Vehicle seizure no legal basis

[Markbrown52]

Hi
Its difficult to categorize this. I was at a social and someone was stabbed. I took the victim immediately to the hospital. As we were leaving A&E, still on the hospital grounds, the police blocked us in. They said they learnt that a stabbed victim was taken to tbe the hospital in tve vehicle.

Obviously they did their usual checks on me the driver and the vehicle. There is no legal problem. However, the police seized my vehicle saying they need to do 'tests' because the stabbed victim was placed in the vehicle and this will take days.

There seems to be no real reason lawfully to seize the vehicle as neither me or the vehicle violated any traffic act or broken any law.

I'm inconvenienced , I'm not sure how helping someone is a crime.

Please provide the legal basis where the police can seize vehicle.

One of the officers said, "the victim is unwell so that's why they are going to do further checks inside the car"

This doesn't seems legal

[R0b]

So if the victim was part of a chemical attack like the one in Salisbury you still think there's no lawful reason to have your car seized?

If the police have said they need to do tests then there's obviously a reason behind it and by putting the victim in your car it is part of a crime scene so they might want to carry out other tests - blood for example.

Whilst you might have done a good deed, if you didn't want to be inconvenienced you shouldn't have put the victim in your car. You must have realised or had some idea that driving a victim in your car who has been stabbed theres a chance they would want to examine the car.

Now, whether you can be reimbursed for loss of your car i don't know. Going to tag des8 for any other comment.

[des8]

Vehicles used or suspected of having been used in crime may be seized for evidential purposes.

"One of the officers said, "the victim is unwell so that's why they are going to do further checks inside the car"
Possibly a drug search???
This would be enough to give the police the right to seize the vehicle.

Did they drive it away or have it recovered by a recovery operator.
It will probably be being kept under controlled conditions for later examination by a Crime Scene Investigator.

You shouldn't have to pay to recover the vehicle (but if it is put into a secure commercial pound you might), but you are unlikely to receive reimbursement of any costs indirectly incurred.

[Aged William]

The OP refers to an offence against the person, so I doubt if the seizure powers under the Misuse of Drugs Act powers are relevant here. More likely it's s.19 PACE (or maybe common law depending on the extact location of the seizure) which states inter alia that an officer may seize anything he believes is evidence if it is necessary to prevent that evidence being lost.
I summise that a thorough forensic search of the vehicle is required to look for evidence of the assault (blood, contact trace evidence, crime scene marks, weapons etc) and comparisons made with other evidence and witness accounts.
The OP should contact the Officer In the Case (OIC) to find out what's happening and when/if he can get the car back. NB these things often take time.