Police , recovery charges

[justdan]

If police order recovery of your vehicle after a RTC will I be liable for the recovery charge ? The copper didn't have a clue !!!!

[snapper]

Bobby would be the best person to answer this but, IIRC there was something on the telly a while back and one of the major grips was that certain forces seemed to have a policy of always calling their own 'pet' recovery agent even if the accident victim had something like the RAC or AA.

If the report was anything to go by then a lot (ha, most) of the recovery companies called out by the cops pay a kickback for the work.



There is also 'google' ... in which case >>>> Police Recovery Charges <<<< Best get your wallet out Dan...

[justdan]

Basically the wife managed miss a motor that pulled on her on the A9 but stuffed the car into a ditch in the process ! ( wife kids and mother inlaw are ok )
I turns up pulls it out , car is fine other than a broken wing mirror and scuffed wing ! But battery died because engine was turned of and rad lights etc were left on , I couldn't get in a position to jump start it so police insisted it be recovered !!!!!!! Tow truck took us home and jump started it in seconds at home !
Guy drove away that almost killed them indecently

[MG Autos (Mark)]

It will either be for you or your insurance company to foot the bill I'm afraid. It's not for the Police to pay for your recovery costs. As to whether it's you or your insurance cover that pay will depend greatly on what caused the accident in the first place and what sort of cover you have, etc.....

Just remember that in addition storage for the vehicle will be charged daily so if your going to have to pay its in your interest to get it moved ASAP.

[justdan]

Cars at home MG , bloody typical , on the bones of ya back side and something always smashes you in the face ....... On the plus side wife ,kids and mother inlaw are ok ......... Wife side the guy watched her hit the ditch in the rear view mirror but just kept on driving ! Women and kids in a motor and he kept driving , I could happily beat the guy to death ( please delete if I'm breaking forum rules ) why the hell would you carry on driving ! Arrrrrrrr

[4x4 bobby]

Hello sir that is correct you are liable (Via Insurance not your pocket) so you insurance company normally have it recovered from the recovery firms location PDQ as it cost approx £150 for the recovery and £12-£16 per day there after for storage!!! Hope this helps mate? Oh and if your thinking of not going through your insurance then you would have to pay it all. If it wasn't your fault and the other party are to blame then the insurance companies sort it out between them and the other party's insurance cover the cost.

Regards Bobster.

[Retro Pedro]

Got on this topic a while back with one of guys at work who is a retired traffic policeman. He was saying the police line is getting the highway clear as soon as possible, hence contracted recovery companies having to be at an incident within an agreed time scale.
Going to the extreme, I know of one local recovery company that has to have recovery vehicles remotely parked up in readiness at a motorway service station so that they can comply with their contractual obligations. Incidently, the service station is 25 miles away from their local base.

[justdan]

Spoke to my boss today , her son was recovered by the same company via police it cost £100 !!!!
I can live with that , the depressing thing is if the copper had of given me 10mims to run home and grab my booster pack I could have had the car started and away 25minutes quicker than it took for recovery to arrive lol

[Retro Pedro]

Appreciate your frustations justdan but it sounds like you had a jobs worth one.
To be fair, they must have a criteria of getting the road cleared and open as soon as possible. To cover their own ar$es, and not leave themselves open to a bo!!ocking from the higher arkee sounds like the rule book came into play.
But you do get jobs worths - I can tell you a story of a bloke getting pulled over for a rear bulb gone - jobs worth against sensible and public persception, one officer wanted to book him, the sensible one got a spare bulb out of their car, offered it to the motorist with the view of a quick change and on his way with no damage done. The jobs worth one insisted it was a booking and quote 'a job' and the poor motorist got his ticket.

P.S. you will know who I'm referring to Greg (gregster)

[4x4 bobby]

Recovery has to be on scene within 30 minutes 45 for an hgv vehicle.

[justdan]

What's done is done , just really frustrating because not only would I have been able to sort the motor given 10minute to do so , it wasn't blocking any carriage way , it was on the grass verge ! Iv seen abandoned cars sat there for weeks before being moved !!!!!
But heyhoooooo all involved are fine witch is the main thing for me

[justdan]

In essentse it wasn't a recovery it was a break down ..... If that makes sense , it was only the battery pegging out with everything left on that the motor wouldn't go

[justdan]

Spoke to my garage today ( the recovery ) and he is going to make it cheap as possible but said next time ring direct as police put a £25 handling charge on any recovery ! Robbing stewards