Dumped cars to be moved in 24 hours

Tough new measures to speed the removal of dumped cars were announced by Transport Secretary Stephen Byers today.

The extra powers mean councils can carry off unsightly wrecks within just 24 hours, instead of waiting a week. They will also get access to official driving licence files to trace the owners - and make them pay the clean-up bill.

The vehicles can then be destroyed after just seven days, instead of officials having to wait more than a month for owners to object.

Launching the measures at Drew School in North Woolwich, Mr Byers said: "Abandoned cars blight neighbourhoods, can be hazardous, especially to children, and are arson cases waiting to happen. They can make the lives of residents a misery."

Mr Byers said the powers would smash "bureaucratic barriers" that had bogged down removal of wrecked cars.

Today's measures come a fortnight after the Evening Standard revealed the number of cars dumped on London's streets was set to soar to record levels.

In the last year around 59,000 vehicles were abandoned. The Association of London Government estimates that over the next year this figure will leap to 95,000, giving local authorities a massive problem.

In the past year, the clean-up bill for the 33 London authorities who had to deal with derelict vehicles was around £4 million. Next year the bill will be nearer £9.5 million and costs could go up even further.

The Government hopes the new measures will help keep these costs down. Mr Byers said more action was planned to make it easier to track down owners of abandoned cars.

The increase in dumped cars has been caused by the falling value of scrap metal, increasingly strict EU regulations making it expensive to recycle disused vehicles, and an apparent willingness by London residents, and unscrupulous garages, to dump on their own doorstep.