What action on dumped cars?

Last year, more than 6,000 reports of abandoned vehicles were received by the city council.

Vehicles are often left because there is little scrap value and new regulations require engine fluids to be properly disposed of.

This means some scrap yards charge car-owners for taking their cars off their hands and many motorists cut their losses and leave their vehicles where they stand.

As well as being unsightly, householders are worried these vehicles are becoming a perilous playground for disaffected young people.

They are frequently pulled apart and torched and left to rust for weeks.

Yesterday, Transport Minister Stephen Byers announced new measures to crack down on the problem.

Cars of little value can be removed within 24 hours of being identified as abandoned and between seven days and a fortnight for more valuable vehicles.

But at the moment, Brighton and Hove City Council has nowhere to take them to.

Robert Hill, team leader with the Neighbourhood Wardens initiative in East Brighton, said he would like somewhere found soon so abandoned cars could be moved as soon as they were discovered, to prevent them being vandalised.

Mr Hill said: "Because of the current legislation it needs seven days' notice unless the vehicle is in a dangerous position or state when first discovered.

"The council's highways department will inspect the vehicle and if it is by the side of the road, they have to try to trace the registered owner.

"But if it is then left for seven days with a sticker, the kids can vandalise it and torch it. It becomes a playground and dangerous.

"I would be supportive of moving the cars as quickly as possible.

"We want them identified, towed away to a safe compound and the seven days to start then.

"This is a problem city-wide, not just in East Brighton.

"In the 12 months the neighbourhood wardens have been running, we have identified approximately 300 cars within the New Deal area.

"We have also offered a car amnesty across the New Deal area.

"If you can prove ownership but you do not want your car, the council can tow it away for free. There were a lot of calls from Hove.

"Unfortunately that is outside the area. But perhaps you can identify where these cars are coming from.

"No one dumps them on their own front doors."

Another area of Brighton which is frequently used as a dumping ground for abandoned cars is Hollingdean.

Gary Dawes, 39, lives at Lynchet Close, opposite a field regularly used for dumping vehicles.

Yesterday, there was a burnt-out shell of a car in the field which Mr Dawes said had been there for two weeks.

He said: "It is quite dangerous because you get kids playing in it."

Mr Dawes said three or four abandoned cars had been towed away from the roads nearby in recent weeks and he welcomed plans to speed up their removal.

Neighbour Sandra Rogers, 43, said: "I have lived here for three years and abandoned cars are becoming a major problem in Hollingdean.

"When I first moved here, it was not as bad but it is getting worse.

"It is becoming a regular dumping ground, not just on the field but also the turning bay and where our visitors have to park.

"It's a shame because Hollingdean has always been a nice estate."

A resident of nearby Lynchet Down said problems involving vehicle crime often involved youngsters. However, he said in recent months these had subsided slightly.

Another car was burnt out and abandoned in a layby in Ditchling Road near Hollingbury Golf Course.

Dog walkers said they thought it had been there a week and said they would support measures which would see these vehicles taken away promptly.

One resident, of Ditchling Rise, Brighton, said an untaxed motorbike was dumped in his street for about six months before being removed last weekend.

He said it had no exhaust, handlebars or front light and the rear tyre was flat.

A council spokes-woman said the authority received 6,300 reports of abandoned vehicles each year, all of which were investigated.

About 40 per cent of these were towed away as many of those reported were properly-taxed and the council also received multiple reports of others.

She said: "On average it takes us 14 days to remove a vehicle that has been proved to be abandoned.

"In theory, we could do it in seven days but a huge number of cars are registered as being owned.

"We contact the police and the DVLA to find out who the registered keeper is.

"If we get a name, we write to them and allow them ten days to write to us and tell us what they will do with the car.

"If we do not hear in ten days, we put an orange sticker on the car which gives the owner seven days to remove the vehicle or we can arrange for it to be towed away."

She said if there was no registered keeper, the sticker could be applied straight away.

Each vehicle subsequently towed away costs the council £17, which is paid to the contractor who tows it away.

The contractor then has the right to sell the vehicles to recycling firms.

Lead councillor for transport Alison Hermitage said she broadly supported Mr Byers's plans as long as the council had the resources to implement them.

This would include finding a compound where the vehicles towed away could be stored.

She said: "We have such a squeeze on parking, abandoned cars are a major irritation to residents.

"We need to be sure we can ascertain quickly if a car has been stolen.

" As a council, I would want to be sure we would not be pursuing people whose cars have been stolen and dumped."

Coun Hermitage added many vehicles which appeared to be abandoned were in fact properly licensed and taxed.

She said: "Residents often do make mistakes when they see a car looks rusty and dented and think it has been abandoned but it is perfectly legal."