Investigations & evidence · dashcams and body-worn cameras
Remove the card from the camera and turn the power off; that is all you need to do, and this one action dictates how all else will follow. Most disputes end when thirty seconds of the right footage appears on a screen, and for that the clip has to still exist, be able to open, and get somewhere useful before it stops counting for anything. We recover erased and damaged video from SD cards and from memory that is soldered inside the camera, and send it back in a state that Thames Valley Police or an insurance company can use. Our price is £400 + VAT. There is no charge for us looking, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Much of our work is with commercial vehicles, including vans that leave the distribution yards in Theale and haulage depots in Colthrop.
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| What you are seeing | What is likely wrong | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Clips erased off the card | Flash keeps the data stored there until the next write overwrites it | Slide the card out |
| The camera ran all the way home | Every loop takes a little more | Power down the camera |
| Playback gives a black screen | An interrupted write, or a card that has grown old | Leave that card unused |
| Protected event files no player opens | Wrapped in a proprietary format only that model can read | We unwrap and convert them |
| A broken or water-damaged bodycam | The memory chip normally lasts longer than the housing | The video comes off the chip itself |
| The solicitor or loss adjuster needs it formally | Your originals, a playable MP4 file, hash values and bench notes | Done on every job we take |
A case number is assigned to your device when we receive it. An engineer then finds the real fault (free) before anything else occurs; you will be advised clearly of what will be returned and what will not, along with a single written price. Charges cannot begin until you have read this and accepted.
Nothing of yours is opened, exported or modified at any stage. Instead, your card (or the camera’s internal memory) is copied sector by sector. Any work done after this point takes place on this image, which includes all of the protected event files. What you send to us is returned to you in the exact condition that you originally sent it.
Any deleted footage is carved back from the image. Any damaged footage requires the creation of a new header and index before any standard player can access it. In terms of flash, the one fundamental rule is that with each additional mile driven on your card, the amount of recoverable data decreases.
Video evidence related to driving offences should be submitted directly to Thames Valley Police via their own online reporting page, and the force requires it within seven days of the incident. Submit it in days rather than weeks: fourteen days is all there is where a notice of intended prosecution has to go out. What your insurance provider receives is identical to what every CCTV job here produces: your original footage, a playable MP4 file that any standard media player can open, hash values and a written method.
You look at the file list first and make a decision about what to do. We will never invoice anything until you have said yes, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. All of the information that we recover will be put on new media purchased by us specifically for this job, and our company pays the cost of postage back to you. The case stays open on the bench until you tell us the files open on your own machine.
The one deadline that never changes: 14 days. That is the total time allowed for many road traffic offences, and what needs to go out within those 14 days is a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) to the keeper of the vehicle. Behind that there is a 6-month limit on bringing most road traffic prosecutions. Individual forces then have their own cut-offs for submissions, earlier still, so find out what Thames Valley Police need before uploading anything. Submissions sent by day 12 may be useful, whereas sending on day 20 is rarely worth it.
First we made a copy. Nothing touched the card itself, and everything after that ran on the copied image. The video clip that the insurance company needed went overnight, but the picture data underneath did not. We were able to rebuild the clip from the copy, hash it, export it and send it to the insurance company within the week. Deleting is not overwriting, and the card settled which one took place.
Generally, yes, if it is relevant to your case and you can prove it is genuine. There are three things that will achieve this: the actual file from the camera as it was originally recorded; unaltered metadata; and a clear documented chain showing every person who has had it since. After that, how much weight the court assigns to it is up to the court.
The way to report this is through Thames Valley Police's own online reporting page, within seven days of the incident. They want both a signed witness statement from you and the registration of the other vehicle involved. The sooner you get this done, the better, as certain offences require a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) to be sent to the keeper of the vehicle within 14 days, and that cannot be extended.
Rarely. Deleting a clip simply marks the space free and leaves the picture data as it was, still sitting where the camera left it. On an everyday flash card, the clip remains until the camera loops back around to that spot or until a few more journeys land on top of it. Remove the card from the camera and turn it off, and most likely it will still be recoverable.
Yes. Anything a body-worn camera (BWC) captures in which somebody is identifiable is considered personal data. As such, four key requirements apply: a lawful basis to record; signs wherever practical; storage you keep under control; and a retention period you could justify should someone ask. The evidence itself mirrors that of CCTV: keep originals, hash duplicates, and log each hand-over.
It’s still recording, and every time it loops around it takes another piece of the information you require. Pull its power now, get a quote first, either by phone or with our form, and send us the disk. Your initial assessment is free, followed by a written price, and none of this information will go anywhere else.