UK faces epidemic of dumped vehicles

Britain faces an epidemic of car-dumping because the cost of scrapping motors is set to more than double, a government watchdog has warned.

The Better Regulation Taskforce has told ministers there is "a very real risk" that abandoned cars will litter Britain's streets and lay-bys within weeks - because of attempts to protect the environment.

From October, the cost of scrapping cars will leap from £30 to as much as £70 per car because of European Commission rules to increase recycling and tackle toxic chemical and oil dumping.

When the first recycling charges came in three years ago, tens of thousands of cars were abandoned. In London, car dumping jumped by 500 per cent.

DVLA, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, admitted last week that up to 2 million cars on Britain's roads are unregistered - leading experts to predict that tens of thousands of owners can abandon their cars and go uncaught.

From next month, all car owners will be legally required by a new EC environment and recycling directive to take their vehicles to an authorised scrapyard, which has to work to tougher toxic waste and recycling rules.

Experts fear another spate of abandoned cars, particularly in cities. They claim ministers have failed to learn from last year's fridge- dumping fiasco. Dumping will continue, they believe, until 2007, when car manufacturers will be made to pay for recycling.

Barbara Herridge, head of WasteWatch, said it was "likely" the problem would arise this year - partly because old cars were usually owned by the less well off. "The additional cost of disposal will fall on those who can least afford to pay," she said. The DVLA said it hoped the problem would be tackled by a rule taking effect next year which will make the last registered owner responsible for what happens to a vehicle.