News & Features

UK Vehicle Seizure Statistics

Posted in General News on Monday, April 29th, 2024

According to a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to UK police forces across the UK, 214,051 vehicles were seized last year. Police had taken the vehicles for a variety of reasons, including not having vehicle tax or insurance, driving without a valid licence, or the vehicle was stolen or involved in a crime. 

The FOI figures showed that 23 of the 45 police forces provided data on seized vehicles. Out of all the vehicles that were involved in a police seizure, 59% were returned to their rightful owners. However, around 17% of the vehicles that were confiscated were later destroyed by police – and 6%  (12,939) were sold at auction. 

The area that had the largest number of vehicles seized by police was the Scottish city of Dundee where 23,344 were taken in total. This was followed by the West Midlands with 23,203; Greater Manchester with 22,317; and West Yorkshire with 20,124. 

The area with the lowest number of seized vehicles was Warwickshire with 1,680. This was the least of all the 25 forces that provided data. They were followed by Suffolk (3,112), Wiltshire (3,333), Surrey (3,376, North Wales (3,493), and Durham (4,068). Out of these, only North Wales and Suffolk saw a drop in 2022. 

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