Vehicle tax legal question...

If there is a vehicle that has ran out of tax and it's on a public highway, when does it become, "Abandoned"?

Could I, hypothetically, go out & wheel that vehicle to my driveway & apply for its V5 documents from the DVLA, change the locks and then sell it on?

It becomes abandoned once the police or council decide it is, usually due to lack of tax disc, bits stolen, crashed or generally causing a hazard. Wheeling it into your driveway doesn't make it yours. The councils deal with removal of abandoned cars in the UK.

I dare say like finding an 'abandoned' £50 note on the path doesn't make it yours, but if you keep the £50 note without handing it to the police for 30 days constitutes theft. The 30 days is giving the owner chance to come and collect it. And yes I know you can't really steal a car, that's why they have the "taking without owners consent" offence instead.

Dirk, is there a bike sitting outside somewhere in your road in just a situation?

Matt

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

Dirk, is there a bike sitting outside somewhere in your road in just a situation?

Matt

shhh!

A friend at Lovells just sent this to me when I put the hypothetical question to her :

Confidential

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Sounds like b*ll*cks. For it not to be theft, would need to show that it is a res nullius. An abandoned vehicle (but if just left on street for a limited period, unlikely to pass the test of abandonment), also the taker would need to show that he had tried all reasonable methods of finding the owner (suspect he would fail this test too). In which case, he couldn't prove that ownership of the vehicle was 'up for grabs', and taking it would be theft.

Sorry Dirk.

Did you forget to renew your scooter tax?