VW, Ford, and Vauxhall among most abandoned cars in Bradford

The shocking figures show Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Toyota are among the most consistently abandoned car brands in the district. 

The information was obtained through a Freedom of Information request for the total number of abandoned vehicles, broken down by car make across the last five years. 

Bradford Council only had data available up to March 2022 due to a new reporting system.

Between 2018 and 2021, the issue of abandoned and nuisance vehicles rose by almost 50 per cent.

Meanwhile a whopping 1,062 vehicles were recovered in the first three months of 2022 alone.

The Council has now warned that staff will “remove any nuisance vehicles from the highway and Council-owned land. 

But for every car recovered, there is a huge impact on the “costs of staffing and administration”. 

The most abandoned vehicles in Bradford broken down by vehicle type

The number of abandoned or nuisance vehicles jumped from 2,903 in 2020 to 3,660 in 2021. 

Ford took top spot as the most abandoned car brand at 442 vehicles in 2021, followed by 331 Vauxhall and 388 Volkswagen vehicles. 

In the same year, 293 Toyota’s, 193 Audi’s and 202 Mercedes were taken off the district’s streets.

These continued to be the highest recovered car brands when it came to abandoned, nuisance vehicles in the available data for 2022. 

• Read more: More than 90 abandoned vehicles found on Bradford street over six weeks - report

A spokesperson for Bradford Council spokesperson said: “We will remove abandoned vehicles from the highway and from Council-owned land.

“But a vehicle that appears to be abandoned may not actually be abandoned, so we need to carry out an investigation.

"A vehicle is not deemed abandoned if the owner comes forward to claim it, the vehicle is not parked in violation of any restrictions, and has valid MOT, tax and insurance. In these cases, we do not have legal power to remove the vehicle.

In each instance where a vehicle is not taxed, these vehicles are reported to the DVLA who can remove without notice.

“We could look into removing a non-abandoned vehicle if it is causing a nuisance such as parking contraventions (yellow line offences or parking bay restrictions).

“Our legal powers are limited to deal with anti-social behaviour issues or other parking obstructions and issues such as these can be reported to West Yorkshire Police via Report nuisance/obstructive parking.

“Removing vehicles incurs costs of staffing and administration. A contractor is employed to remove the vehicles but if for any reason they are unable to remove the vehicle they will charge us a fee for their time. The approximate cost for vehicles not compounded is £50.”

Have you got a story for us? Email newsdesk@telegraphandargus.co.uk or contact us here.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

Sign up to our newsletter to get updates sent straight to your inbox.

You can also call us on 01274 705292.