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Removal and detention, etc., of abandoned or illegally parked vehicles

Parking Places Act 1974

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Wrong or mistyped textWrong structure or numberingWrong title or detailsDuplicated content

Proposed text

—(1) Where a vehicle —(a)has been permitted to remain at rest in a parking place in such a position or in such condition or circumstances as to appear to the Superintendent or an authorised officer to have been abandoned without lawful authority;(b)is parked in a parking place in contravention of any provision of this Act or any rules made under this Act; or(c)being owned by a person against whom a warrant of arrest is in force, is parked in a parking place,the Superintendent or authorised officer may —(d)remove the vehicle to a place of safety or any other place and detain it at the place of safety or any other place; or(e)prevent the removal of the vehicle from the parking place without his or her consent by fixing an immobilisation device to the vehicle.(2) Where a vehicle (within the meaning given by the Shared Mobility Enterprises (Control and Licensing) Act 2020) has been permitted to remain at rest in a public place (also within the meaning given by that Act) —(a)in such a position or in such condition or circumstances as to appear to the Authority or an enforcement officer or outsourced enforcement officer to have been abandoned; (b)is evidence of the commission of an offence under section 8C or any regulations made under section 8S (as in force before 22 July 2020) or section 8(1), 9(1) or 28(3) of the Shared Mobility Enterprises (Control and Licensing) Act 2020 or any regulations made under that Act; or (c)is parked in contravention of any provision of this Act or any subsidiary legislation made under this Act, or any other written law,an enforcement officer or outsourced enforcement officer may remove the vehicle to a place of safety or any other place and detain it at the place of safety or any other place.(3) Where the Superintendent or an authorised officer, enforcement officer or outsourced enforcement officer has removed any vehicle to a place of safety or any other place under subsection (1)(d) or (2) or fixed an immobilisation device to the vehicle under subsection (1)(e), the Superintendent, authorised officer, enforcement officer or outsourced enforcement officer (as the case may be) must, with all reasonable despatch, give written notice to the owner of the vehicle (if known) as to the procedure by which the owner may secure the release of the vehicle, and the notice must be served on the owner of the vehicle —(a)in the case where the Superintendent or an authorised officer, enforcement officer or outsourced enforcement officer has removed the vehicle to a place of safety or any other place, in accordance with section 18; or(b)in the case where the Superintendent or authorised officer has fixed an immobilisation device to the vehicle, by affixing the notice onto the windscreen or any other conspicuous part of the vehicle.(4) A vehicle which has been removed and detained or to which an immobilisation device has been fixed in accordance with this section must not be released to the owner of the vehicle except —(a)by or under the direction of the Superintendent or an authorised officer or enforcement officer; and(b)upon the owner of the vehicle having paid all expenses incurred by the Superintendent or the authorised officer, enforcement officer or outsourced enforcement officer, and any other charges that may be imposed under this Act or any rules made under this Act,and the vehicle shall remain at the risk of the owner of the vehicle until all the expenses and charges mentioned in paragraph (b) have been paid.(5) Where, under subsection (1)(c), the Superintendent or an authorised officer has removed a vehicle to a place of safety or any other place or fixed an immobilisation device to a vehicle, the Superintendent or authorised officer may refuse to release the vehicle unless the Superintendent or authorised officer is satisfied that the owner of the vehicle has been arrested or has surrendered himself or herself to a police officer or the warrant of arrest in force against the owner has been cancelled by a court.(6) Any person who, without the authority of the Superintendent or an authorised officer, removes or tampers with any notice affixed to a vehicle under subsection (3)(b) shall be guilty of an offence. (7) Any person who, without being authorised to do so in accordance with this section, removes or attempts to remove —(a)any vehicle from any place at which it is being detained under this section; or(b)an immobilisation device fixed to a vehicle in accordance with this section,shall be guilty of an offence.(8) Subject to this section, every vehicle that is removed to a place of safety or any other place under subsection (2)(a) or (b) is liable to forfeiture under this section.(9) An order for the forfeiture under this section may be made by the Authority if it is satisfied —(a)for a vehicle which is removed to a place of safety or any other place under subsection (2)(a), that at the end of 30 days after the date of the removal, no claim to the vehicle is made in the prescribed manner to the Authority before the end of that period and there is no prosecution with regard to any offence involving that vehicle; and(b)for a vehicle which is removed to a place of safety or any other place under subsection (2)(b), that the vehicle was the subject matter, or was used in the commission, of an offence under section 8C or any regulations made under section 8S (as in force before 22 July 2020) or section 8(1), 9(1) or 28(3) of the Shared Mobility Enterprises (Control and Licensing) Act 2020 or any regulations made under that Act, and —(i)a person is convicted of the offence;(ii)a person who is reasonably suspected of having committed the offence has that offence compounded under section 12 of this Act or section 37 of the Shared Mobility Enterprises (Control and Licensing) Act 2020, as the case may be; or(iii)at the end of 30 days after the date of the removal, no claim to the vehicle is made in the prescribed manner to the Authority before the end of that period and there is no prosecution with regard to that offence.(10) Upon receipt of a claim mentioned in subsection (9)(a) or (b)(iii), the Authority may direct that the vehicle be released or may refer the matter by information to a Magistrate.(11) The Magistrate must, on receipt of any information under subsection (10), or on the written application of the Public Prosecutor, hold an inquiry and proceed to determine the matter and must, on proof that the vehicle was used in the commission of an offence under section 8C or any regulations made under section 8S (as in force before 22 July 2020) or section 8(1), 9(1) or 28(3) of the Shared Mobility Enterprises (Control and Licensing) Act 2020 or any regulations made under that Act, order the vehicle to be forfeited, or may in the absence of such proof order its release.(12) In any proceedings under subsection (11), the burden of proof lies on the person asserting that the person is the owner of the vehicle concerned, and on the person from whom the vehicle was seized, as the case may be.(13) In any proceedings in any court in respect of the forfeiture of any vehicle removed in exercise or the purported exercise of any power conferred under subsection (2)(a) or (b), no person is entitled to the costs of those proceedings or to any damages or other relief except an order for the return of the vehicle, unless the removal was made without reasonable or probable cause.(14) Where any vehicle which has been removed and detained or to which an immobilisation device has been fixed in accordance with this section is not earlier forfeited under this section and is not claimed by its owner within one month of the date of its detention or immobilisation, the Superintendent or an authorised officer or enforcement officer may, after giving one month’s notice in the Gazette of his or her intention to do so, sell the vehicle by public auction or otherwise dispose of the vehicle in any manner as he or she thinks fit. (15) Where a vehicle has been sold or otherwise disposed of under subsection (14), the proceeds of the sale or disposal of the vehicle are to be applied in payment of any expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this section and thereafter are to be applied in payment of all charges and fines payable under this Act and any rules made under this Act and the surplus (if any) must be paid to the owner of the vehicle, or if not claimed by the owner of the vehicle within 12 months of the date of the sale or disposal, must be forfeited to the Authority. (16) The Superintendent may waive, in whole or in part, any expense or charge payable under subsection (4).(17) In this section —“authorised officer” means an officer of a statutory body authorised by the Superintendent for the purpose of this section;“immobilisation device” means any device or appliance designed or adapted to be fixed to any part of a vehicle for the purpose of preventing the vehicle from being driven or otherwise put in motion, being a device or an appliance of a type approved by the Superintendent for use for that purpose in accordance with this section;“owner”, in relation to a vehicle, has the meaning given by section 14, and “owned” is to be construed accordingly;“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 any rules made under this Act; or (b)the Road Traffic Act 1961 or any rules made under that Act.

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