Evidence work · video that survives being questioned
A claims handler, or an officer looking into the matter, has to be satisfied that what you are showing them is genuinely the recording it purports to be — and the recorder is where that gets settled, not the desk afterwards. So the first move is a written hold, sent before the half hour you need drops off the far end of the disk. After that, the rights data-protection law gives you are used properly. Nothing leaves here without hash values, a method set out in writing, and a dated note of everyone who has had it. The recovery is the smallest part of the work. Where the recorder belongs to somebody else, their authority comes before we touch it.
A quiet word first?
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| What bears on it | What that points to | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The myth about retention | Nothing in statute fixes a period. The disk, the camera count and the frame rate decide | Put a written hold in today |
| A calendar month in which to reply | Time runs from the moment your request reaches the operator | Make the request in writing |
| Everyone else is masked | Recognisable faces are blurred before any copy is released | An obligation, not an excuse |
| A doorbell camera facing a drive | A domestic camera looking beyond the boundary brings the same duties with it | Households are not outside this |
| A custody record | Every stage is logged, starting with the disk still inside the recorder and ending with the copy posted back | Each file leaves with its SHA-256 value and a signed account of the method |
Whatever arrives is booked in under a case number on the day it reaches the bench. An engineer then works out the actual fault, and that part is free. You get a plain answer on what can come off the drive and what cannot, followed by one price in writing. Nothing further happens until you have read it and agreed.
A written hold goes to whoever operates the system, along with their authority where the recorder is not yours. Then an honest calculation of how far back it really reaches — from the disk, the cameras and the frame rate, not the manual.
Two exports are taken from the image: an MP4 that opens on any machine, and the recorder's own file — .dav, or whatever that maker writes — which travels with the player that reads it.
Every file carries its own SHA-256 value, a written note explaining how the copy came to be made, and a dated list of everybody who has handled it. Lacking those, what you hold is a clip somebody forwarded. Carrying them, it is something a loss adjuster or a court can work with.
Thinking it over costs you nothing. Everything the drive gave up is listed for you before any invoice exists, and the bill only follows your go-ahead. Files travel back on media bought in for your job, with return carriage paid at this end, and the case stays on the bench until you confirm they open on your own computer.
What is at stake for insurers: the ABI reported in November 2025 that fraud detected in 2024 claims came to £1.16 billion. Motor made up £576 million of that across 51,700 cases. Good video settles an honest claim sooner and halts a dishonest one — provided it arrives properly documented and not merely passed along.
Two vans caught each other in a yard at Cattedown, and the insurer wanted the moment proved. By then the recorder had been round its loop several times and that day was gone. One export had outlasted it: a manager had saved a copy at the time, then deleted it from the office PC. That machine gave it back. A hash was produced, the method written up, and the matter closed without reaching a judge.
Yes. Once you are identifiable in a picture, the recording becomes personal data about you, and a subject access request will reach it. One calendar month is allowed for the reply. Everyone else present is blurred first, and usually no fee is asked.
Start by asking politely, in writing. A good many operators simply hand a copy across. If you are turned down, two formal steps remain: a data-protection request, and, failing that, an application to a court.
Sooner than the owner is likely to admit. No period is laid down in statute. The only rule is that data should not be kept once it stops serving its purpose, so the answer lies in the equipment: disk size, camera count, frame rate, and how the thing was set up.
It needs to open on any computer and to stand up when somebody challenges it. Four items therefore travel together: an MP4, the recorder's native file, a SHA-256 value for both, and a signed statement of how the copies were produced.
Every minute the recorder runs, the clip you need moves closer to being written over, and your deadline has not moved. Start it here. The first look is free, and what you tell us goes no further.