Demand rising for car scrap metal

By Ross Hawkins
BBC News

The number of cars being picked up by local authorities has dropped

Abandoned cars are disappearing from the streets - and inflation is responsible.

Soaring steel prices have transformed the vehicles from eyesores to assets.

Firms which would have charged £25 for taking away a car now pay up to £200 for the heavier models.

So, where cars once languished on kerbsides until councils retrieved them, some are now collected by individuals hoping to cash in.

The problem has not disappeared entirely but the load on councils has diminished. English local authorities once picked up 800 cars a day. Now that figure has dropped to just over 220.

The Local Government Association says this is partly down to council initiatives.

Edward Welsh from the LGA said some authorities give their binmen mobile devices to report the vehicles. But he admits much of the change is down to the global economy's appetite for recycled metal.

Recycling rules

The impact of the abandoned vehicle problem on some communities has been significant, Mr Welsh said.

"Residents complain about it because it makes where they live look ugly. It encourages anti-social behaviour," he said.

Two million cars come off Britain's roads every year. European rules mean they should be drained of dangerous liquids and stripped of their batteries and airbags.

Some in the business of breaking up vehicles for recycling suspect not everyone is abiding by those rules.

Geoff Bridges runs the GW Bridges salvage company near Crawley in Sussex. He thinks some operators are breaking up cars on the cheap.

His engineers strip away parts and fluids before processing vehicles in a crushing machine that creates oblong steel packages ready for recycling.

Business is good and those packages have rarely been so valuable.

But Mr Bridges says the international demand for metals has its downside.

Catalytic converters in cars contain platinum - a metal much more expensive than it was.

Mr Bridges' yard has suffered £15,000 worth of converter thefts in recent weeks.