Pollution Control and Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 1978

Motor vehicles N.I.

Penalty for abandoning motor vehicles N.I.

29.—(1) Any person who, without lawful authority, abandons on any land in the open air, or on any other land forming part of a road,—

(a) a motor vehicle, or

(b) any thing which formed part of a motor vehicle and was removed from it in the course of dismantling the vehicle on the land,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding[F1 level 5 on the standard scale] or, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to such a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person who leaves any motor vehicle or thing which formed part of a motor vehicle on any land in such circumstances or for such a period that he may reasonably be assumed to have abandoned it there shall be deemed to have abandoned it there or, as the case may be, to have brought it to the land for that purpose unless the contrary is shown.

(3) In this Article and Article 30, “road” includes any street, carriageway, highway or roadway to which the public has access.

Annotations:

Annotations are used to give authority for changes and other effects on the legislation you are viewing and to convey editorial information. They appear at the foot of the relevant provision or under the associated heading. Annotations are categorised by annotation type, such as F-notes for textual amendments and I-notes for commencement information (a full list can be found in the Editorial Practice Guide). Each annotation is identified by a sequential reference number. For F-notes, M-notes and X-notes, the number also appears in bold superscript at the relevant location in the text. All annotations contain links to the affecting legislation.

F1 1984 NI 3

Removal of abandoned vehicles N.I.

30.—(1) Where it appears to a district council that a motor vehicle in its district is abandoned without lawful authority on any land in the open air or on any other land forming part of a road the council shall, subject to the following provisions of this Article, remove the vehicle.

(2) Where it appears to a district council that the land on which a motor vehicle is abandoned as aforesaid is occupied by any person, the council shall, before removing the vehicle under paragraph (1), serve on him notice that it proposes to do so and the council shall not be entitled to remove it if, within the prescribed period, that person serves on the council notice that he objects to the proposal; and a district council shall not be required under paragraph (1) to remove a vehicle situated otherwise than on a carriageway if it appears to the council that the cost of its removal to the nearest convenient carriageway would be unreasonably high.

(3) Where under this Article a district council proposes to remove a vehicle which in its opinion is in such a condition that it ought to be destroyed the council shall, not less than the prescribed period before removing it, cause to be affixed to the vehicle a notice stating that the council proposes to remove it for destruction on the expiration of that period.

(4) While a vehicle, other than a vehicle to which a notice was affixed under paragraph (3), is in the custody of a district council under this Article, the council shall take such steps as are reasonably necessary for the safe custody of the vehicle.

Disposal of removed vehicles N.I.

31.—(1) Subject to paragraph (5), a district council may, in such manner as it thinks fit, dispose of any vehicle which is in its custody in pursuance of Article 30—

(a) in the case of a vehicle to which a notice was affixed under paragraph (3) of that Article and on which no current licence was displayed at the time of its removal, at any time in the course of or after its removal;

(b) in the case of a vehicle to which a notice was so affixed and on which a current licence was so displayed, at any time after the licence ceases to be in force;

(c) in any other case, at any time after the council has taken reasonable steps to find a person appearing to it to be the owner of the vehicle and either—

(i) the council has failed to find such a person, or

(ii) he has failed to comply with a notice served on him by the council requiring him to remove the vehicle within the prescribed period from the custody of the council,

but, in a case where it appears to the council that a licence is in force in respect of the vehicle, not before the licence ceases to be in force.

(2) In paragraph (1)—

(a) any reference in sub-paragraphs ( a) and ( b) to a current licence includes a reference to a licence which was current during any part of the period of fourteen days ending with the day preceding that on which the removal of the vehicle in question took place; and

(b) for the purposes of sub-paragraphs ( b) and ( c) a licence shall be treated as still in force for a period of fourteen days beginning with the day following that on which it expired, and “ceases to be in force” shall be construed accordingly.

(3) The power to dispose of vehicles conferred on a district council by paragraph (1) includes power—

(a) to provide plant and apparatus for the purpose of disposing of vehicles; and

(b) to enter into an agreement with any other person for the provision of facilities by him for the purpose of disposing of vehicles at any place under his control.

(4) A district council by whom a vehicle is disposed of under this Article shall give particulars of the disposal to any person who appears to it to have been the owner of the vehicle immediately before it was disposed of.

(5) If before a vehicle is disposed of by a district council under the foregoing provisions of this Article the vehicle is claimed by a person who satisfies the council that he is its owner and pays to the council any expenses reasonably incurred by it in respect of its removal and storage, the council shall permit him to remove the vehicle from its custody during such period as may be prescribed; and if before the expiration of the period of one year beginning with the date on which a vehicle is sold by a district council under this Article any person satisfies the council that at the time of its sale he was the owner of the vehicle, the council shall pay over to him any sum by which the proceeds of sale exceed any expenses reasonably incurred by the council in respect of the removal, storage and disposal of the vehicle.

(6) If in the case of any vehicle it appears to the district council that more than one person is or was its owner at the relevant time, such one of them as the council thinks fit shall be treated as its owner for the purposes of paragraph (5).

Recovery of expenses connected with removed vehicles N.I.

32.—(1) Where a vehicle is removed by a district council under Article 31(1), the council may recover from any person responsible any expenses reasonably incurred by it—

(a) in respect of the removal of the vehicle; and

(b) in respect of any period during which the vehicle is in its custody; and

(c) where the vehicle is disposed of under Article 31, in respect of its disposal.

(2) Any sum recoverable by virtue of this Article shall be a civil debt recoverable summarily; and without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this paragraph the court by which a person is convicted of an offence under Article 29(1) in respect of a motor vehicle, may on the application of the district council by whom the vehicle was removed as aforesaid and in addition to any other order made by the court in relation to that person order him to pay to the council any sum which, in the opinion of the court, the council are entitled to recover from him under this Article in respect of the vehicle.

(3) In this Article “person responsible”, in relation to a vehicle, means—

(a) the owner of the vehicle at the time when it was put in the place from which it was removed under Article 30(1), unless he shows that he was not concerned in and did not know of its being put there;

(b) any person by whom it was put in the place aforesaid;

(c) any person convicted of an offence under Article 29(1) in consequence of the putting of the vehicle in the place aforesaid.