Dear Sir or Madam,

Reference: Wheel clamping operators and towing cars away from
private land by NSL for the DVLA.

DVLA works in partnership with NSL Limited who operate the wheel
clamping scheme and a number of local authorities and police forces
who operate local wheel clamping schemes in their areas. Given the
aforesaid, could you please tell me if the NSL have the power to go
onto private land to wheel clamp a person’s car because it had no
road tax, if so what criteria need to be fulfilled to make the
wheel clamping and removal of the car from private property lawful
in spite of the fact that the DVLA had been told that the car was a
write off therefore it would be kept off the public highway? Also,
what was the amendment to the VIRAA 1994 on the 1 October 2008 that
may be relevant to the situation?

Yours faithfully,

Derek Canning LLB [hons]

Dear Mr Canning

Thank you for your e-mail of 7 May 2009 which contains a request under
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 relating to wheel clamping
regulations.

Please note that although the request has been received via the Freedom
of Information (FOI) e-mail address, the request falls outside the FOIA
and will be dealt with as “business as usual”.

The DVLA’s powers to clamp and impound unlicensed vehicles are catered
for in legislation and Statutory Instruments. The Vehicle Excise Duty
(Immobilisation, Removal and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1997 as
amended provide for the immobilisation, removal and disposal of
unlicensed vehicles on the public road.

From 1 October 2008 unlicensed vehicles can be wheel clamped and/or
impounded even if kept off the public road, but there are important
exceptions to the new powers. It remains an offence to keep an
unlicensed vehicle on a public road. The change is that enforcement
action can now be taken off road (subject to exceptions) where
previously it could not.

The onus is on the keeper of a vehicle to ensure that the appropriate
tax disc has been obtained and is displayed on the corresponding vehicle
or Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) declaration made to the
Agency. Any vehicle with a SORN declaration must be kept on private land
and not used on the public road until the appropriate tax disc has been
obtained and is displayed on the vehicle related vehicle.

This position has not changed following the introduction of expanded
enforcement powers and a vehicle that has a valid SORN in force can
still be kept off road. There is no change to the SORN legislation; a
vehicle kept off the public road with a valid SORN in force is fully
compliant therefore no enforcement action will be taken against it.
However, where there is reason to believe the SORN has been breached the
vehicle can be wheelclamped or impounded.

The exceptions to the expanded enforcement powers state that vehicles
parked on land associated with a house or a block of flats cannot be
wheel clamped or impounded. This applies for example, to private
driveways, garages and allocated parking bays. Also vehicles kept by a
motor trader or vehicle tester at a business premise cannot be
wheelclamped or impounded.

As you have not provided the vehicle registration number of the vehicle
in question then I am only able to provide a general reply to your
question concerning the removal of a written-off vehicle from private
land. Should you want a more specific answer then you will need to
provide the vehicle registration number.

However, I should explain that where a vehicle has been declared a write
off and kept off the public highway, in such circumstances and dependant
on whether the vehicle was to be made road worthy once again, the Agency
would expect the keeper of the vehicle to submit a SORN declaration or
having made the vehicle road worthy, license the vehicle for future use.