A mother whose son was killed by a joyrider is calling on the government to introduce tighter controls on scrapyards which sell on accident-damaged vehicles.

Carole Whittingham set up SCARD (Support and Care After Road Death and injury) after her son Steven, 27, was fatally injured in a crash involving a joyrider in Heckmondwike ten years ago. The group provides support for families of people killed in road accidents and campaigns for safety measures.

Mrs Whittingham, of Foxcroft Drive in Rastrick, said it was becoming increasingly difficult to stop youngsters buying scrapped and dangerous cars for as little as £25 and claimed her own vehicle was put back on the road after it was written off.

She was horrified to see the car, which she recognised by its registration number.

"I used to have a Ford Fiesta but somebody ran into the side of me," she said. "I took it to a dealer who said the chassis was so twisted they couldn't straighten it and I got paid out. Three weeks later, my old Ford Fiesta drove past my house! The dealer must have sold it to a scrapyard who did it up and sold it. But I know that car was not roadworthy. These scrapyards have the freedom to do what they want with the vehicles and that is wrong.

"The government needs to make more in the way of legislation, whereby if a car is scrapped, it is recorded as scrapped," she added.

"A lot of vehicles are cannibalised for their parts, which is okay to a point, but to sell the vehicle on is wrong."

Since her son's death in 1992, Mrs Whittingham has campaigned for tougher penalties for joyriders and those who cause death on the roads by dangerous driving.

"If something doesn't change, more people are going to be affected and we are going to lose more people to unroadworthy cars," she said. "It could be your grandmother, brother or son when that vehicle comes along the road. We cannot carry on like this, with 3,500 deaths per year on the roads. If that amount of people died on a plane or train, people would take notice, but because it is individuals who are being killed, nobody realises."

Mrs Whittingham has written to the Home Office highlighting her concerns.

"David Blunkett seemed to be very receptive to our ideas at the beginning, but I'm not sure that's happening anymore," she said. "He is the only one who can change legislation. We are not naive enough to think we can change the world but if politicians are getting lobbied from all sides, then maybe something can change."

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