Abandoned cars up for auction on eBay

It is a novel approach to tackling the scourge of abandoned cars littering London's streets.

A council has begun selling off vehicles on auction website eBay.

It has already sold a smart Range Rover for £6,600 and plans to advertise scores more.

Westminster council, which is thought to be the first local authority to get rid of unwanted cars on the net, said the technique was much cheaper than a conventional auction.

A spokesman said: "We have dozens of cars every year left in our car parks. Often they are very nice and in good condition. A lot of people will pay for parking spaces and leave cars there while they jet around the world. It seems to be a sign of our throw-away society. Some people simply have more money than they know what to do with."

On average, 30 cars a year are left in Westminster's car parks.

And unlike wrecks abandoned on the roadside, they tend to be roadworthy and highly saleable.

Legally, if a car is taking up a space which would otherwise earn the council money, it can be sold to recoup the losses.

Westminster is now selling a vintage Rover with a blueblooded pedigree. The 1962 model was owned by Countess René¥ de Vismes, a European aristocrat. It had been in the Chiltern Street car park since she died six years ago, and was seized after payments stopped.

Her son Henry de Vismes, 58, is the former managing director of Citigroup Asset Management in New York.

He said: "She was very fond of that car. My father bought it and she loved driving it after he passed away."

London-wide, more than 200 vehicles are abandoned each day at an annual clean-up cost of more than ?6.6 million.

A report from Keep Britain Tidy and the Home Office shows London is Britain's car-dumping centre, accounting for two out of five abandoned vehicles.