Dumped cars are in increasing eyesore on our streets and a real danger to children who attracted to them as play grounds

Stephen Byers

About 350,000 vehicles were abandoned in the UK last year and the problem is intensifying, largely because of a collapse in the price of scrap metal.

Current legislation forces local councils to wait a week before removing wrecks.

In the case of vehicles deemed saleable they have to wait 21 days.

Under proposals unveiled on Wednesday by Stephen Byers those time restrictions could be slashed to 24 hours for wrecks and between a week to two weeks for vehicles which could be sold.

Crackdown

New powers to crack down and prosecute owners and offenders could also be introduced.

Mr Byers said: "Dumped cars are in increasing eyesore on our streets and a real danger to children who attracted to them as play grounds.

"Too often they are also a target for local arsonists. Our proposals published today aimed to get dumped cars off the street quickly and efficiently.

"The measures will give local councils increased powers to deal with these cars and get rid of the bureaucratic boundaries that make is easier for people to get away with it."

Insufficient resources

But Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Don Foster said: "Many local authorities do not have the resources or the manpower to remove dumped cars even in the current time limits.

"Stephen Byers must recognise that he cannot increase the powers of local councils without adequate funding. We will not see an end to this scourge if the necessary funding is not there."

The number of dumped cars has increased by almost 70% in the past two years in some parts of the country, with about 1,000 vehicles abandoned daily.

Local councils bear the cost of removing cars from the streets and paying for their storage for up to 35 days to give owners a chance to collect them.

Scrap value

In the London Borough of Newham - where Mr Byers launched the new scheme - the council spent �340,000 last year removing 6,700 abandoned cars.

Motorists used to be offered between �20 and �30 for a car they wanted to scrap, but they are now expected to pay for the disposal themselves.

Stephen Byers: emphasis on registration enforcement

The government is proposing a system to speed up the process of removing dumped vehicles from 35 days to 24 hours.

Mr Byers said cars which had no real value could be removed and disposed of quite quickly, but vehicles in good condition would be subject to the 35 day rule.

He also wants to improve vehicle registration enforcement, after revealing one million vehicles are currently unregistered.