LIB DEMS ASK EU TO INVESTIGATE DVLA CAR SCRAPPING CHAOS

3.48.59pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 25th Oct 2006

The Liberal Democrats have asked the European Commission to investigate claims that arrangements to ensure the safe treatment of the two million old cars scrapped in Britain each year are in chaos.

A dossier has been presented to Garcia Burgues, head of environmental enforcement at the European Commission, accusing the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) at Swansea of flouting an EU law intended to raise environmental standards and encourage recycling.

The End-of-Life Vehicles Directive, which became UK law in 2003, requires potential contaminants such as oil, brake fluid, tyres and airbags to be removed from cars before they are scrapped. Old cars must be taken to one of 1,200 Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATF) licensed by the Environment Agency. A Certificate of Destruction should be issued to prove that the vehicle has been scrapped and road tax is no longer due.

But the DVLA is accused of maintaining a loophole that allows huge numbers of drivers and vehicle dismantlers to ignore the anti-pollution rules. Car owners can claim that they have scrapped the car themselves simply by ticking a box on their vehicle registration document.

With only 500,000 Certificates of Destruction expected to be issued this year, latest figures suggest that as many as 1.5 million old cars will instead be taken apart, piece by piece, by their last owners - a situation described by County Euro-MP Liz Lynne as "ludicrously out of touch with the reality".

She claims that the DVLA is "out of control", has refused to amend its procedures to meet the new legal requirements, and is failing even to provide basic information to vehicle owners about the procedure to follow.

Liz commented: "If car owners are not issued with a CoD they cannot be sure the vehicle dismantler has been properly registered, that their car will be dismantled safely, or that the environment will be protected.

"If their car is in fact not scrapped but sold and driven on the road they could be liable for an £80 road tax fine after two weeks, with a further £1000 penalty if the car is driven untaxed. They would also have to pick up the tab for any parking or speeding fines incurred while someone else is driving the vehicle.

"If you contact the DVLA Helpline and asked for details about how to scrap an old car they do not even mention Certificates of Destruction, yet the law has been in place for more than three years.

"The entire scheme is undermined if dodgy dismantlers can simply tick a box on the log book, avoid their responsibilities and let oil and brake fluids wash down the nearest drain."