Investigations & evidence · footage for claims and forces
Getting the video is step one. Step two is turning it into something a claims handler or a police officer can actually rely on — which means beating the recorder's overwrite cycle, knowing the requests the law gives you, and packaging the export with the continuity records that make it evidence rather than just a file.
A quiet word, in confidence
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| What's needed | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The 31-day habit | Custom rather than statute; busy systems overwrite well inside it | Get a preservation request in today |
| One month to answer a SAR | The operator's clock — extendable for complicated requests | Send yours in writing now |
| Faces of strangers masked | Operators must blur other identifiable people before release | Expect it; it's required, not obstruction |
| A neighbour's camera covering your side | Once a domestic camera sees beyond its own boundary, data-protection law bites | A SAR works on households too |
| The custody question | Where the file has been, who copied it, and proof it's unchanged | Every export we release carries hashes and a method note |
Your device is logged under its own case number the day it arrives. An engineer finds the fault, tells you plainly what stands a real chance of coming back, and writes you one fixed quote. Nothing is charged for that look, nothing obliges you, and paid work starts only when you say so.
The same day you instruct us, a written preservation request goes to whoever operates the system — and we establish how long their recorder actually keeps before it wraps.
From the disk image we produce a pair: an MP4 that anybody can open, and the DVR's native-format export together with the player it needs.
Alongside the footage you receive hash values, a description of method and a continuity record — the difference between 'a video on a stick' and material a court or insurer treats as evidence.
Before any fee falls due you see a full listing of everything recovered and approve it. Your files travel back on brand-new media, return postage on us, and the case stays open until you've confirmed everything opens on your own machine.
Why insurers take video seriously: the ABI's November 2025 figures put detected claims fraud for 2024 at £1.16 billion, with motor scams — more than 51,000 of them — accounting for £576 million of that. Good footage settles honest claims fast and kills staged ones — provided it arrives as an exhibit, not a loose clip.
Two vehicles met in a warehouse yard, the insurer wanted proof, and the DVR had overwritten the day weeks earlier. One manager's export — deleted since — was the only copy. We recovered it from the disk, hashed it and reported it, and the claim never reached a hearing.
Yes. UK GDPR gives you a subject access request: the operator has a calendar month to respond, must blur other identifiable people, and in most cases can't charge a penny.
Start by asking whoever runs the system; most operators oblige without fuss. If they refuse, the formal tools are a data-protection request or a court order.
There's no statute setting a retention period. Around 31 days is the common practice under the storage-limitation principle, and a busy recorder loops sooner than that — so treat every request as urgent.
It has to play and it has to hold up. So we hand over a plain MP4, the recorder's native export, hashes, and a written note of provenance.
Recorders overwrite on a loop, evidence weakens, time limits pass. Open a case early — the first look is free and confidential.