16 OF THE COUNTRYS TOP 20 DUMPED CAR HOTSPOTS ARE IN LONDON

12.01.00am GMT Tue 17th Feb 2004

Dumped cars are blighting communities in London

Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed that 16 of the country's worst 20 black spots for abandoned cars are found in the capital.

Newham has the highest number of dumped cars with 8,117 cars dumped in 2001/02. Enfield comes second with 6,347 abandoned vehicles. Also in the top ten are Ealing (4,916), Lewisham (4,671), Haringey (4,560) and Barnet (4,431). Out of 278,821 cars dumped in England and Wales, one in three (91,361) were in London boroughs.

Simon Hughes MP, Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate, said:

"The Government and Blair's Mayor are still failing to do enough to deal with the blight of dumped cars and has been reluctant to follow the European example of requiring producers to pay for the recycling of end of life vehicles.

"In the UK the whole of the responsibility rests with the last owner of the vehicle. This is an unwanted expense and encourages illegal dumping.

"If someone buys an old banger for £100 they will have to pay at least £50 or £60 to have it dealt with at the end of its life. The reality is that they are much more likely to dump it illegally and not deal with it responsibly."

ENDS

Notes to editors

2. Figures released in a Parliamentary Answer to the Liberal Democrats reveal the Top 20 Abandoned Car "Hotspots"

Authority Number of vehicles

Newham 8,117

Enfield 6,347

Birmingham 5,257

Sandwell 5,247

Southampton 5,000

Ealing 4,916

Luton 4,876

Lewisham 4,671

Haringey 4,560

Barnet 4,431

Croydon 4,376

Bromley 4,215

Greenwich 4,200

Brent 4,115

Hackney 4,066

Lambeth 3,775

Islington 3,643

Waltham Forest 3,466

Hillingdon 3,128

[From PQ 131286 - 16th October 2003 - see below for full details]

Parliamentary question asked by Norman Baker on the number of cars abandoned

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abandoned cars each local authority in England and Wales stated they had removed in their submissions to the most recent municipal waste survey. [131286]

Mr. Morley: The question on how many abandoned vehicles removed by local authorities in England and Wales was most recently asked in the 2001-02 Municipal Waste Management Surveys for England and Wales. Data recorded by district show that 320 local authorities out of a total of 376, responded to the abandoned vehicles question.

Full figures on dumped cars by Local Authority available form the press office on number above.

3. A recent report has suggested that the level of abandoned cars is due to rise even further still due to failings on the End of Life Vehicle Directive - by potentially another 1/4m per year

http://www.ieep.org.uk/PDFfiles/PUBLICATIONS/End%20of%20Life%20Vehicles%20Briefing%20Jan%202003.doc

* An extra 250,000 cars will be abandoned or torched on the streets of

Britain each year as a result of the government's decision to make the poorest motorists pay for the disposal of their old cars.

* The government is one year late in implementing the EU end-of-life

vehicle directive and has been threatened with prosecution by the European commission. On March 7th this year the Department of Trade and Industry launched a three-month consultation on draft regulations implementing certain provisions of the EU's end-of-life vehicles (ELV) directive. The document lacked some key provisions, including the option for free take-back of all End of Life Vehicles and recycling targets. The proposals would make the last owner of the vehicle pay for the cost of disposal, which it estimates will be £40 but the scrap industry says will be £100.

* But the report says one-third of cars more than 10 years old are

owned by the poorest 20% of the community Thus it seems likely that dumped or burnt-out cars will become even more common in deprived areas.