Midlands dubbed a 'scrapyard for abandoned cars'
The West Midlands, including Shropshire, has been dubbed a “scrapyard for abandoned cars” after thousands were dumped last year.
Figures for the 2017/18 financial year reveal more than 8,000 vehicles were abandoned, an 87 per cent increase in five years.
Experts have warned the increase could be down to the rising costs of having a car and drivers feeling they have no option but to dump their vehicles.
And these abandoned vehicles are coming at a cost to taxpayers.
It cost councils more than £75,000 to remove the cars, with authorities only raking in a little more than £8,000 in fines.
The remaining £67,000 had to come out of the public purse.
In Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin received more than 700 reports of dumped cars.
More than 1,000 cars were reported abandoned in Wolverhampton along with 1,100 in Dudley and hundreds across Cannock Chase, South Staffordshire and Stafford.
Worrying
In the wider West Midlands, Coventry is the perceived hotspot with nearly 1,700 vehicles abandoned.
Overall, councils in the West Midlands dealt with two abandoned cars on average every day. Confused.com, which complied the figures, has described the region as a “scrapyard for abandoned cars”.
Amanda Stretton, the motoring editor at the price comparison website, added: “The cost of running a car is becoming incredibly expensive and it seems this has caused thousands of drivers in the West Midlands to ditch their vehicles. It’s worrying that they think this is their only option.
“Our interactive map shows just how much of an issue this has become across the region and how councils have been forced to spend thousands of pounds removing unwanted cars from the roadside in one year alone. Abandoned vehicles are a nuisance, but many motorists are confused about what they should do if they find one – do they report it to the police, or their local council?
“To make this clearer, Confused.com has created a search tool which points people in the right direction to get in touch with their local council and report it.”
Across the UK 148,777 cars were abandoned, at a cost of more han £525,000 to councils, in 2017/18.
