The Department of Justice has made the Enforcement of Fines and Other Penalties (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025, uplifting the statutory charges for the removal, storage and disposal of vehicles seized under a court‑ordered vehicle seizure. The rule takes effect for vehicles seized on or after 10 November 2025. The instrument is listed as SR 2025 No. 166 on legislation.gov.uk.
The amendment updates Schedule 3 to the Enforcement of Fines and Other Penalties Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018, which prescribes the charges payable to an authorised recovery operator when a vehicle is seized, removed to storage and later disposed of if necessary. Schedule 3 sets the charging matrix by vehicle mass and condition (for example, whether the vehicle is on or off road, laden or unladen).
Policy context is straightforward. After consultation between 18 April and 13 June 2024, the Justice Minister approved a 28% uplift to the 2008‑set fees to reflect inflation and to maintain parity with England and Wales. The Department’s published ‘way forward’ confirms that the uplift is to be delivered by amending three Northern Ireland regulations, including the fines enforcement regime.
What changes on the ground? Using the Department’s 28% uplift applied to the 2018 schedule, standard car removal on a road where the vehicle is upright rises from £150 to £192; if the car is on the road but not upright or is substantially damaged, the removal charge moves from £250 to £320. Daily storage for cars (each 24‑hour period or part) increases from £20 to £26, while disposal for cars rises from £75 to £96. Two‑wheeled vehicles see removal at £192 in any position, storage at £13 per day, and disposal at £64. These figures are Policy Wire calculations based on the uplift to the 2018 Schedule 3; the statutory rule contains the definitive tables.
Heavy vehicle tariffs scale accordingly. For vehicles exceeding 7.5 tonnes but not more than 18 tonnes, on‑road removal when not upright increases to £2,560 if unladen and £3,840 if laden; for vehicles over 18 tonnes the equivalent figures become £3,840 and £5,760. Off‑road removal where the vehicle is not upright rises to £3,840/£5,760 for the 7.5–18 tonne band (unladen/laden) and £5,760/£7,680 for vehicles over 18 tonnes. Storage per day moves from £25 to £32 (3.5–7.5t), £30 to £38 (7.5–18t) and £35 to £45 (>18t), while disposal charges rise from £100 to £128, £125 to £160 and £150 to £192 across those same weight bands. Again, these are Policy Wire calculations applying the 28% uplift to the existing schedule for ease of planning.
The Department has also brought forward parallel amendments to two connected schemes: SR 2025/167 covers seizures for careless or off‑road driving under the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008, and SR 2025/168 addresses uninsured driving seizures under the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. Taken together, the three rules align recovery, storage and disposal tariffs across the main statutory seizure regimes.
For practitioners, two points of application matter. First, the uplift applies only to vehicles seized on or after 10 November 2025; earlier seizures remain subject to the previous tariff. Second, under the 2018 Regulations the prescribed charges are payable to the authorised recovery operator, not the court, and are in addition to any outstanding financial penalty that triggered the seizure.
Debtors should note the sequence in fines enforcement: after a vehicle seizure order is made by the court, there is typically a 28‑day window to pay before seizure proceeds; once seized, daily storage charges accrue until payment of both the outstanding amount and charges releases the vehicle. NIDirect guidance reiterates these steps and the consequences of non‑payment, including potential sale.