Vehicle seizure under the Road Traffic Act
When an authorised officer may take a vehicle to a place of safety for a suspected Road Traffic Act offence or licence breach, what happens while it is detained, and how unclaimed vehicles may be disposed of.
Primary source: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/RTA1961?ProvIds=pr95-
When a vehicle may be taken to a place of safety
A police officer, the Registrar of Vehicles, or an LTA employee authorised in writing by the Registrar may act under section 95 if they have reason to believe that a vehicle is connected with an offence under the Road Traffic Act or its rules, or has been used in breach of a licence condition. The officer must produce their authority. They may seize the vehicle and take it to a place of safety, or require its owner, driver or person in charge to take it and any attached trailer to a specified place of safety (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(1) and (4)).
The direct-seizure power may be used even if the owner, driver or person in charge is not present. Refusing or neglecting to comply with a direction to take the vehicle to a place of safety is an offence. So is removing, or causing the removal of, the vehicle or trailer from that place without authority while it awaits an order (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(2), (5) and (6)).
Detention, costs and disposal
A vehicle taken to a place of safety under section 95 must stay there until a Magistrate, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar orders its release. If the vehicle or trailer is detained, the Deputy Commissioner or Registrar must, with all reasonable despatch, notify its owner if known that it has been seized; the notice is served in a manner allowed by section 131A (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, ss. 95(3) and 95(8); Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 131A).
If the owner is convicted of an offence under the Act or its rules, or is permitted to compound one, the Deputy Commissioner or Registrar may recover expenses for removing, seizing, detaining, storing and disposing of the vehicle. A Magistrate’s Court may summarily determine a dispute or non-payment, and the amount may be recovered in the same way as a fine (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(7)).
If the owner has not claimed the vehicle or trailer within one month after detention, the Deputy Commissioner or Registrar may sell or otherwise dispose of it after first giving one month’s notice in the Gazette. Proceeds are applied first to outstanding licence fees and the listed removal, seizure, detention, storage and disposal charges; second, to damage caused to Government property by unlawful use. Any surplus goes to the owner. A surplus not claimed within 12 months after sale or disposal is forfeited to the Government (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(9)–(10)).
Coverage debt
- Section 95 states who can order release and what happens to an unclaimed vehicle, but it does not set out a practical application route, a release timetable, or a fee payable solely to obtain release. This article does not infer those details from the separate regimes in sections 95A, 95B or 123 (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, ss. 95–95B and 123).