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Yorkshire set for abandoned car boom
June 26, 2002 12:00 AM
Following closely on the heels of the 'fridge fiasco' Yorkshire & The Humber is set for a boom in abandoned cars, says Euro-MP Diana Wallis. A huge rise in the number of old cars abandoned on the roadside across Yorkshire & The Humber is expected following a government decision that the last owner of every vehicle must pay for new scrapping and recycling costs.
The announcement, which follows months of indecision on how to introduce the EU End-of-Life Vehicles directive, has been described by the British Metals Recycling Association as an "environmental disaster and a blight on local communities."
Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Diana Wallis says that she is expecting a huge increase in the number of abandoned cars to make the current problem of disposing of old fridges pale into insignificance.
The End-of-Life Vehicle Directive, which was designed to promote recycling and protect the environment, requires all hazardous substances such as oil, brake fluid and coolant to be removed from vehicles before they are scrapped.
Dismantlers estimate that the new requirements will cost up to £100 for each of the 2 million or so cars that are scrapped every year. Vehicle manufacturers will be forced to foot the bill from 2007, but until now it has been unclear who will meet the costs in the meantime.
Reports suggest that the government looked into three different options for raising the money - taxing new cars to pay for the scrapping of old ones, asking the manufacturers to pay, and forcing the last owners to cough up.
Last Friday, in a written answer to a question in the House of Commons, Trade and Industry Minister Brian Wilson confirmed that last owners would be responsible for the disposal of their vehicles for the next four and a half years.
David Hulse, Director General of the British Metals Recycling Association, said that his organisation was "extremely disappointed" with the decision, which "gives the green light to the dumping of cars".
"More than a million vehicles presently being operated illegally on our roads by unregistered users will come to the end of their lives over the next few years," he said. "The likelihood of these people paying for proper disposal is zero."
Diana Wallis agrees that forcing the last owner to pay will simply lead to more cars being dumped on the roadside. She argues that a tax should be placed on new cars instead, as people paying several thousand pounds for a car would be much more likely to be able to afford an extra £100 in scrapping and recycling costs.
She says that the government chose the worst possible option, and warns that a rise in the number of abandoned cars will place huge financial burdens on local councils and will greatly increase the risk of arson and joyriding.
"The new EU rules were agreed 18 months ago, but officials have been discussing them for more than six years," she said. "After months of buck passing between the different Whitehall departments involved, it is clear that the government has now settled on the worst possible way of financing the new arrangements.
"People who drive old cars are simply not going to pay up to £100 to have them disposed of properly, especially since there is still no proper system in place to make sure that they do so."
"There is no question that we will see a huge increase in the number of abandoned cars, along with all of the problems that that entails."
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