§ Lord Beaumont of Whitleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many vehicles are abandoned in the United Kingdom each year; and what is the net cost of disposing of them. [HL760]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)Local authorities are responsible for dealing with abandoned vehicles. Although the department currently holds no central records of the number of vehicles abandoned each year, we estimate that some 350,000 are abandoned in the United Kingdom each year.
The net cost of disposing of abandoned vehicles is estimated to be between £30 and £50 per vehicle. The total annual net cost of their disposal would therefore be in the range of £10 million to £17 million.
More up to date information on the number of abandoned vehicles removed by local authorities is being collected in the department's 2000–01 Municipal Waste Management Survey which should be published in July 2002.