What happens if your vehicle is immobilised

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) officers and police officers have the power to immobilise your vehicle when they stop you.

This might happen if you’ve committed a serious enough offence to get an ‘immediate prohibition’.

An immediate prohibition is used to prevent risks to road safety (eg an unroadworthy vehicle or a tired driver). It means you won’t be able to drive your vehicle until the problem is sorted out.

When your vehicle could be immobilised

DVSA or the police can also immobilise your vehicle at the roadside if an immediate prohibiton is issued for any of the following reasons:

• you’ve broken the rules on drivers’ hours and tachographs
• your vehicle isn’t roadworthy
• your vehicle is overloaded
• you’ve been given a fixed penalty notice but can’t or won’t pay a financial penalty deposit

Not all vehicles given an immediate prohibition will be immobilised. Special circumstances will be considered, eg:

• the type of load you’re carrying
• if you’re carrying passengers on a public service vehicle who’d be inconvenienced if it was immobilised

How your vehicle is immobilised

DVSA and the police use a steel cable secured by a padlock to immobilise vehicles. It’s fitted around the wheels of the vehicle and a warning notice is attached to the vehicle.

The notice tells you how to get the vehicle released. You have to:

• satisfy DVSA that the causes of the immediate prohibitions have been dealt with
• pay an £80 release charge

It’s an offence to remove the warning notice or interfere with the immobilising device.

DVSA has produced a guide to vehicle immobilisation with more information, including advice on how to avoid it.

https://www.gov.uk/roadside-vehicle-checks-for-commercial-drivers/what-happens-if-your-vehicle-is-immobilised