April 30, 2025 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Burglary and Theft
Request Number: FOI/14351
Category: Crime/Incident Statistics – Other and Multiple Crime/Incident types
Subject: Motability crimes
Request and Answer:
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken to disclose the following.
Request 1
Between the years 2014 and 2024, how many Motability vehicles were seized by your police force after they were used, or they were suspected to have been used, in criminal activity. Could you please break down the statistics by year, e.g. how many in 2014; 2015 etc?
Request 2
If possible, could you also please provide a breakdown of the nature of each offence involving Motability vehicles. Eg, theft; assault.
Motability vehicles are cars given to eligible claimants in exchange for their disability benefits. I understand that cars which are seized are then taken back by Motability so there should be records of all Motability vehicles involved in criminal activity.
Answer to 1 & 2
PSNI can advise that we are unable to confirm if a vehicle is a mobility vehicle as we do not categorise vehicles by owners and also the vehicle is registered to the keeper and not Motability.
We can further advise that even if an entry was made in PSNI NICHE system relating to “Motablity” for a vehicle seizure, it would in any event be an over cost as there are over 60,000 seizures for the 11 year time period requested which would require a manual search of each vehicle seized.