FOI 1060/26

REQUEST

 

For each calendar year 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 to the date of this email (25th August), please provide:

 

1. The number of warnings issued under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002.

 

2. The number of vehicles seized under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002.

 

3. For the 10 most recent vehicles seized under Section 59, please provide:

 

date of seizure;

make and model of vehicle;

a brief description of the circumstances/reason for the seizure, as recorded.

 

If providing a brief description would require the creation of new information, please instead provide the non-personal information already recorded concerning the circumstances/reason for each seizure.

 

RESPONSE

 

Question 1

 

A task search has been conducted on our crime and incident recording system (Niche RMS) for all workflows containing the title ‘Section 59’ between 1^st January 2023 to 25^th August 2026.

 

This search retrieved the following results:

 

Year	Results
2023	726
2024	638
2025	771
2026	579
Total	2,714

 

Please be advised, we have not interrogated the above results and therefore, the figures retrieved may not be relevant to this part of your request. The results retrieved are dependent on how the information has been entered onto the system. As such, the information provided should not be considered statistically accurate and/or definitive and therefore, care should be taken when using this data for any further statistical, analytical or evaluative purposes. 

 

Questions 2 & 3

 

We have consulted with our Vehicle Recovery Unit who have provided a response to this part of your request.

 

Please see the tables  that provide vehicles seized under Section 59 between 1^st January 2023 and 25^th August 2026.

 

Year	Vehicles Seized
2023	71
2024	79
2025	129
2026	127
Total	406

 

Please be advised, the 10 most recent vehicles seized under Section 59 were seized in August for antisocial behaviour. These are provided in the table below.

 

Make and Model	Number of Vehicles
Audi RS3 Quatro motor car	1
BMW 120 motor car	2
BMW 330 motor car	1
Citroen Relay 35 van	1
Mercedes A200 motor car	1
Seat Leon motor car	1
Skoda Fabia VRS motor car	1
VW Golf  motor car	1
VW Golf motor car	1
Total	10

 

The vehicles were seized for one or more of the following reasons:

 

• Careless driving
• Excess speed
• Excess speeds
• Excessive noise
• Gesticulating at officers
• Manner of driving
• Part of car meet
• Potentially using nitrous oxide balloons
• Previous warning given
• Swerving

 

In relation to question 3, your request for the date of seizure and for the data in an aggregated format, this has now been considered and I am not obliged to supply the information you have requested. The requested details have therefore been provided separately and we have provided the month of the vehicle seizure.

  

In relation to your request, the following exemption applies: 

  

Section 40(2) - Personal Information 

Section 40(2) is an absolute class-based exemption and therefore the authority is not required to consider the public interest in disclosure.

 

The Data Protection Act covers processing of personal data about a living individual.  Personal data means data which relate to a living individual who can be identified-

 

• from those data, or
• from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller or any other person in respect of the individual.

 

Information will “relate to” a person if it is about them, linked to them, has some biographical significance for them, is used to inform decisions affecting them, has them as its main focus or impacts on them in any way.

 

Due to the level of detail requested, if the specific dates along with the make and model of vehicle and brief circumstances were disclosed in an aggregated format, this could lead to the identification of an individual which would constitute a disclosure of personal data.

 

In accordance with the Act, this letter acts as a refusal notice for this part of your request.