§ Mr. SimmondsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the End of Life Vehicles Directive, on(a) the number of old and inefficient polluting vehicles on the road, (b) the number of cars abandoned and (c) the price of scrapping an old car. [163138]
§ Mr. TimmsImplementation of the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive is not expected to affect significantly the average age of vehicles being scrapped. The Department's Regulatory Impact Assessment of 20 June 2002, relating to the Government's decision to introduce producer responsibility for free take-back of all complete ELVs from 2007, did include an estimate of the potential for an increase in the level of vehicles abandoned annually. That estimate was, however, made before the Government took a number of initiatives to bear down on the problem of abandoned vehicles, and was based on ELV processing and treatment costs of £60, whereas latest estimates put these at £16–39. The cost to a last owner of scrapping an old car depends upon a number of factors, including location, age, make, and condition, and the prevailing price of scrap metal.