thereof which is not wilfully or negligently caused by them in the exercise of their powers under this section.(13) In this section —“immobilise”, in relation to a vehicle, means to prevent the removal of the vehicle by fixing to the vehicle a device or appliance which is —(a)designed or adapted for the purpose of preventing the removal of the vehicle; and(b)approved by the Authority or the Deputy Commissioner of Police for use for the purpose of this section;“warrant of arrest” means a warrant of arrest issued by a court against a person in connection with any offence committed by the person under —(a)this Act or the rules; or(b)the Parking Places Act 1974 or any rules made under that Act.

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