Towing away a car with no log book from private land.

[The Seeker]

Hi.

I'm not sure if this is the right section for this, but I hope someone can help.

My partner, who's a mechanic, has been offered a car FOC which has been scrapped during its MOT as a mechanical write-off. It's parked on private land and the owner of the land says that he's tried to contact the owner of the car several times to get it removed but has received no reply. The car has been parked on his land for 4 months and he wants rid of it. The car is taxed until August, but when the tax runs out, it'll have to be moved anyway, I would imagine.

There's no log book or keys with the car and the owner of the car can't be contacted.

Does anyone know where my partner could legally remove the car and use it for spares and repair? I think not, because removal of the car without the owner's consent would be theft.

Anybody know the legality of my partner taking the car?

Many thanks

[wduk2005]

give dvla a call they might be able to help, but they prob wont say help yourself, if it was me i'd take what i want off it where it is then call a scrap company to come and remove it after, if the owner ever does ask the owner of the land where it is tell him to say the scrappie took it,

[JudgeJ]

In law there is a principle known as "abandonment". You cannot be convicted of theft if you knew or had good reason to believe, that the item had been abandoned. The test for this understanding is quite complex. Your belief that an item is abandoned does not necessarily have to be reasonable, but must be genuine (the two things are different). From what you say the landowner has made considerable efforts to contact the owner. Provided these efforts can be substantiated there should be no problem in proving that he believed the vehicle to have been abandoned.

[The Seeker]

Thanks for all your advice.