The good news for Bradford about illegally-dumped cars is that, thanks to co-operation between the police and the local authority, they are now being removed much more quickly from the streets. That means there is less chance of them being burned out or becoming a danger to children tempted to play in or on them.

Unfortunately that positive development is more than outweighed by the huge increase in the number of cars which need to be attended to. It is staggering that in the five years since 1998 the number of vehicles removed and disposed of by the Council has risen from 300 to 4,000, reaching what one council officer has described as epidemic proportions.

The situation has largely come about, apparently, because of a substantial drop in the value of scrap metal. Whereas people used to be paid a modest sum by a scrap yard for their MoT failures, or at worst could dispose of them for nothing, there is now a cost involved. So a growing number of people are simply dumping their bangers instead, and getting away with it.

That leaves the council taxpayers to foot the bill for disposing of them, which is now adding up to around £130,000 a year - cash which the authority could usefully utilise elsewhere.

According to Councillor Michael Attenborough, other EU countries get round this problem by insisting that motor manufacturers take back old vehicles to recycle them. It is perhaps time the British Government took steps to bring this country into line with the rest of Europe to reduce this waste of public money.