Statutory Removal Fee

[superstottie]

Hi there

 

My Husband managed to spin our car on thurday making a complete mess of it and leaving it with a blown tyre so he was unable to move it. The police attended the scene as it was a busy main road and he was sideways accross it and got a recovery operator out to recover it. When we wnet to recover our car the next day they informed us that on top of the £105 statutory removal fee we would also have to pay £40 for the use of a winch! From my understanding thay shouldn't be able to do this! I have found this Frequently Asked Questions and from what I can tell they must release the car upon paymant of the £105 and that the insurance company may decided to pay more if they want to. Also in the letter we got from the garage it states "as an Appointed Recovery Operator we may have additional cost incurred in recovering your vehicle into a position where it could be removed." Which implies that they will charge more if it was say down an inbankment and they had to use a hi-ab etc to drag it out but our car was at the side of the road and simply needed put on the back of the wagon!

 

They were also trying to charge me a storage charge as it had been there overnight but from what i can tell it doesn't come into effect till noon the day after it was recovered ie Friday.

 

Any help would be greatfully accepted as this whole matter is costing me enough money without garages trying to rip us off!

 

Bex

 

P.S. Its also quite funny how they could deliver it to our home address for £30 using the winch when it costs £40 for use of the winch????

[Rob S]

I understand the statutory fee is £105 plus storage charges of £12 per day after the first 24 hours. But according to this site:-

 

Avon and Somerset Constabulary - Vehicle removal

 

they can charge for additional equipment needed in the removal of the vehicle.

 

However, this site:-

 

Stolen Vehicles

 

reads a bit differently.

 

"However, if the recovery of the vehicle was particularly difficult or involved specialist equipment) e.g. burnt out vehicle/overturned vehicle, the recovery operator may charge additional justifiable costs."

 

It might be worthwhile asking them to justify their charges and the use of the winch. It might also be worth asking them if all their recovery trucks are fitted with a winch. If they are, then I would see it it as difficult for them to justify having to obtain specialist equipment if all their vehicles are fitted with a winch.

[bankbustermum]

my husband is a police recovery contractor. If theres anything he can help with just ask.

 

Winching is part of the recovery, if it didnt require winching you wouldn't required recovery. Which means it was not drivable. If the car was down an embankmeny say and required 2 men to do it safely you can justify a labour charge. Can you be more detailed about the accident and where and if who recovered it (pm me of course with this) and i will try and help you out.

[Recovery Man]

Hi The Law is quite clear here, the statutory removal fee at present is £105 there are no extras chargable to the public! and in fact to go to the true point of Law you should pay your 105 to the Police that is why it is exempt of VAT. type in Judge Bevington or the Mansfield case into Google and all will be revealled. Police Recoveries have been a Licence to print money for many for years until a Company was formed by 23 hard done by Recovery operators called Auto Rescue Logistics, they in turn formed ARL who now work for many Major Insurance Companies, who were sick and tired of gross overcharging backed up by the Police,whilst they took Mansfields to Court this was a test case! clearly the job was worth more than £105 but they refused to negotiate! They refused to negioate and this huge overturned Artic Truck was removed from Mansfields yard for £105. Also did you know that Unless the accident vehicle is involved in Crime or injury has occured then Motorists Requests must be observed at all times! this was said by Earl Atlee in the House of Lords.