Dashcam Footage After Collisions – Legal Handling and Privilege

Dashcams are increasingly being used within fleet vehicles, capturing critical footage of accidents and near-misses on the road. For fleet operators, this footage can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, a dashcam video can provide an objective account of a collision, potentially protecting a driver against false claims. On the other hand, that same footage can be used as evidence of fault or wrongdoing.

Understanding how to handle dashcam footage in the aftermath of a collision, especially in the golden minutes after an incident, is now an essential part of fleet risk management.

Here we explore the legal handling of dashcam footage under UK law, dispels myths about privilege, and offers practical guidance for fleet operators. We will discuss why immediate legal input is crucial, how footage is treated in police investigations, the importance of preserving evidence properly, and how to leverage legal privilege to protect your interests.

The First Hour After a Collision: Why Legal Input Matters

Following a serious road collision, events unfold rapidly. This initial period can shape the entire outcome of ensuing investigations and legal proceedings. Fleet drivers involved in an accident are likely to be shaken, yet they may face immediate questions from police, interactions with bystanders, and decisions about what information to share. In these critical first minutes, well-intentioned actions can have unintended legal consequences. Even a simple apology or offhand remark by a driver at the scene can later be interpreted as an admission of guilt. Without guidance, a driver might also volunteer dashcam footage or other evidence without understanding how it could be used.

Dashcam Footage: Evidence, Not Privilege

Dashcam footage is not covered by legal privilege. Legal privilege protects confidential communications between a client and their lawyer, not pre-existing factual records of an incident.

A dashboard camera video is treated like any other piece of physical evidence or witness statement about the collision. This means that if a collision leads to legal action, that footage can be demanded by police, prosecutors, or opposing parties in a lawsuit.

Under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA), police investigators must pursue all reasonable lines of inquiry. Dashcam footage, if known to exist, will be one of the first things investigators will look to seize in order to figure out what happened.  If that footage harms your driver’s position, it will undoubtedly form part of the evidence in any subsequent legal proceedings. 

Fleet managers should assume from the start that anything recorded on a dashcam will become known to investigators and courts and used as potential evidence. This means footage must be handled with integrity and caution, and fleet operators should seek legal advice on its implications.

Whilst the video itself isn’t privileged, analysis of that video might be – a point we will return to.

Disclosing Footage to Police

Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, officers have powers to seize items that they reasonably believe contain evidence of an offence. If the incident involves severe injuries or a fatality, the police are very likely to seize the dashcam or its SD card at the scene as part of their evidence gathering.  In the event the police are unable to operate the dashcam, it is becoming increasingly common for them to request the immediate assistance of the fleet manager or other appropriate person to extract the SD card or download the footage, depending on the system used.  The police will often seek to accompany a fleet manager to their depot if the footage is operated remotely.

If your driver is being asked to assist with securing the footage in the middle of a stressful scene, a recommended approach is for the driver to refer the police to their manager or your company’s legal department, who will be able to assist them.  That way, your driver is seen to be cooperating, but this also allows you some additional time, if necessary, for you to secure a copy of the footage for yourself before this is seized.

If you are unable to access the footage remotely, once the dashcam has been seized by the police you are not legally entitled to a copy of any footage during the course of their investigation.  Obtaining a copy beforehand, where possible, will be greatly beneficial to defending any legal proceedings.

In less severe accidents, police might simply ask for a copy of the footage at a later date. This allows you more time to respond and once a solicitor is involved, they can handle the request for you.  

If the footage strongly exonerates the driver, your solicitor may volunteer it early to convince police there is no case to answer, potentially averting charges. Conversely, if the footage incriminates your driver in respect of any driving offences, you should seek advice from your solicitor about the implications of not disclosing this.  The police, in certain circumstances, can apply for a search warrant or Court Order to obtain the footage.  

Every scenario is different, but the guiding principle is to cooperate with lawful requests while ensuring you have legal guidance on the implications. Remember, anything you give to the police will be retained and likely used as evidence in any subsequent legal proceedings.

Preserving Footage and Maintaining Chain of Custody

After a collision, it is imperative to secure the relevant video file immediately, in its original format. If your dashcam system cannot be operated remotely, your fleet policy should mandate that drivers know how to save or prevent deletion of the footage following an incident.

Keep a record of everyone involved in the process of securing the footage, including the time and date any footage is downloaded or copied.  Whilst this level of formality might seem burdensome, it can become critically important if the authenticity of the video is later challenged in court.

Equally important is not altering the footage in any way. Any editing or adding of commentary can render the footage suspect or even inadmissible.

If context or explanation is needed for clarity (for instance, the dashcam’s timestamp is wrong or the video starts in the middle of the incident), you should convey that through a statement or cover letter.

Leveraging Legal Privilege: The Role of Solicitors in Evidence Handling

The involvement of solicitors can significantly benefit a fleet operator after a collision, not least by ensuring that certain aspects of the post-accident investigation are legally privileged.

In simplified terms, any confidential communications between you (the client) and your lawyers for the purposes of seeking or receiving legal advice, or in respect of existing or contemplated legal proceedings, are privileged and cannot be seized by the police or other authorities or demanded by opponents in any disclosure requests during legal proceedings.

Consider an example: right after an accident, you might conduct an internal review in contemplation of legal proceedings which includes an incident report analysing what went wrong, or sharing dash camera footage internally. If done informally, those reports and emails could later become subject to disclosure requests by the police or prosecution in criminal proceedings, or by a claimant’s solicitors in civil proceedings, since they are not legally privileged.  

A better approach is to immediately seek legal advice from your solicitor or legal team, with all communication clearly identified as “legally privileged” through email subject lines and other obvious labelling.

This means you can candidly explore what happened and the legal consequences of this – weaknesses and all – without fear that those communications will later be used against you. Essentially, involving solicitors allows you to maintain control and ensure you’re not inadvertently creating a trail of non-legally privileged documents that hang you later.

Practical Policies for Fleet Operators

Dashcam technology is a powerful tool in modern fleet management, capable of revealing exactly what happened in the blink of an eye when a collision occurs.

Fleet operators should approach dashcam footage with a clear plan:

• treat it as critical evidence that must be preserved and handled with care,

• involve legal advisors at the earliest opportunity, and,

• make conscious, legally informed decisions about when to share footage outside the company.

This approach should be clearly set out in your internal policies and training. Drivers should be instructed that after any serious incident, their role is to ensure safety and report the event, not to distribute footage or make statements beyond the basics required by law.

Managers should have checklists that include securing the dashcam data and contacting your legal team.

Proper chain of custody, cautious disclosure, and legal privilege are not about hiding anything, they are about ensuring that when your company or driver did nothing wrong, the footage is used to your advantage, and if a mistake was made, it is dealt with proportionately.

Ultimately, the goal is safer roads and fair outcomes. Dashcams contribute to both if we handle their footage wisely.

Take control before an Incident

At LMP Legal, we work with fleets across the UK to prepare, protect and defend. Our 24/7 response line has supported numerous drivers and businesses, and in over two-thirds of cases, police investigations were dropped after our early intervention. Contact us to discuss how we can support your fleet.