§ Tony CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to require the last registered keeper of a motor vehicle to pay the costs of dealing with its abandonment. [87493]
§ Mr. JamiesonAbandoning a motor vehicle is currently a criminal offence attracting a maximum penalty of a fine of £2,500, three months' imprisonment or both. When a vehicle is abandoned, the local authority that deals with it has the power to recover the cost of removing and disposing of the vehicle from the keeper.
Local authorities can seek information about the keeper of the vehicle from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). The DVLA has recently made a successful bid under the Invest to Save Programme to fund an electronic link to local authorities to enable them to seek that information 656W more quickly and efficiently. That link is currently being rolled out to local authorities, following a successful pilot in Sussex.
The 2002 Finance Act contained outline powers to establish a system of continuous registration, which will ensure that keepers of vehicles remain responsible for licensing that vehicle until such time that DVLA has been properly notified of its disposal. This will ensure that it is much more difficult for keepers of vehicles to evade their responsibilities to dispose of vehicles properly, or to evade meeting local authority costs when a vehicle is abandoned. We are currently considering how this legislation will be implemented and will make an announcement in due course.