Report an abandoned vehicle
We have a legal duty to deal with vehicles that have been abandoned in South Gloucestershire.
View the council’s responsibilities when dealing with abandoned vehicles (GOV.UK)
We must decide if a vehicle is abandoned. This is likely if at least one of the following applies:
- it has not moved for at least 2 months
- it is untaxed
- it is registered as off the road (has a Statutory Off Road Notice)
- it is significantly unroadworthy, for example has flat tyres or missing wheels
You can check if a vehicle is taxed on the GOV.UK website.
We only have powers to deal with a vehicle that has been abandoned, not vehicles that are causing a nuisance.
A nuisance vehicle is one that is an obstructing a public highway, has broken down in a dangerous position, is burned out or is involved in a residential parking dispute.
These should be reported to the police by calling 101. Vehicles removed by the police are disposed of immediately.
We have no power to remove untaxed vehicles that are being used or have a known owner. Vehicle tax offences should be reported to the DVLA.
If you think a vehicle has been abandoned on your property you must:
- try to find the owner through contacting the DVLA.
- contact the police to see if it has been reported as stolen
How to report it
We need the make, model, licence plate and colour of the abandoned vehicle. Include as much information as you can give about its exact location, for example a nearby house number.
What happens next
Before we can remove an abandoned vehicle:
- we must try to contact the owner
- we will leave a warning notice on the vehicle to say it will be removed if no one claims it
When we remove it we may dispose of it immediately if we consider it only fit to be destroyed.
Otherwise, we store the vehicle for a limited period, to allow the owner to come forward to claim it. We will then dispose of it if no one does.
More information
Find out how to claim a vehicle we have removed because we judge it to be abandoned.