Contractors Re Towed Vehicles

The names of any contractors employed by your force to tow away illegally parked vehicles
- Provide the latest annual figures for the amount of illegally parked cars towed away by contractors on behalf of your force
- Tell me the release fee for owners of cars towed away

In accordance with section 1(1) (a) of the Act our response is provided below;

Strictly in accordance with the Act :There is no information held. However we have provided an explanation of our position as follows:

Cheshire Constabulary are not responsible for the towing away of illegally parked vehicles.  Illegally parked vehicles are the responsibility of local authorities/councils.  For the Cheshire Constabulary policing area - the 4 councils (unitary authorities) are:  Cheshire West & Chester, Cheshire East, Halton & Warrington

Cheshire Constabulary do operate a Vehicle Recovery Scheme which deals with the recovery and removal of vehicles, but as stated above excludes illegally parked vehicles.  The vehicle recovery scheme deals with, for example, vehicles involved in crime, stolen vehicles, vehicles involved in collisions, vehicles with no tax/insurance, vehicles where the driver does not hold a valid driving licence, vehicles causing an obstruction.  The current contract is with Recovery Management Services Limited under a Lancashire Police framework, this contract ends on 31 May 2010.  Details of the contract and the new contract with effect from 1 June 2010 can be found on BDLP  - by using the search function (use "vehicle recovery" as a keyword, and select Cheshire Constabulary from the drop down list).

- Provide the latest annual figures for the amount of illegally parked cars towed away by contractors on behalf of your force
As stated above, the Cheshire Constabulary Vehicle Recovery Scheme does not deal with illegally parked vehicles so no information is held.

- Tell me the release fee for owners of cars towed away
As stated above, the Cheshire Constabulary Vehicle Recovery Scheme does not deal with illegally parked vehicles so no information is held.  You may however be interested in the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles (Prescribed Sums and Charges) Regulations 2008 which covers Vehicle Recovery Schemes - this is available at OPSI.Gov