“Think My Car Got Wrongfully Impounded”

hi everyone im just wondering if its right for a cop to have my car impounded and give me a traffic ticket for improper plates when my car didnt leave my property, yes i knew the plates werent to my car but on private property it dont matter aslong as it dosent go onto public property. am i right with this that i shouldnt have gotten the ticket or my car impounded?????????????

Unauthorized plates authorities and charges apply anywhere - not just on a highway.

ok but do they have the right to impound my car even tho it was on my property, i see lots of cars parked on peoples property without any plates or with plates with expired stickers

Ontario Highway Traffic Act

Abandoned or unplated vehicles

221. (1) A police officer or an officer appointed for carrying out the provisions of this Act who discovers a vehicle apparently abandoned on or near a highway or a motor vehicle or trailer without proper number plates may take the vehicle into the custody of the law and may cause it to be taken to and stored in a suitable place. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 221 (1).

So how does one store a vehicle? Kept in a closed garage or must it always have a valid plate?

Reason I ask is I have a neighbour/friend who's working on rebuilding a classic 'cuda. He sometimes moves it onto his driveway to work on it for a few days and then stores it away until he has time to work on it again. He has no plates for it (yet).

Thanks in advance.

G35Dalf wrote:So how does one store a vehicle? Kept in a closed garage or must it always have a valid plate?

Reason I ask is I have a neighbour/friend who's working on rebuilding a classic 'cuda. He sometimes moves it onto his driveway to work on it for a few days and then stores it away until he has time to work on it again. He has no plates for it (yet).

Thanks in advance.

An unplated vehicle on private property shouldn't be an issue. The OP's mistake was using plates that didn't belong on the vehicle, which granted police the seizure authority.

The only note of caution would be to check local bylaws. Some municipalities do have bylaws which prohibit the storage of unplated vehicles on your own property.

But consider s. 221 of the HTA:

A police officer or an officer appointed for carrying out the provisions of this Act who discovers a vehicle apparently abandoned on or near a highway or a motor vehicle or trailer without proper number plates may take the vehicle into the custody of the law and may cause it to be taken to and stored in a suitable place.

Yes but...

A police officer or an officer appointed for carrying out the provisions of this Act who discovers a vehicle apparently abandoned on or near a highway or a motor vehicle or trailer without proper number plates may take the vehicle into the custody of the law and may cause it to be taken to and stored in a suitable place.

Define "suitable place," though.

If the vehicle is already on his private property, I'd argue that it's already in a "suitable place."

Yes but you have to read the whole section together. It says: "may take the vehicle into the custody of the law AND may cause it to be taken to and stored in a suitable place."

I'd argue that if it's in somebody's driveway it's not in "the custody of the law". To me this section clearly contemplates the officer seizing a vehicle AND THEN having it taken to a suitable place to be stored - i.e. a tow company's yard or the police impound.

Obviously I'm not suggesting this section should be used frivolously, but if it were to be used, I think this is how it would be.

Well perhaps... but who gets to decide what a suitable place is? What if the one officer decides that it's okay to be towed into someone's private garage but another officer wants to tow it to Smash 'Er Up Wrecking Yard?

Well I don't think that's any different than any other section of the HTA, or any other provincial or federal statute that affords an officer a broad level of discretion. The onus is on the officer to justify how their use of that discretion is reasonable.

Thank you folks.