Abandoned vehicles on private land
If a vehicle has been left on private land without the landowner's permission, it may be removed under the abandoned vehicles procedure.
Before requesting removal, the landowner should:
- Try to trace the owner of the vehicle to request its removal from private property
- If the registered keeper cannot be found, place a notice on the vehicle stating that if it is not removed from private property within seven days then the vehicle will be taken away and disposed
Landowners may be asked to provide documentary proof that these procedures have been followed. You will also need to sign a declaration giving permission to access the land to remove the vehicle.
How to report abandoned vehicle
You can report an abandoned vehicle by completing the online form.
Before you fill in this form
You won't be able to save this form to complete later, so please allow yourself five minutes to fill in the form.
We will need your contact details as the DVLA require us to be able to identify the person making a report of an abandoned vehicle as a condition of making enquiries on their database.
You will need to provide the following information:
Registration number of the vehicle
Any photos of the vehicle
What happens next
We will inspect the vehicle and assess the risk. This is usually within a week but for burnout vehicles, we aim to inspect within 24 hours.
Once our officers inspect the vehicle and photographs are taken, we will then do a DVLA check to attempt to contact the registered keeper and monitor the vehicle.
If the vehicle has no registered keeper, we place a seven-day destruction notice on the vehicle.
Please be aware that we cannot tell you the outcome of our investigations or who owns the vehicle.
