An important change in the law – and we're asking Lancashire Police how they will use it

Thank you again to everyone who has supported our campaign to tackle excessive vehicle noise, antisocial driving and illegal fireworks in Pendle.

There has been an important development.

The law governing Section 59 vehicle seizures has changed. Police no longer have to give a driver a warning before seizing a vehicle where the Section 59 legal requirements are satisfied.

That means police can now take an antisocially driven vehicle off the road on the first occasion.

This is a very welcome change and potentially gives Lancashire Police a much stronger tool to deal with the behaviour residents have been reporting.

However, we've identified an important question about how the new power will work in practice.

What happens when the car is hired?  Some of the high-performance vehicles being driven antisocially may not belong to their drivers at all – they may be hired.

If police seize a hired Lamborghini, Ferrari or other vehicle, the hire company can seek to recover its property.

More importantly, a Section 59 seizure does not by itself automatically give the driver penalty points, a fine, a driving ban or a criminal conviction.

That creates a potential weakness.

We don't want a situation where somebody has a hired supercar seized on Saturday night and can simply hire another vehicle and do the same thing again.

The new powers need to deter the person responsible, not simply remove one particular vehicle temporarily.

We are asking Lancashire Police for answers
I am therefore writing to the Police and Crime Commissioner asking for clarification of Lancashire Police's policy under the strengthened Section 59 powers.

In particular, we want to know whether, when police seize a vehicle for on-road antisocial driving, officers will also consider taking action against the driver for the underlying road traffic offence where the evidence supports it.

We're also asking specifically what happens with hired and leased vehicles.

The change in the law is a significant step forward. Immediate seizure gives police a much more powerful way of stopping antisocial driving as it happens.

But seizing the car should not be the end of the matter.

Where an individual has committed a road traffic offence, we want to see meaningful enforcement against the individual responsible.

Thank you again for supporting the campaign. More than 2,000 local people have now made it very clear that they want action on excessive vehicle noise, antisocial driving and illegal fireworks.

I will share the response from the Police and Crime Commissioner and Lancashire Police when we receive it.

Together, we will keep pushing for action.