A vehicle left in the same stationary position for more than 24 hours may be abandoned or stolen. Abandoned vehicles will be towed away by Council and eventually sold to recover costs. Stolen vehicles will be reported to the Police and where possible returned to their owners. Anyone seeing such a vehicle may report the matter to our General Inspector.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1999 - SECT 237
237-Removal of vehicles
(1) If a vehicle has been left on a public road or place, or on local government land for at least 24 hours, an authorised person may place a prescribed warning notice on the vehicle
(2) After 24 hours has expired since the placement of a prescribed warning notice, an authorised person may have the vehicle removed to an appropriate place.
(3) The regulations may provide that subsections (1) and (2) do not apply, or apply with prescribed variations, in circumstances or a class of circumstances prescribed in the regulations.
(3a) To avoid doubt, a vehicle parked or left standing on a public road in a manner that does not contravene a law regulating the parking or standing of vehicles on public roads will be taken not to have been left on a public road for the purposes of subsection (1), unless the vehicle has, in the opinion of the authorised person, been abandoned.
(4) The council must ensure that the owner of the vehicle is notified of the removal of the vehicle—
(a) by written notice in the prescribed form—
(i) served on the owner personally; or
(ii) served on the owner by the use of person-to-person registered post, as soon as practicable after the removal of the vehicle; or
(b) if the owner is unknown or cannot be found—by public notice published in a newspaper circulating generally in the State within 14 days after the removal of the vehicle.
(5) If the owner of the vehicle does not, within 1 month after service or publication of the notice relating to the
removal of the vehicle—
(a) take possession of the vehicle; and
(b) pay all expenses in connection with the removal, custody and maintenance of the vehicle and of serving, posting or publishing the notice, the council must, subject to subsection (6)(b), offer the vehicle for sale by public auction or public tender.
(6) If—
(a) the vehicle is offered for sale but is not sold; or
(b) the council reasonably believes that the proceeds of the sale of the vehicle would be unlikely to exceed the costs incurred in selling the vehicle or the costs incidental to removing or holding the vehicle, or those costs combined, the council may dispose of the vehicle in such manner as the council thinks fit.
(7) The council must apply any proceeds of sale of the vehicle as follows:
(a) firstly, in payment of the costs of and incidental to the sale;
(b) secondly, in payment of the costs of and incidental to the removal, custody and maintenance of the vehicle and of the notice served, posted or published under this section;
(c) thirdly, in payment of the balance to the owner of the vehicle.
(8) If after reasonable inquiry following sale of the vehicle the owner of the vehicle cannot be found, the balance of the proceeds of the sale is to be paid to the council.
(9) If after taking reasonable steps the council cannot return property found in the vehicle—
(a) the goods will be taken to be unclaimed goods for the purposes of the Unclaimed Goods Act 1987; and
(b) the council will be taken to be a bailee of the goods under that Act.
