Ref. 13983-14SWINDON is no longer among the dumped car capitals of the UK. Two dumped cars are being cleared from the streets of Swindon each day, according to new figures.

Last year we revealed more than three cars a day had to be cleared from the streets more than in the city of Manchester.

Now the council's action of pursuing and tracking the owners of abandoned cars has caused the figure to fall.

In total, 634 abandoned vehicles were removed and scrapped in the town last year, the Department For The Environment has revealed.

John Short, the director of Swindon Services, said that Swindon was now the leader in Wiltshire for the removal of abandoned cars.

"The council is working hand in hand with the police and the DVLA in getting information on the owners of abandoned vehicles," he said.

"We have invested in a new direct link with those agencies and we can get the information within minutes rather than days.

"It means we can get to the cars before they get burnt out and get the owners to pay costs.

"These figures show excellent performance for Swindon Council and Swindon Services and it is good to see that the Government is recognising the work we are doing to make sure Swindon is not one of the abandoned car capitals of the UK."

Mr Short also said that an increase in scrap metal values meant that more people were taking their cars to be disposed off legally.

The Defra figures are a significant drop on previous years.

In 2002, the council had to deal with about 1,300 wrecks and was taking up to 40 phone calls from the public a day, alerting it to disused and dumped vehicles.

The escalation in the numbers of abandoned cars was a result of a falling demand in scrap metal and Government legislation which forces car owners to pay a fee to scrap merchants to legally dispose of their vehicle.

Forthcoming legislation will require 80 per cent of car components to be recycled increasing disposal costs still further.

Swindon Council officials still have to move almost as many cars as in some of the big urban areas.

Newcastle dragged 710 abandoned cars off the streets, nearby Sunderland removed 422, while Birmingham cleared and crushed 10,368 vehicles last year.

In North Wiltshire, the council scrapped 320 abandoned vehicles.

The details were released by DEFRA as part of the 2003/04 nationwide Municipal Waste Management Survey.

Government officials said removing abandoned cars was now a considerable burden on local taxpayers.

Anthony Osborne