City of London Corporation (Open Spaces) Act 2018

13Removal and disposal of unauthorised articles

(1)The Corporation may remove any article or object placed or left in an open space without its permission or otherwise without lawful authority.

(2)If a person appearing to be in control of an article or object is present, that person must be given a reasonable opportunity to remove the article or object before it is removed under subsection (1).

(3)On removing an article or object under subsection (1), the Corporation must store it in a convenient place unless it appears to the Corporation that the article or object—

(a)has been abandoned;

(b)is unlikely to be of any continuing value to its owner; or

(c)is not reasonably capable of being stored.

(4)If an article or object removed under subsection (1)—

(a)has been stored under subsection (3), and no person appearing to be the owner has within a period of 14 days beginning with the day of removal claimed it and paid all expenses reasonably incurred by reason of its removal and storage; or

(b)is not one which the Corporation must store under subsection (3),

the Corporation may dispose of it in such a manner as the Corporation thinks fit.

(5)Where a motor vehicle is removed under subsection (1), subsections (3) and (4) of this section do not apply, but—

(a)section 100(4) of the 1984 Act (which imposes a duty to retain safe custody of a removed vehicle) applies to the vehicle as if the Corporation were an authority having custody of the vehicle under that section; and

(b)sections 101 to 103 of the 1984 Act (which provide for the disposal of a removed vehicle) and any regulations made under them apply in relation to the vehicle as if—

(i)the Corporation were the local authority in relation to the open space and the vehicle had been removed by the Corporation under regulations made under section 99 of the 1984 Act; and

(ii)the open space were not within a civil enforcement area for parking contraventions.

(6)In subsection (5)—

• “the 1984 Act” means the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984; and

• “motor vehicle” has the meaning given by section 136 of that Act.