Drivers who take vehicles onto protected land illegally in North Wales now risk losing the very vehicles they used to get there. A change to UK law made over the summer allows police to seize offending vehicles immediately, without first issuing a warning.

North Wales Police and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) say unauthorized off-roading and other anti-social vehicle use are causing increasing damage in protected countryside. The enforcement applies to more than 4x4s, with motorcycles and e-bikes also identified as part of the problem.

Convoy damaged protected peatland

A case from last year illustrates why authorities consider the seizure power important. Seven 4x4s traveled from Liverpool to the Berwyn Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wales, where the group allegedly used bolt cutters to break a gate lock, removed signs prohibiting private vehicles and drove more than 3 kilometers across privately owned land toward Moel Fferna.

Members of the convoy recorded parts of the trip and posted the footage on TikTok. Authorities said the videos showed the vehicles driving across protected peat and blanket bog habitat, leaving deep tracks. Two of the 4x4s became stuck and had to be recovered by other vehicles in the group, creating additional damage.

NRW traced the vehicles to their registered keepers, while the social media posts helped connect the defendants and their vehicles to the location.

Convictions followed

Three men were convicted in connection with the incident. John Robinson and Michael Williams were each ordered to pay approximately £2,000, equivalent to about $2,700 at the exchange rate cited in the source, and both lost their driving privileges for two months.

Joseph Hodgson was later ordered to pay more than £2,000. He also received a three-year Criminal Behaviour Order preventing him from entering the 254-square-kilometer Berwyn protected area.

Despite that case, North Wales Police and NRW report that complaints about illegal off-roading have continued to rise. PC Eryl Lloyd, who works with North Wales Police’s rural crime team, described the possible consequence for offenders as “a long walk home.”

Under the updated law, drivers who ignore restrictions and damage protected land may find that their vehicles are seized at the scene, leaving them without the transportation they used to reach the area.