Investigations & evidence · footage that stands up
Recovering the footage is the straightforward half. The rest is making it usable: putting a hold on the recorder before its loop wipes the window, using the rights the law actually gives you, and releasing the file with hashes and a continuity record, so that Thames Valley Police or a claims handler can rely on what they are watching.
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| What we need | What's behind it | First move |
|---|---|---|
| The 31-day myth | Convention, not law — and a busy recorder wraps long before day 31 | Ask for it to be preserved today |
| A SAR runs for a month | Their calendar month starts the day your request lands | Put yours in writing today |
| Other people blurred out | Data-protection law obliges them to obscure bystanders first | That's the law working, not a brush-off |
| A doorbell camera pointed at your door | A home camera that films past its own boundary takes on data-protection duties | Households answer a SAR as well |
| Continuity of evidence | A documented line from the recorder's disk to the copy you hand over | Hash values and a signed method note ship with every export |
Every item gets its own case number on the day it lands here. An engineer traces the fault, gives you a plain assessment of what is realistically recoverable, and puts one fixed price in writing. The diagnosis is free, you are under no obligation, and chargeable work starts only when you say go.
On day one a written preservation request goes to whoever runs the system, and we work out the real loop length of their recorder rather than the figure printed in its manual.
Off the image come two files: an MP4 anyone can open, and the recorder's own export — a .dav or the maker's wrapper — with the player that reads it.
With the video come SHA-256 hashes for every file, a note of how each was produced, and a dated continuity log. That is what separates a clip somebody emailed from an exhibit an insurer or a court will accept.
You get the full list of recovered files first, and nothing is charged until you approve it. Data goes back on fresh media, return postage paid, and the job stays open on our side until you confirm every file opens at your end.
Why insurers care about video: the ABI counted £1.16 billion of detected claims fraud in 2024, published in November 2025 — 51,700 of those cases were motor, worth £576 million between them. Clear footage settles an honest claim quickly and stops a staged one dead, but only if it arrives as a documented exhibit.
Two vans collided in a yard, the insurer asked for proof, and the recorder had looped over that day weeks before. A manager had exported the clip and then deleted it — the only copy left. We pulled it off the disk, hashed it and wrote it up. The claim settled without a hearing.
Yes. Use a subject access request under UK GDPR. Operators must answer inside one calendar month, obscure anyone else who can be identified, and normally cannot charge you for it.
Ask the operator of the system first — most hand it over without argument. Where they say no, the routes are a data-protection request or an order from the court.
No law sets a retention period. Under the storage-limitation principle most businesses settle around 31 days, and a busy recorder overwrites that in far less — which is why speed matters.
Two jobs: it must open, and it must survive challenge. You get a standard MP4, the recorder's own export, the hash values and a written provenance note.
Loop recording writes over the old footage, and deadlines won't wait. Open a case now — the first look costs nothing and stays confidential.