Cllr Peter Stoddart Views An Abandoned Vehicle
They are a blot on the landscape and a financial burden to the tax payer.
And now Swindon Council estimates that a total of 1,300 vehicles will be dumped across the town this year.
In 1995, that figure was just 75 vehicles.
One reason for this dramatic increase is that now, car owners have to pay a fee to scrap merchants to get their vehicle legally disposed of.
That is because there is no longer a demand for scrap metal and vehicle parts. But even more cars are expected to be illegally discarded when new Government legislation, requiring 80 per cent of vehicle components to be recycled, comes into force, bumping up the cost even more.
Now Swindon Council has set up a special task group of the transport, environment and neighbourhood services commission, to investigate how to reduce the financial burden.
Councillor Peter Stoddart (Con, Abbey Meads), is a member of the group.
He said: "If it is going to start costing people between £150 and £200 to get rid of their car, they'll just think what is the point of taking it to a scrap dealer.
"This means the council will end up having to dispose of even more abandoned cars and bear that cost.
"We are trying to get all the agencies involved like the police because they have instant access to who owns the car.
"It can take six to eight weeks to get ownership details from the DVLA but with police help they could be cleared much faster.
"We don't maintain the A419, it is owned by the Highways Agency but the council still have to clear up abandoned cars there so we want to get them involved.
"We have written to the local MPs to lobby the government on extra funding."
Last year Swindon Services spent approximately £100,000 clearing up around 1,000 abandoned cars.
The estimated cost for clearing dumped cars this year is £118, 800.
Under new regulations vehicle waste such as oil, hydraulic fluids, batteries, anti freeze and tyres have to extracted and processed to avoid damage to the environment.
Geoff Lewis, spokesman for Swindon Services, the department in charge of clearing vehicles, said the laws have been implemented but the Government has not yet announced when they will be enforced.
He said: "We are at the mercy of the Government. Nobody has told local government how the legislation is to be enforced, managed or funded.
"It is possible that if there are increased cost for the disposal of cars, this will have a negative effect on increasing the number of cars abandoned.
"The public are themselves to blame, whether there is this extra legislation or not, people are responsible for their actions."
He said no additional central government funding had been allocated to help cope with the expected increase as a result of the new regulations.
Alvina Kumar, spokeswoman for Swindon Police, said: "The responsibility for removing abandoned vehicles lies with the council."
Representatives from the police and the Highways Agency have been invited to attend the council task group's next meeting on Thursday, December 5.
Evening Advertiser 26/11/02