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Solicitors Backhouse Jones has achieved a landmark legal ruling, which
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said that vehicle recovery operators can only charge statutory rates when instructed to remove HGVs from the highway by the police.
The judgment given at the High Court in Manchester earlier this year by Judge Hegarty said that the recovery firm was not entitled to charge £11,000 for the removal of a vehicle involved in a fatal accident on the M11 last autumn, but, Instead, should only receive the statutory cost of £969, made up of £105 for removal of the vehicle and £12 a day each for the storage of the tractor unit and trailer
This settlement was calculated on the 1989 Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations, which were scrapped just days after the accident and replaced with new, dearer statutory charges.
This is in spite of the fact that the operator had to recover a severely-damaged 40-tonne artic and a further 22 tonnes of its load strewn across the highway.
The judge also said it was illegal for the recovery firm to hold onto the vehicle until the full amount had been paid.
Mark Davies, Backhouse Jones solicitor responsible for the case, advises hauliers that if their vehicle is removed at the request of the police, they should not agree to pay any more than the statutory charge if they are approached by the recovery operator.
Backhouse Jones — tel: • 254 828300