In Milton Keynes you will receive a £200 Fixed Penalty Notice (issued to anyone found abandoning a vehicle). In addition, whenever the council traces the owner of an abandoned vehicle, it automatically imposes a statutory charge of £155.

Scrap dealers and car dismantlers are now known to strip cars clean of everything recyclable, they treat end of life vehicles in an environmentally friendly manner. If you pass your vehicle to a reputable scrap dealer they will need your registration certificate. Certain types of vehicles, including cars and vans up to 3,500kgs, will be issued with a certificate of destruction (CoD). If the vehicle is not to be destroyed, you should fill in the V5C/3 section of the registration certificate to transfer keepership to the ATF. Send the V5/3C to DVLA, Swansea SA99 1BD.

What to do if your vehicle is scrapped or written off

You should only tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that your vehicle has been scrapped if you actually break it up or destroy it yourself. In the event of the vehicle being written off, the insurance company will notify DVLA on your behalf.

What is an end-of-life vehicle?

End-of-life vehicles are motor vehicles that are categorised as waste. Their components and materials are also classed as waste. Waste is anything that you discard, intend to discard or are required to discard. This includes material being sent for recycling or reuse.

All provisions of the end-of-life vehicle legislation apply to cars and vans. However, only the depollution requirements apply to the following waste motor vehicles:

• three-wheeled motor vehicles
• coaches
• buses
• motor cycles
• goods vehicles.

Vintage Vehicles

Vintage vehicles do not fall within the scope of the legislation. Vintage vehicles include historic vehicles or vehicles of value to collectors or intended for museums, kept in a proper and environmentally sound manner, either ready for use or stripped into parts.

The UK currently scraps around two million cars each year. Milton Keynes Council receives around 4000 reports of abandoned vehicles each year, some for the same vehicle more than once, and removes over 2000. This has been growing over recent years.