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PDR / Legal and insurance work / Dash and body-worn footage

Investigations & evidence · dash and body-worn cameras

Dashcam and bodycam recovery, Plymouth. The time for debate is after the card is removed.

In most cases, arguments cease immediately upon viewing the right thirty seconds of footage. To achieve this, however, the footage must still exist on the card, be able to be opened, and be delivered to the correct desk whilst it still has value. Footage which has been deleted or damaged can be recovered from both SD cards and the memory soldered into the camera, and is returned in a format usable by Devon and Cornwall Police or any insurer.

On most jobs, no files means no fee An exhibit from the start The recorder is overwriting it

A quiet word first?
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Who the footage has to reach.

Where it ends upThere is one national portal which collects videos of driving offences from dash-mounted, helmet-mounted and house-mounted cameras. This portal directs uploads to the police force for the road where the offence occurred. If the footage was captured anywhere within Plymouth, Devon or Cornwall, it is directed to Devon and Cornwall Police.
Fourteen days, and no extensionVideo quality does not matter once the date has passed. A range of offences require the registered keeper to be sent a notice of intended prosecution within fourteen days. Devon and Cornwall Police have set their own deadline for submitting video earlier still, so please read it before submitting any video.
What is asked of youHave the other vehicle's registration details available. Your account of the incident is recorded in a signed witness statement, and you could be required to give evidence as a witness yourself. The video footage shows what it shows; you are the individual standing behind it.
Body-worn cameras at workIf you record with a body-worn camera that captures identifiable individuals, then you are capturing personal data, and this falls under UK GDPR. You should expect to demonstrate a lawful basis for collection. Signs should be displayed wherever they can go. The recordings must be stored securely, on properly locked-down systems. You must also have a retention period for the recordings and be prepared to justify it. Evidence handling follows that of CCTV: the original is retained, copies are hashed, and every handover is logged.

What each symptom points to.

Not on this list? Call us →
What turns upWhat that points toWhere to start
Clips erased from the cardFlash holds what was written until something replaces itGet the card out
The camera stayed on for the drive homeEvery circuit of the loop removes a little moreSwitch the camera off
Playback shows a black screenInterrupted mid-write, or a card nearing the end of its usable lifeStop using that card
Locked event files nothing will openThe maker's own wrapper, which only that camera readsThey get unwrapped and converted
A bodycam broken or soaked throughThe memory chip usually outlasts the housingVideo comes off the chip directly
A solicitor or loss adjuster needs it formallyOriginals, a playable MP4, hashes, bench notesPart of every job here
Sending it to us: once you have your quote, our intake lab in Bristol takes tracked, insured post, and we pay to send it back to you. If you'd like to talk packing through with an engineer before you post it, give us a call. There's more detail on our contact page.

Each stage, in turn.

Every job written up →
01

A number on arrival, then the free diagnosis Free

Whatever is delivered is booked in using a unique reference (case number) on the date it arrives at the bench. The engineer will identify the actual fault at no charge. This gives a straightforward answer on what can be recovered from the drive and what cannot, plus one written quotation. There will be no further activity until you have read and accepted the quotation.

Diagnosis at no chargeA single written figureYou owe nothing yet
02

The whole thing is imaged first

Nothing on your media is opened, exported or altered. All sectors on the memory card, or the memory inside the camera, are copied, and everything done next happens on the copy, including unlocking protected event files. The card is returned in the state it arrived.

A full image takenLocked files opened
03

Carving, then repair

All erased video footage is carved out of the image. Damaged video footage requires a header and index to be created before it is recognised by most players. Flash is very unforgiving in one respect: if you continue to use the same memory card, there will be less to find on it.

Erased clips carved backDamaged files mended
04

Where each copy goes

There are two ways to get video footage of a driving offence to Devon and Cornwall Police: through the national dash cam portal or through the force's own upload page. Submit it within days, not weeks: fourteen days is the entire time allowed for serving a notice of intended prosecution. Insurers get the set of files every CCTV job here produces: the original files, an MP4 which anyone can play, a hash for each file, and a document outlining the method.

An exhibit bundle put togetherThe 14-day limit watched
05

You give the word, and it ships back

Give yourself time to consider it. It costs you nothing. We list all of the files we recover for you before sending out an invoice, and we only ask for payment once you have authorised it. We also buy media specifically for your recovery and send it back to you, with the return postage paid by us. The case stays here on our bench until we have your confirmation that the files open properly on your own machine.

You see the list and decideWritten to fresh mediaWe pay the postage home

What the work keeps showing

  • A small memory card comes round on itself quickly: a fortnight of daily commutes can fill one completely, so copy the clip onto your laptop before going to bed.
  • The lock button simply holds off the loop and nothing more: a failing card, or a format, will take a locked clip just as easily as an unlocked clip.
  • What you are uploading is not the original material: police guidance warns that some of the ancillary data may not survive the journey through the online portal, so retain the card's own files for six months.
  • Don't feel tempted to clean it up: a direct copy from the card with its metadata intact has more value than any version which has been near an editing tool, regardless of how it now appears.

There is no way to shift this deadline: for certain road traffic offences, the keeper of the vehicle must be sent a notice of intended prosecution, and it has fourteen (14) days to arrive. The majority of road traffic offences then operate under a six (6) month limitation period for prosecution. Each force sets its own cut-off earlier still, so check what Devon and Cornwall Police require before uploading your evidence. On day twelve your clip will likely still be worth submitting. On day twenty, usually not.

A job out of the casebook.

PL · PLY-2026-0563FILED ✓

A Cattedown haulage company, and the dashcam clip its driver deleted

The original card was never altered; all steps after the copy was made were performed using the copy. The clip requested by the insurance company had been deleted overnight, but the image data behind it had not. The file was rebuilt from the copy of the card, hashed and exported, and reached the insurance company within a week. A deletion does not constitute an overwrite, and the card settled which of the two this had been.

Footage came back intactVerified export

Before you seal the box.

Get these done

  • Card out, camera off, both left alone
  • Leave protected files exactly where they sit
  • Write down where, when, and the registrations
  • Send offence video as soon as possible, because the 14-day time frame has already begun

What to avoid

  • Driving on with the same card fitted
  • Erasing older clips to free up room
  • Submitting a clip you have trimmed
  • Leaving it a fortnight before submitting

The questions callers ask most.

Will a court accept dashcam footage?

Generally speaking, so long as it relates to the issue and you can show that it is genuine. Three key factors carry that: a file that has remained in the same state as when it left the camera, metadata that has not been edited or changed in any way, and a written record naming who has held the footage and when. The weight it carries is ultimately for the court to decide.

What is the way to report a driving offence?

There are 2 methods available. The first is uploading through the national dash cam safety portal, which sends each submission to the force responsible for that road. The second is uploading directly to Devon and Cornwall Police. In both instances, they will ask for a signed witness statement and the registration number of the other vehicle. It is advisable to submit early, as some offences require a notice of intended prosecution to reach the registered keeper within 14 days.

Is a deleted clip actually gone?

Rarely. Deleting flags the space as free again, and the video data still exists exactly where it was when you deleted it. On a standard flash card, the clip remains there until your loop returns to that location on the card, or until a few more journeys are written over it. If you pull out the card and leave your camera switched off, chances are good it will still exist.

Is a staff bodycam covered by UK GDPR?

Yes. Body-worn cameras capture images of people who could be identified, and those are considered personal data under UK GDPR. Therefore, you have to have a valid lawful basis to capture them, post signs in reasonable locations, establish a retention period that can be justified, and store the evidence securely with proper safeguards. The way you treat evidence is the same as how you treat CCTV: you retain the original footage, hash any copies made, and record all handovers.

Pages people open after this.

Footage for a claim or the police → Camera cards, SD and CF → Flash drives and pens → Evidence and reports →

Every minute it runs, less is left.

Every single minute the recorder continues to record, the clip you want becomes more and more likely to be recorded over for good and your deadline does not change. Begin here. Your first look is free of charge and any information we receive from you is held in confidence.

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