Proposed new powers for traffic officers (Highways Agency) to remove vehicles

Following a consultation, the Government has set out new regulations, that were laid before Parliament on September 9, 2008, allowing the Highways Agency’s Traffic Officer Service to authorise the removal of certain broken down and abandoned vehicles from the strategic road network, including England`s motorways and major A roads.

The proposed regulations will give traffic officers powers similar to those currently exercised by the police.

The key points of the regulations are:

• To provide traffic officers with similar powers to the police to authorise the removal of broken down vehicles and vehicles that are permitted to remain at the rest in contravention of certain statutory restrictions or prohibitions, or to authorise the removal of such vehicles that are causing an obstruction or danger to other road users and vehicles that have been abandoned on the strategic road network.
• To provide the Secretary of State with powers to store and dispose of abandoned vehicles removed by traffic officers.

The police will retain their powers to remove and dispose of vehicles but the extension of similar powers to traffic officers will help to free up police time.

These regulations will help keep carriageways and hard shoulders clear of vehicles which appear to have been abandoned or broken down or are permitted to remain at rest in contravention of certain statutory restrictions or prohibitions and cause obstruction or danger to other road users as well as keeping traffic moving safely.

There is more information about the regulations on the Highways Agency`s website at http://www.highways.gov.uk/vehiclerecovery