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If you see a vehicle you think is abandoned, report it to
your
local council with details of make, model, registration number
and location.
Your District or Borough Council responds to reports of
abandoned vehicles from members of the public, police officers, or
their own field officers.
They then carry out initial enquiries and identify the abandoned
vehicles within their area. Kent County Council then arranges for
the removal, storage, and disposal of the offending vehicle.
What happens when a vehicle is reported?
By law, certain procedures have to be followed when a suspected
abandoned vehicle is reported to the local authority.
A district council officer will attend and make local enquiries
to try to identify the vehicle owner. If they cannot find the owner
and the vehicle appears to be abandoned they will request the
removal of the vehicle without notice. If the vehicle is on private
land, a period of notice may apply.
Vehicles are removed by County Council appointed contractors to
secure storage compounds.
The average response time from the faxed request to the
contractor to actual removal from the street is currently 1.5
working days.
Up until 2002, the number of abandoned vehicles had been rising
significantly each year, in recent years the numbers of abandoned
vehicles have decreased.This is in part due to the introduction of
Operation Cubit, and partly due to increased metal
prices. |