Environment Minister Michael Meacher said recently that: “We are very much aware that, because of falling scrap prices, abandoned vehicles are a growing problem.
“My officials are currently in discussion with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Local Government Association and the Association of Chief Police Officers to identify solutions and ways of dealing with this issue.
Recommendations about how to improve the difficulties councils and police face are likely to come from a working group run by the Institute of Waste Management.
Jeff Cooper, who has responsibility for end-of-life vehicles policy for the Environment Agency, said that the group had agreed generally that legislation needed clarifying and toughening up. “The current position with overlapping pieces of legislation is not very satisfactory.”
A key issue is that it is very hard to seek the costs of disposal from the last owner of the vehicle and that while metal prices have fallen, tighter environmental controls have meant it now costs more to properly remove fluids and tyres to send the car for recycling via a shredder.
The working group includes membership from local authorities and the police.
An example of how one council, Carmarthenshire, is trying to promote good practice in dealing with abandoned vehicles can be found at: Carmarthenshire.
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