Nearly 1,900 cars were reported as abandoned in Brighton last year, according to the latest figures.

Statistics from a Freedom of Information request found the city had the second-highest number of cars discarded outside of London and the highest total on the South coast.

The figures also showed that over 50,000 vehicles had been logged as abandoned in the country since 2022.

A request for information from Brighton and Hove City Council found that 1,889 reports of abandoned cars were received from September 2022 to 2023.

Scrap Car Comparisons, who commissioned the research, suggested that reasons for the abandonments could include theft or pressures from the cost-of-living crisis.

David Kottaun, operations manager at Scrap Car Comparison, said: “When a car becomes too much to run or maintain, some people can simply opt to abandon the vehicle.

“Abandoned vehicles can create problems for access if the car is blocking an entrance, path or even a road, as well as risking harming the environment they are abandoned in due to leaks of hazardous fluids. It also stretches the resources of councils investigating and removing the vehicle.

MOST READ:

​To have access to all of our best stories subscribe to The Argus here

“While sometimes a vehicle may be abandoned due to crimes such as theft, in most cases where someone has chosen to leave their vehicle, they are potentially missing the opportunity to earn money due to scrapping their car instead. If a car is too old to drive or is not repairable, it could still offer you value through scrap value, so it is never a good idea to simply abandon a vehicle.”

Brighton ranked as having the highest number of abandoned cars on the South coast with more discarded vehicles than Plymouth and Southampton.

Council data previously showed that nearly 5,000 cars had been abandoned in the city since 2020.

Coventry was named as the city with the highest number of abandoned cars outside of London according to the research.

Of the 53,794 abandoned cars reported nationally over half of them were logged in the capital.