From next week, drivers living in the county borough of Bridgend, south Wales, will have to pay a £185 fee to cover the authority's investigation and disposal costs if they abandon vehicles.

The irresponsible people who abandon cars are taking money out of all our pockets

Councillor Clive Davies

Council officers are dealing with more than 1,000 reported incidents each year in their area alone.

The move is part of a wider strategy, designed to reduce the number of abandoned vehicles, speed up the service, and develop better links with organisations such as the DVLA.

Under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, local authorities can charge owners for the disposal of abandoned vehicles.

Other organisations such as the police also have the power to remove vehicles that appear to have been left to rot.

Estimates suggest that as many as 500,000 a year are being dumped in Britain.

Destroyed

Plummeting scrap metal prices have created an epidemic of owners choosing to leave their vehicles on the street rather than pay for them to be destroyed.

Red tape means that councils have to wait lengthy periods to remove - often resulting in cars being vandalised or destroyed by fire.

The UK government now plans to look into ways of making it more difficult for drivers to evade their responsibility to dispose of unwanted vehicles.

Bridgend councillor Clive Davies, who is Cabinet member responsible for the environment and highways, said all efforts were made to trace the owner before removal.

"The irresponsible people who abandon cars are taking money out of all our pockets," he said.

"They simply walk away and expect council taxpayers to pick up the tab for cleaning up the mess they leave behind.

"As well as their impact on the local environment, abandoned vehicles can be dangerous to the public and are often vandalised or burned out after they have been dumped. This initiative will make sure that owners who abandon cars don't escape from their responsibilities."