Home | Abandoned vehicle

Contact us to report an abandoned vehicle

Before you make a report of an abandoned vehicle

North Norfolk District Council does not investigate anonymous complaints. Please provide your contact details on our online form.

Why do we need your contact details?

It allows us to:

update you on your report
gain further information if required
update you on whether the land is private and that we need landowner permission
advise you that the vehicle is not being treated as abandoned

We do not investigate vehicles which have a valid road tax or have a valid road tax but do not have an MOT.

Contact the police on 101 or online if a vehicle is causing an obstruction or dangerously parked on a public highway.

North Norfolk District Council does not assist with vehicles causing an obstruction, dangerously parked or causing visibility issues.

You can check if a vehicle is taxed on the government website.

What is an abandoned vehicle?

Just because a vehicle is untaxed, has no MOT, is poorly parked, not owned by a resident in the road or is awaiting recovery having broken down, it does not mean that is has been abandoned.

There is no legal definition of an abandoned vehicle, but it will usually:

not be taxed or Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN)
not have been moved for 14 days or more
have significant damage, flat tyres, smashed windows or missing one or more number plates

Abandoned vehicles on private land

An abandoned vehicle on land which is not the public highway, e.g., farmland, housing association land, or privately owned car parks. We will require written or emailed permission from the landowner and proof of land ownership before we can investigate.

How to report an abandoned vehicle

If you think a vehicle which is untaxed and has not been moved for at least 14 days to have been abandoned, please report it using our online form.

Before you begin you will need to know::

Vehicle registration
Vehicle make and model
Vehicle colour
Is the vehicle damaged?
Location of vehicle
Length of time at the current location

Report an abandoned vehicle

What happens when a vehicle is reported as abandoned?

We will:

Usually, inspect the vehicle within three working days.
Check if the vehicle is either taxed or registered as SORN and has a valid MOT.
Try to trace the owner of the vehicle which may include placing a note on the windscreen asking them to contact us.

If after our investigations we believe the vehicle is abandoned, we will:

Request details of the last registered keeper from DVLA.
Serve a legal notice on any owner or registered keeper we can find and usually affix a seven-day notice on the vehicle windscreen. However, if the vehicle is damaged and unroadworthy, then we may give less notice.
If the vehicle is on private land, a notice will be served on the vehicle and to the registered owner if there is one and to the landowner(s) giving them 15 days to object to the vehicle’s removal. We will have the vehicle removed if it is still present once the notice period has ended, unless the vehicle owner has claimed it, or any landowner has objected.

Once removed, the vehicle is the responsibility of Norfolk County Council for disposal. We will invoice the registered keeper of the vehicle for:

cost of collection,
storage while we work out who owns the vehicle,
final disposal.

The owner of the vehicle may also be liable to prosecution or a fixed penalty notice for abandoning the vehicle.