Service Motor Policies at Lloyds v City Recovery Limited: CA 9 Jul 1997

Stolen cars had been recovered by the police, incurring the costs of removal. The insurers (now the owners) objected to the payment of fees before the cars were restored. They said that as owners they were exempt from mcharges imposed by section 102 of the 1984 Act. The defendant recoveryy service appealed.
Held: The appeal succeeded: ‘The provision exempting innocent vehicle owners from charges is confined to section 102 itself. No similar saving provision appears or is applied to section 101 and if it had been intended that the exemption in section 102 should extend to the circumstances covered by section 101 the section would have been drafted accordingly.’ The court distinguished between recovery of stolen cars and of cars removed as waste or inappropritely parked.

Butler-Sloss, Thorpe, Judge LJJ
[1997] EWCA Civ 2073
Bailii
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 99 101 102, Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles (Prescribed Sums and Charges) Regulations 1993
England and Wales

Road Traffic

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.142470