Less than 10% of the vehicles reported to us as abandoned are actually abandoned – some will have broken down; the rest of them are parked somewhere that a member of the public may feel is inconvenient. There are a number of reasons why parked vehicles cause an inconvenience - family members/visitors can’t park right outside a property, there’s limited parking on the road, the vehicle is a bit of an eyesore or it could be due to a neighbour dispute.
Sometimes vehicles can be parked somewhere for a long period of time. There may be legitimate reasons why, for example:
- the owner's visiting relatives
- the owner's sick, in hospital or is unable to drive
- the owner's on holiday
- the vehicle's broken down
We do not have powers to remove parked vehicles.
If a vehicle is parked dangerously or is causing an obstruction (for emergency services vehicles) report this to the police.
If you think a vehicle is stolen please call the police on 101 – we do not have access to information on stolen vehicles.
We have powers to remove abandoned vehicles. An abandoned vehicle is likely to have at least one of these characteristics:
- is in poor condition - has sustained accident damage, is burnt out or vandalised, has a number of flat tyres, is missing parts, has broken windows
- has not been moved for a long period of time (more than 3 months)
- has no tax or MOT
- is unlocked
- has been ‘hot-wired’ i.e. driven without keys by connecting ignition wires together (if it has, there will be wires hanging from the dashboard)
You can report vehicles that aren't taxed to the DVLA.
Report an abandoned vehicle
If you think a vehicle has been abandoned rather than parked, please report it to us via MyAccount: