How do I find out where my car has been towed?
Short answer
Ring TRACE on 0300 077 0100 if you parked in a London borough — it runs 24 hours a day and covers every London council. Anywhere else there is no national lookup, so call the parking service of the council for that street. If neither has it, call 101: the police, DVLA's contractor or an enforcement agent may have taken it.
Verified · 6 cited sources
TRACE is the service everyone reaches for, and it is London-only. It is run by London Councils, it covers vehicles towed by a London borough council for illegal parking, it operates twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, and it tells you which pound holds the vehicle and how to get it released. You need the registration number. Outside London there is no equivalent single lookup anywhere in the United Kingdom — not in the rest of England, not in Wales, not in Scotland — because councils run their own removal arrangements. The check is a call to the parking or removals team at the council for the street you parked in.
Once located, expect a bill that has three parts: the removal fee, the penalty charge itself, and storage accruing daily. Newham, as one worked example, publishes a £280 removal fee plus the penalty charge owed plus £55 a day after the first 24 hours, with the pound requiring original proof of identity, address, ownership or permission, and insurance, presented in person. Other councils set their own figures, so check the one that took your car rather than assuming Newham's.
If the vehicle was untaxed, the council is the wrong body. GOV.UK says a vehicle can be clamped or impounded if it is untaxed on a public road — even with a SORN — or off the road without one, and that you find a removed vehicle by calling 101 and asking for your local police, or NSL on 0343 224 1999. Release costs less if you pay within 24 hours, and you can put down a surety instead of taxing it on the spot: £160 for a car or motorcycle, up to £700 for other vehicles. An unclaimed vehicle may be disposed of or sold.
Police seizure is the third regime and the one people least expect. It applies where a vehicle is driven without insurance or without a licence. Police Scotland sends the keeper a statutory notice letter giving the recovery operator's premises, and the release conditions bite hard: regulation 5 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005 requires you to satisfy the authorised person that you are the registered keeper or owner, pay the seizure and retention charge, and produce at the police station named in the seizure notice a valid certificate of insurance covering your use of that vehicle and a valid licence authorising you to drive it. If you cannot produce those, the regulation lets you nominate a third person who can, and the vehicle is released to them instead.
Northern Ireland runs its own operation. The Department for Infrastructure removes and clamps illegally parked vehicles in Belfast, either relocating them nearby or taking them to the Greater Belfast Pound at Ballycraigy Business Park in Newtownabbey. DfI's advice is to contact PSNI on 101 first if your vehicle is missing, then ring 03300 088 770 to arrange release. It publishes a £90 penalty charge, reduced to £45 if paid within 14 days, a £40 relocation fee or £105 pound removal fee, and £12 a day storage.
Whichever body took it, the storage clock is what turns an annoyance into a large bill. Police Scotland says daily storage charges start from midday the day after the vehicle was removed, and publishes £190 removal with £25 a day storage for cars and light vans, or £13 a day for two-wheeled vehicles. Newham charges its £55 a day after the first 24 hours. The Department for Infrastructure charges £12 a day in Belfast. The rates differ by an order of magnitude between bodies, so the number that matters is the one published by whoever is holding your car.
Our view is that you should pay to release the vehicle and argue about it afterwards, rather than leaving it in the pound while you contest the charge. None of the cited bodies says this. It follows from what they do publish: every one of them charges storage by the day from the day after removal, and none of them suspends the charge while a challenge is outstanding, so the cost of being right grows for as long as the car sits there. Check the appeal route published by the body that removed it before you pay, so you know what you are preserving.
- TRACE (0300 077 0100) covers London boroughs only — it is run by London Councils, not a national service
- Outside London, ring the parking service of the council for the street you parked in
- Untaxed vehicle: call 101 or NSL on 0343 224 1999; a surety of £160 for a car avoids taxing it at the pound
- Police seizure needs a valid insurance certificate and driving licence produced at the police station named in the seizure notice
- In Belfast the Department for Infrastructure removes vehicles — check with PSNI on 101, then ring 03300 088 770
- Storage runs by the day from the day after removal — our view is to pay for release and appeal afterwards
People also ask
Sources & provenance
Facts verified
- 1.Towed vehicle tracing (TRACE) OfficialLondon CouncilsUsed for: That TRACE finds vehicles towed by a London borough council for illegal parking, runs 24 hours a day 365 days a year, gives the holding location and release procedure, and is reached on 0300 077 0100
- 2.Find and release a towed vehicle OfficialLondon Borough of NewhamUsed for: A worked council example — the direction to TRACE with the registration number, the pound address and hours, the £280 removal fee, the penalty charge owed, £55 a day storage after the first 24 hours, and the original identity, address, ownership and insurance documents required in person
- 3.Get a clamped or impounded vehicle released OfficialUK GovernmentUsed for: Clamping and impounding of untaxed vehicles including those with a SORN on a public road, the INF32 leaflet, calling 101 or NSL on 0343 224 1999 to locate a removed vehicle, the lower fee within 24 hours, the £160 and up-to-£700 surety, and disposal or sale of unclaimed vehicles
- 4.Vehicle Recovery Scheme OfficialPolice ScotlandUsed for: The statutory notice letter giving the recovery operator's premises, the photo ID, V5C, licence, MOT and insurance required at release, the statutory removal and daily storage charges, and that storage runs from midday the day after removal or seizure
- 5.The Road Traffic Act 1988 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2005, regulation 5 LegislationThe National ArchivesUsed for: That a seized vehicle is released to the registered keeper or owner only on production of a valid certificate of insurance covering their use of the vehicle and a valid driving licence, the charge payable, and the option to nominate someone else who holds both to remove it
- 6.Removal and clamping operation for illegally parked vehicles in Belfast OfficialDepartment for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland)Used for: That DfI runs removal and clamping in Belfast, relocation nearby or to the Greater Belfast Pound at Ballycraigy Business Park, the advice to contact PSNI on 101 first, the 03300 088 770 release line and its hours, and the £90/£45 penalty charge, £40 relocation fee, £105 pound removal fee and £12 daily storage
Not a source — AI-assisted analysis on this page
- AI-assisted analysis — four regimes, and paying before appealing — Two things here are our reasoning, not statements by any cited body. First, the framing of council removal, DVLA-authorised clamping of untaxed vehicles, police seizure and the separate Northern Ireland operation as four distinct regimes with four different phone numbers: each is documented on its own by London Councils, GOV.UK, Police Scotland and the Department for Infrastructure, but none of them presents the set as a whole or warns that people confuse them. Second, the advice to pay for release and appeal afterwards. We reason it from the published charges — every body cited charges storage by the day from the day after removal, and none of them states that the charge pauses while a challenge is outstanding. No cited source gives this advice.
The coverage and hours of TRACE come from London Councils; the removal fee, storage rate and pound documents from Newham's own page, quoted as one council example rather than a national tariff; the untaxed-vehicle route, the NSL number, the lower fee within 24 hours and the £160 and up-to-£700 surety from GOV.UK; the seizure release conditions from regulation 5 of the 2005 Regulations, and the statutory notice, release documents and £190 removal and £25 or £13 daily storage charges from Police Scotland; the Belfast arrangements and charges from the Department for Infrastructure. The framing of these as four separate regimes, and the advice to pay for release and appeal afterwards, are our reasoning and are labelled as such in the text and the source list. Fees, storage rates and phone numbers are set locally and change — confirm with the body holding the vehicle.
Facts on this page are taken from the sources listed above — UK government departments, devolved administrations, regulators, statutory bodies and official statistical releases. Comparisons, judgements and "which option suits whom" conclusions are AI-assisted analysis written over those sources; they are marked in the text and listed as an AI-analysis entry in the sources, not attributed to any authority. Rates, thresholds, fees and processing times change, usually at the start of a tax year in April; figures are current as at the review date shown and should be confirmed with the responsible body before you rely on them. Much of what follows differs between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — where it does, this site says so.