The Removal, Storage and Disposal of Motor Vehicles Timeframes (Amendment) Regulations 2026

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Regulations amend regulations 4 and 7 of the Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2002, regulations 4 and 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005 and regulations 4 and 6 of the Police (Retention and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1995.

These Regulations shorten the time frames to enable the disposing of vehicles at the end of 7 days from seizure and/or when a notice to collect is given. Where regulations previously gave 7 working days, they now give 7 days. Where the timeframes were previously 14 days, 21 days and 3 months, each is now compressed to 7 days.

These Regulations also remove the definition of “working days” from the Police (Retention and Disposal of Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2002 and the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005.

A full impact assessment has not been prepared because the effect on costs for business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is not expected to exceed the relevant threshold. An economic note detailing the effect this instrument will have on the costs of business and the public sector is published alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk and hard copies are available from the Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, SW1P 4DF.