Britain has missed a deadline to implement a European ruling on recycling old cars.

The European directive came into operation on Sunday but the UK, like most other European Union countries, has failed to decide how to make the idea work.

More than two million cars reach the end of their working lives each year in Britain and the directive is designed to encourage their recycling.

The EU expects car manufacturers to take back their old vehicles and pay to have them disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

Breakers yard

But the manufacturers are refusing to bear the brunt of the cost alone and want car owners and governments to chip in.

They also want companies which break up old cars for spare parts to contribute.

The breakers' yards in turn argue the added cost would put them out of business and put the ball back in the manufacturers' court by arguing the bill should be footed by a levy on the sale of new cars.

The UK Government says it is taking time to look at all the options to get the process right.

Meanwhile there is no sign of when the directive will become law in the UK.

It is estimated that nine million cars are discarded in Europe each year, of which, a quarter end up on landfill sites.