The Motor Vehicle Dismantlers Association has raised concern about the potential lack of support for tackling illegal activity in the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling industry, after a UK champion of the ELV Directive lost his seat in the European elections.
Liberal Democrat Chris Davies had been an MEP for North West England, but was not favoured for another term by voters while his party also suffered a number of defeats across England in the European Parliament elections.
And, following Mr Davies defeat, the MVDA said it had lost an important champion of the ELV Directive who had repeatedly voiced his concerns about its correct functioning and the vast number of vehicles bypassing the Certificate of Destruction (CoD) system.
The MVDA claims that as many as 500,000 vehicles are being illegally scrapped by unlicensed dismantlers, leaving fully-licensed sites often facing higher operating costs and unable to offer higher prices to people selling their vehicles.
The CoD is a legal document which proves a vehicle has been scrapped and is required to be passed to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in order to verify that a vehicle has been dismantled.
However, the MVDA claims the Directive is not being effectively enforced as CoDs are often not being issued, causing large numbers of vehicles to disappear.
‘There are now very few people who are prepared to make a fuss about this because there are vested interests…Chris Davies was prepared to discuss these things. It is just a shame to be quite honest.’
Chas Ambrose, chairman of the MVDA
Shame
Chas Ambrose, chairman of the MVDA, told letsrecycle.com: There are now very few people who are prepared to make a fuss about this because there are vested interests. BIS arent doing enough and the DVLA dont want to highlight the problems in their system.
Chris Davies was prepared to discuss these things. It is just a shame to be quite honest.
According to the MVDA, Mr Davies was instrumental in getting the scrap tick box removed from the UK vehicle registration document V5C a legal mechanism that negated the need for a CoD.
And, the Association said, Mr Davies was recently involved in discussions with the UK government about trying to close other CoD loopholes.
Dr Ambrose said: The thrust of the issue is really there are probably 500,000 fewer ELVs than there should be, and we also havent got a robust system for recording the export of vehicles here.
CARS 2014
Taking place next week, the CARS: Complete Auto Recycling & Secondary Materials event will take an in-depth look at the vehicle scrapping trade. Organised by Environment Media Group, it is the only trade show in the UK held on a working salvage yard – Motorhog in Doncaster.
For more details, click here.
He added: But I am not aware of anyone who is interested in this at the moment, so it is something we will have to look into. We are hopeful that some of the government departments might be picking up on some of the concerns that we have been highlighting in recent years.
Auction websites
Dr Ambrose said that licensed vehicle dismantlers often have to compete with unlicensed dealers on online auction websites.
Dr Ambrose added: The numbers on the site are phenomenal, but the Environment Agency doesnt have the resources and the auction websites arent interested. It is the single biggest threat to legal dismantlers in this country.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which has responsibility for ensuring the UK meets ELV recycling targets, said last year that work was ongoing with the DVLA to tackle illegal scrapping of vehicles, through legislation such as the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Subscribe for free