FOI 1326-2025/26- Vehicles seized

Request:

Please could you provide the following data for each of the last five calendar years (e.g. 2021–2025):

Q1. The total number of vehicles seized per year.

Q2. A breakdown of vehicle seizures by reason, where recorded. This could include (but is not limited to):

No insurance

No valid driving licence

Illegal modifications

Anti-social driving

Stolen vehicles

Other (please specify where possible)

Q3. A geographical breakdown of vehicle seizures by town or city (or the most granular level available).

Q4. The number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) or other fines issued in relation to the offences leading to vehicle seizures, broken down by offence type and year, where this data is held.

Q5. Where available, the number of repeat offences or repeat offenders linked to vehicle seizures.

Q6. The average or total costs recovered from drivers in relation to seized vehicles, including release fees, storage fees, or other associated charges.

Please provide data in an Excel or email format

Response: 

Extent of Searches to Locate Information

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision

I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.

In order to retrieve the requested information for Q4, it would be necessary to manually review all seized vehicles that are linked to an occurrence within the timeframe requested to establish if any were issued an FPN. This manual process would mean reading through thousands of reports which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, we may be able to provide some information for the rest of the request if you resubmit and omit part 4.  Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.   If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.