How ATAP staff decide things

A small team at ATAP makes three kinds of decision: whether someone owns a vehicle, whether to keep a report that an owner disputes, and whether to hide a report or block a device that is being misused. This guide says what they look at for each and where their power stops.

Deciding who owns a vehicle

The person reviewing a claim sees the registration certificate, the photo of the vehicle and the email that made the claim. They check that the plate on the certificate matches the plate in the photo and that both are readable. They do not check that you have authority to act for a school or a company, so keep your own record of that. The two documents are deleted 30 days after the decision.

If the plate is already verified for another account, the reviewer sees a warning, because approving moves ownership to the new claimant. A claim with no documents cannot be approved at all. A rejection always carries a reason, and the claimant sees it.

What staff can see about a report

• The category, the time, the photo while it still exists, and any note the reporter typed.
• Whether a place was shared. Staff see yes or no, not the coordinates, on the report list.
• Whether the photo came from the live camera or from a file, which the phone states and which counts only as a hint.
• An anonymous device record. It holds no name, phone number or email, and staff cannot look up who is behind it.

Photos are deleted 90 days after the report. The written record of what happened stays, with no name or contact detail.

Disputes, hiding and blocking

A dispute never counts against the person who sent the report, and the sender is never shown it. Staff read the report and the owner's reason. Upholding keeps the report and counts it as confirmed. Hiding removes it from the owner's view and from any counts.

Staff can also hide a single report, or block a device that keeps sending abuse. A blocked device is told its reports went through, so it learns nothing about being blocked. Blocking can be undone.

What staff cannot do, and how it is checked

• They cannot see who sent a report, edit an owner's reply, or publish anything about a vehicle or a driver.
• Only a person with the top role can change who is staff, and nobody can change their own role from the app.
• Every claim decision, dispute ruling, hide, block and role change is written to an audit log that cannot be edited from the app.

If you think a decision was wrong, use the contact page. To see how a report travels from the phone to the owner, read what happens to your report.