Insurance claims · evidence work, Nottingham
Your honesty is not what is being tested here. An adjuster has one question — is the file actually what it is said to be — and three things answer it: the export made by the recorder itself, the hash values lifted off it, and a written note of the route by which it left the disk. A claim is civil work. Criminal proceedings in England and Wales are where the Forensic Science Regulator's statutory Code applies, so no part of this falls to it and no part of it needs accreditation. None is held in any event, and each report opens by saying so. What would not read is written down as well. The figure is agreed in writing before anything begins, from £800 + VAT.
An engineer will talk it through, in confidence
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| The type of claim | What arrives at the bench | What it can establish |
|---|---|---|
| A theft, or a forced entry | The recorder, or else the disk taken out of one that has stopped | The window around the incident, exported in the format the unit wrote |
| A machine damaged by water, soot or heat | The disk from the damaged machine | Invoices, schedules and photographs still held on the machine |
| A motor claim | The dashcam's own card, rather than a clip somebody forwarded | The camera's complete data file, GPS, speed and sensor channels included — every one of which a forwarded MP4 discards — with a note of what the forwarded version left out |
| A business proving what it held | The disk holding those records | A hashed list of what still reads, plus a plain statement of what the disk is no longer able to say |
| A dispute over liability | A recorder that each side thinks supports its version | One set of exports, issued to both alike, with a method either side can run again |
Forensic instructions begin at £800 + VAT, and where yours sits depends on scope — which is exactly what the first call settles: the events and dates at issue, the machines and accounts involved, and what precisely has to be proved. That call is free, and nothing chargeable starts before the figure is with you in writing.
Leave the power on and a recorder keeps writing, the newest material taking the place of the oldest. That loop moves much faster than a claim does. As for how much is left, no manual will tell you — capacity, channel count, resolution and the way the unit was configured all bear on it. Pull the power first. Ring afterwards.
Authority is what makes an examination lawful; without it, the Computer Misuse Act 1990 is engaged at section 1. So every job records who gave that authority and on what footing. A landlord's position, an employer's and a commercial vehicle operator's are three different things.
Two files come back to you. Native export first, along with whatever player will open it, and then a copy that plays anywhere. The route from one to the other is set out in writing rather than hidden inside a viewer. Each carries MD5 and SHA-256. The report also states how far the recorder's clock stood from real time.
Give the other side a finding they cannot check for themselves and you have given them an argument. So the bundle carries all of it: exhibit numbers, hashes, dated handovers signed at both ends, which image every conclusion came off, and the notes typed at the bench as the job ran. Run the same steps again and the answer is the same.
Worth knowing before you instruct anyone: the second version of the Regulator's statutory Code has applied since October 2025. Two of the activities named in it matter here — capture of data from digital storage, and recovery of CCTV — and ISO/IEC 17025 is set for both. The Code, though, is about work carried out for a criminal prosecution: England and Wales, and prosecutions only. A policy claim is not that. Nothing of the kind is held here in any case, and each of our reports says so first.
Which day a pallet took damage was the argument between a haulier and a food producer, and the yard gate recorder was the only account of it anywhere. British Summer Time had never been applied to that clock. We measured the offset, took the export the recorder itself made, and put both times in the report. Exchange came, and it settled.
No. There is one setting in which the Regulator's Code demands ISO/IEC 17025: a criminal prosecution, England and Wales. A policy claim is civil, so the requirement never arrives. No accreditation of any sort is held here for any type of matter in any case, and every report states that on its first page. Where a claim later becomes criminal, you have it from us in writing.
Because of the journey it has taken: off a monitor, through a phone lens, and out the other side of a re-encode. Timing and detail as the recorder originally wrote them do not survive that. What an insurer wants is the file the unit produced, carrying a hash.
Whatever still reads can be listed, and whatever the disk records about the rest can be reported. Where material has been overwritten, the report says overwritten. What it does not do is guess.
Whoever has the right to give it. Section 1 of the 1990 Computer Misuse Act is engaged by getting into a machine with no authority, so the basis for each job goes on file. Landlord, employer, the operator of a commercial vehicle, its driver: four positions, and they are not the same.
Cut the power to the DVR before anything else — while it runs it keeps writing, and the oldest footage goes first. Then post it in. The first look is free, CCTV and DVR work is £400 + VAT quoted in writing before anything starts, and what is on that disk goes no further than the bench.