Former US Embassy employee sues gardaí for alleged wrongful seizure of work van

Ray Managh

A former employee of the US Embassy in Dublin has sued An Garda Síochána for the alleged wrongful seizure and destruction of his untaxed and uninsured work van from what he claims was private property.

Garda witnesses have told Judge Geoffrey Shannon in the Circuit Civil Court that the vehicle had been parked in a public place and that the registered owner, the man from whom Tomasz Pysz had bought the van, had been legally informed of its seizure and proposed destruction.

Pysz conceded in court on Wednesday that when his van was seized he still had not been registered as the new owner and that it was uninsured. He denied he had parked it in a public place and said it was on private property when it was lifted on a recovery truck.

Barrister Ciaran Mandal for the gardaí told the court the vehicle (one of more than 16,000 untaxed or uninsured vehicles seized by gardaí this year) had been illegally parked in a public place which was described under legislation as “any public road, street or place to which the public have access.”

Garda David Carson said that in October 2022 he saw the untaxed van parked on a public road and seized it, notifying the then registered owner, who was not Pysz of Archers Wood, Clonee, Dublin.

Pysz said that when he noticed his van was missing he notified the gardaí that it had been stolen and assumed the theft would be recorded on the police Pulse system. He claimed the gardaí had been negligent in having failed to notify him of the impending destruction of the vehicle.

“If I had been told it was going to be destroyed I would have acted immediately,” he said. He had saved up to buy it and afterwards had to hire a work van.

Mr Mandal, who appeared with Paula Burke of Corrigan and Corrigan Solicitors, said the gardaí were legally entitled under the Road Traffic Act to seize any untaxed or uninsured vehicle and direct its destruction following a duty to notify the registered owner within a period of 21 days.

Following the case, in which Judge Shannon reserved his judgment, a garda spokesman said gardaí were clamping down on the thousands of untaxed vehicles still parked alongside public roads and streets and many which were still being driven untaxed and uninsured.