Washing a car legally in London: GPP-13 explained

The UK Environment Agency's Pollution Prevention Guidelines 13: Vehicle washing and cleaning (GPP-13) is the document that defines how vehicles can lawfully be cleaned in the UK. It is the reason a hose-and-bucket wash on a London street is technically a pollution offence, and the reason our At-Home service uses no flowing water.

What GPP-13 actually requires

• No detergent, dirt or contaminated water may discharge to a surface-water drain (the gullies in the kerb).
• Commercial washing must take place where runoff is captured by an oil/water separator or routed to foul sewer with a trade-effluent consent.
• Even biodegradable soaps count as a pollutant if they reach a watercourse — biodegradability is not a defence.

How Valetly stays compliant

• At-Home Wash: waterless encapsulation chemistry, <500ml of water per panel, microfibres lifted and bagged. Nothing leaves the kerb.
• Collect & Clean: the car is taken to a licensed wash bay with a Class-1 separator and trade-effluent consent — full pressure-wash where appropriate, captured properly.
• Audit trail: before/after photos timestamped to each booking; bay use logged for Collect & Clean.

Borough-level notes

Several London boroughs enforce GPP-13 actively at the kerb — RBKC, Westminster, Wandsworth, Richmond, Tower Hamlets and Southwark all have surface-water gullies feeding directly to the Tideway or the Wandle. Our drivers know which streets carry the highest enforcement risk and default to Collect & Clean there.

Source: UK Environment Agency, GPP 13: Vehicle washing and cleaning (latest published version).