North Wales Police Seize Off-Road Vehicles On The Spot Under New — SkimNews
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- PC Eryl Lloyd of North Wales Police's rural crime team said officers can now seize vehicles without notice under the Crime and Policing Act 2026, replacing the prior requirement to warn offenders for anti-social or careless driving on protected land.
- John Robinson, Michael Williams and Joseph Hodgson were convicted in August after a seven-vehicle convoy from Liverpool caused "irreversible" damage to the Berwyn Site of Special Scientific Interest; Robinson and Williams were fined over £2,000 each and disqualified from driving for two months, while Hodgson was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation.
- Kirsty Roberts of Natural Resources Wales said the damaged peat — 40cm deep, equivalent to roughly 400 years of growth — will not recover within a human lifetime, with further degradation threatening ground-nesting birds.
- PC Lloyd attributed part of the rise in off-roading to social media sharing of locations, reporting visitors travelling from London and the Midlands to North Wales sites such as Newborough Forest and Beach.
- Police are also receiving a sharp rise in e-bike off-road reports, which Lloyd said causes habitat damage comparable to motorbikes.
- Lord Newborough of the Rhug Estate, who owns the damaged Berwyn land, said monitored bird nests are being damaged "wilfully," calling the trend painful after decades of stewardship on land opened for public access.
Why it matters: The on-the-spot seizure power removes the prior warning step that gave offenders a chance to leave, giving police the deterrent landowners and NRW say is overdue. With peatlands taking roughly 400 years to form 40cm of depth, even modest incursions leave damage that will not reverse within a human lifetime, and NRW's Roberts warned the biodiversity curve cannot be bent back without intervention.
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