Car Alarm

The Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993 allows Councils to turn off vehicle alarms if they are causing a nuisance. An alarm which has been sounding for more than five minutes and is affecting residents is deemed to be a nuisance. Once a nuisance has been established we can serve a Noise Abatement Notice on the owner or if the owner cannot be found we place the Notice on the car. This requires the owner to deactivate the alarm within one hour.

When We Can Locate the Owner

We do everything possible to find the owners of noisy cars. We liaise with the Police and neighbours. Once the owner has been located we allow a reasonable time to deactivate the alarm by extending the one hour limit if necessary

When We Can't Locate the Owner

If after one hour an alarm is still sounding and the owner has not been found the law allows us to deactivate the alarm. We take every care not to cause damage and use specialist companies contracted to us. If it is not possible to unlock a door we may have to break a window.

We will not necessarily enter a vehicle -- it will depend on the circumstances e.g. the type of car and where it is located. Some vehicles have sophisticated alarms that cannot be deactivated by alarm specialists. If this is the case we may tow the vehicle away.

The Precautions We Take

After entering a vehicle we must ensure that we leave it secured or immobilised. If this is not possible we arrange for it to be towed away. We do not leave vehicles with valuable contents unsecured

Whenever we enter a vehicle and leave it secured in its original position we leave a notice inside to inform the owner. This is always left out of sight of passers by. We also write to the owner if the address is known explaining what has happened.

The Police are informed of the action we take so that owners who return to their vehicles to find them missing can immediately be informed of their vehicles whereabouts.

Reclaiming Vehicles

Owners can reclaim their vehicles immediately by presenting their drivers licence and vehicle registration documents to the manager of the car pound.

We recover our costs from the owners of vehicles and may prosecute them. A successful prosecution could lead to a fine, however we prefer to use informal methods where possible.

Our Code is to:

• Always attempt to find the owner of the vehicle.
• Give the owner a reasonable time to deactivate the alarm.
• Take care not to cause damage to the vehicle.
• Never leave a vehicle so that either the vehicle or its contents can be stolen.
• Take the most appropriate action to minimise disturbance to residents.
• Make every effort to inform the owner of our actions.

You can also:

• download this noise information sheet (103KB)

Contact us on the 24-Hour Hotline 020 7641 2000.