Vehicle removal and relocation policy

Priorities

We prioritise the removal of vehicles on the following basis:

• very high priority
• high priority
• medium priority
• low priority
• very low priority
• not removed or removed in exceptional circumstances

(i) Very high priority

We will give very high priority to the removal of vehicles:

a. likely to evade payment of the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and vehicles that have no registration plates. We give very high priority to the removal of persistent evaders (vehicles having three or more outstanding unpaid PCNs that are not the subject of appeal). These vehicles will be removed after 15 minutes from the issue of a PCN in a residents’ or pay by phone bay. Non-persistent evaders will be removed after 30 minutes from the issue of a PCN in a bay.

b. displaying fraudulent blue badges or other fraudulent permits. These vehicles could be displaying blue badges or permits that are:

• complete forgeries, not issued by the Council
• original permits which have been altered in some way, for example, the expiry date has been changed
• that have been cancelled by the Council and we have requested their return but we have not received the permit
• where misuse of the badge has been established, for example, person not disabled or blue badge being used by other family member
• where payment of the permit has been rejected and no attempt at re-payment had been made

c. found parked in contravention where parking is prohibited; for example on suspended bays, disabled bays, obstructing driveways, yellow lines and zigzags. This includes vehicles that are causing an obstruction or are a danger to other road users. We will remove these vehicles as soon as the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) is served or relocate vehicles with a valid residents permit in a suspended residents’ parking bay.

(ii) High priority

We will give high priority to the removal of illegally parked vehicles from residents’ parking bays

(iii) Medium priority

We will give medium priority to the removal of illegally parked vehicles from pay-by-phone bays where the illegally parked vehicle was genuinely stopping another vehicle being parked legally.

(iv) Low priority

We will give low priority to the removal of illegally parked vehicles from pay-by-phone bays where the illegally parked vehicle has made no attempt to pay.

(v) Very low priority

We will give a very low priority to the removal of illegally parked vehicles from pay-by-phone bays where there is other available parking space in the immediate area and the illegally parked vehicle has made an attempt to pay.

(vi) Not removed or removed in exceptional circumstances

a. at night, we will remove only “very high priority” offences to minimise the inconvenience to drivers.

b. we will not remove from car parks, such as Holland Park and the Kensington Leisure Centre Car Park, unless the vehicle is causing an obstruction which directly affects another motorist's ability to enter or exit the car park, in which case we will remove instantly.

c. we reposition rather than remove vehicles displaying a valid disabled blue or purple badge that are causing an obstruction. We do not remove valid disabled blue badge or purple badge holders in any other situation unless we suspect fraudulent misuse of a badge or permit.

d. we reposition rather than remove diplomatic vehicles that are causing an obstruction. We do not remove diplomatic vehicles in any other situation.