Abandoned vehicles

You can report an abandoned vehicle like a dumped car to us if it has no valid road tax and is on a public road. The land owner will need to be involved if you are reporting an abandoned vehicle on private land or a private road.

Abandoning a vehicle is a criminal offence which could result in a fixed penatly notice of up to £200 or a criminal conviction and a court fine not exceeding £2,500.

How to tell if a vehicle has been abandoned

The Department of the Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has no legal definition of 'abandonment'. However, vehicles can be classed as abandoned if:

• there is no valid road tax, and
• there is no registered keeper
• the vehicle has suffered substantial damaged, run down or does not appear to be roadworthy
• the vehicle contains a substantial amount of waste
• the vehicle has been stationary for a significant amount of time
• the vehicle has no number plates

Where is the vehicle

The action we can take will depend upon where the vehicle is.

If a vehicle has been abandoned on a public road

If you see what appears to be an abandoned vehicle on the public highway (not on council housing land) you can report the details to us.

You will first need to check if the vehicle is taxed on the DVLA website.

We can only take action if the vehicle has no valid road tax.

If a vehicle has been abandoned on private land or a private road

The land owner, or agent acting on behalf of the land owner, will need to make the referral to us.

If you are not the land owner you will need to contact the land owner or agent and ask them to speak to us.

Instructions to act

The landowner will need to provide us with written instructions to act in which they state they do not want the vehicle on their land and the reason why.

Report an abandoned vehicle

You can report an abandoned vehicle using our online form.

Report now

Or you can contact us directly.

• Telephone: 01799 510510
• Email: uconnect@uttlesford.gov.uk or environmentalhealth@uttlesford.gov.uk
• You can also get in touch with us using alternative methods via our contact us page.

This information will then be passed on to our enforcement team to investigate.
 

What we will do

Once we have been told that a vehicle appears to be abandoned the information or 'referral' will be passed to an enforcement officer. An officer will review the information and decide whether the vehicle has been abandoned or not.

If in their opinion the vehicle is deemed to be abandoned, the enforcement officer will:

• carry out a DVLA check for current keeper details (if held)
• visit the site within 5 working days
• place a 15 day notice on the vehicle
• write to the registered keeper, requesting removal of the vehicle within fifteen days from the date of the notice
• if the DVLA does not hold any current keeper details and the landowner instructs in writing, then the vehicle can be removed immediately and subsequently destroyed
• issue a Fixed Penalty Notice
• instruct legal proceedings