Watch: Rescue recovery motorists “overcharged”, BBC reports

Police Scotland claim recovery operators are "within their rights" to allow extra charges

Watch: Rescue recovery motorists “overcharged”, BBC reports
Image: Bigstock.

Many motorists are being overcharged when their vehicle is towed after a road accident or police incident, BBC Scotland has reported.

Police Scotland have been accused of allowing recovery firms to add additional charges on top of the legal removal cost of £150.

Former employees of one firm used by the police told The Nine they were told to add additional charges to invoices on a regular basis.

Avro, the organisation which represents recovery operators, said overcharging was a threat to the “integrity” of the industry.

Police Scotland say recovery operator are within their rights to allow extra charges in exceptional circumstances and that it was “ludicrous” to think all rescues could be done for the flat fee when some were more complex.

Freedom of Information requests showed that the police ordered recoveries more than 43,000 times in a three-year period to March 2018.

The amount people were charged was on average double the legal limit, bringing in an extra £6m above the statutory charge.

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