Scrapping of logbook loophole welcomed by Bluecycle
Issue date: 3 September 2010
Reputable car recycling plants get shot in the arm from DVLA
A move by the Government to close a loophole which allowed motorists to scrap their own cars has been welcomed by leading car salvage auction firm, Bluecycle.
The immediate removal of the ‘Scrapped’ box on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) V5C Vehicle Registration Certificate is a shot in the arm for the UK’s network of Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATFs), claims Bluecycle, which had raised concerns that hundreds of unauthorised scrap yards were cashing in at the expense of reputable recycling plants.
The amendment to the V5C document means that a vehicle being scrapped has to receive a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) to prove its legal and environmentally compliant disposal, which can only be issued from one of the UK’s 1,558 ATFs**. Previously, car owners could avoid the CoD by ticking the box to say they had scrapped the vehicle themselves.
As a result of a rise in scrap metal prices over the past few years, rogue dealers have been exploiting this loophole by advising car owners to fill in the box once they’d sold it for scrap, only for unscrupulous operators to flout environmental legislation regarding the car’s disposal, or worse, reselling it for use on UK roads or even abroad as a ‘cloned’ vehicle.
According to DVLA, approximately two million cars a year are claimed to have been taken off the road. This would equate to some 3.5 million tonnes* of scrap material but to date, the number of CoDs issued is closer to the one million mark says Bluecyle, suggesting that many vehicles are not legally destroyed.
Thanks to the revision of the V5C, however, this figure is set to reduce, as Andy Latham, Bluecycle’s Reputation Manager, explained:
“This small yet important amendment to the Vehicle Registration Certificate is very welcome news in the ongoing campaign to clamp down on the dearth of unauthorised scrap yards still in operation.
By removing the option for car owners to ‘self scrap’ their car, we expect to see a significant reduction in what we call the ‘Lazurus effect’ where supposed scrapped vehicles are quite literally coming back from the dead, as they never receive a Certificate of Destruction.”
Continued Latham:
“With more vehicles forecast to be built in the next 20 years than in the entire industry’s history so far, it’s vital that each and every car is disposed of responsibly and legally at the end of its life. Bluecycle will continue to play its part in improving this process but there needs to be a concerted move by European Governments and environmental agencies towards ensuring no cars slip through the net.”
Introduced by the European Commission ten years ago this year, the End of Life Vehicle (ELV) directive first entered the UK statute books in 2002 and was fully incorporated in 2007. The law demands that 85% of every car leaving the road must be recycled by an ATF. In 2015, this rises to 95% of each vehicle scrapped.
Ends
*Average vehicle weight of 1,500kgs at disposal.
**Environment Agency statistics, December 2009.
Bluecycle is a leading online auction business, specialising in automotive and commercial plant salvage. Hundreds of online auctions are held each week and the company has handled over 600,000 vehicles through its state-of-the-art internet trading system. Since launching in 2000, Bluecycle has transformed the vehicle salvage industry through its robust web-based auction system.
Bluecycle manages the complete disposal process, from vehicle recovery, documentation processing and storage to completion of the sale. Additional services, such as replacement vehicle provision, set Bluecycle apart from its competitors, giving customers the reassurance of dealing with a team whose expertise and professionalism are second to none.
Bluecycle only sells damaged vehicles through its online auctions. Buyers of Category B vehicles, those which must never be returned to the road, are restricted to UK holders of full waste management or ELV licences only and a Certificate of Destruction must be uploaded as part of the purchase.
