What is Operation Crackdown

Operation Crackdown is a pioneering project designed "To provide a scalable solution to the expeditious removal of vehicles from public places by the relevant agency"

The Scale of the Problem

Abandoned Vehicles are a national problem. They represent significant economic, social and environmental costs. It is estimated that during 2001, 350,000 vehicles were illegally dumped in the UK costing the Government hundreds of millions of pounds.

The longer vehicles remain abandoned the more the costs escalate.
Thieves strip parts from cars, they become targets for vandals and arsonists and many are taken and re-abandoned. The situation in Sussex reflects the national picture.

This year 32,000 vehicles will be abandoned in West and East Sussex costing the taxpayer £10 million . In almost all cases inadequacies in records prevent the authorities from tracing owners and recovering these costs.

About the project

Operation Crackdown is the result of a partnership between West Sussex Fire Brigade, Sussex Police , West Sussex County Council , Arun and Chichester District Councils and the DVLA and is designed to save significant costs by reducing the time a vehicle remains abandoned.

Operation Crackdown was launched in September 2001 and employs new technology to provide a solution to the blight of abandoned vehicles in Sussex. This groundbreaking project is part of the Community Safety Strategy, which has identified abandoned cars as a trigger leading to criminality and a heightened fear of crime. If left unattended abandoned cars are quickly stripped of parts, damaged and ultimately set on fire, making them a danger to the public and a burden on Local Authorities and emergency services alike.

The use of alternative legislation has meant that the Crackdown units do not have to affix notices to the vehicles. Instead each unit, comprising a local authority inspector and a police officer or traffic warden, survey reported vehicles and authorise their removal and disposal. This is quickly followed by collection by a recovery operator and a short period of storage, or in many cases, immediate destruction.

How Can You Help

Members of the public can complete an easy to use online form to record information about the vehicle, location and when it was abandoned. Sussex Police also recently completed the development of an innovative online map reporting tool with Multimap.com which allows users of the system to indicate the specific location of an abandoned vehicle by clicking on a map rather than relying on a description of street names, numbers or other landmarks.

If you would like to report an abandoned vehicle using the Public Reporting Form then please use the link below.

Report an abandoned vehicle and more information: