Car-mageddon

The vehicles, many of which are stolen, are being dumped and torched in a wave of arson attacks that has caused the city's fire crews to be called out 598 times so far this year.

Bradford Council's Waste Management Team dealt with 2,600 abandoned vehicles last year but that figure could be exceeded this year.

There have already been 900 dumped vehicles reported to the Council since January. It is now trying to find ways of dealing with the problems more quickly.

Today Bradford Assistant Divisional Fire Commander Brian Robson warned that tackling car fires was causing a huge drain on resources.

"Abandoned vehicles are a big problem for us," he said.

"We work closely with the police and the Council to resolve the problem and that process is ongoing.

"But when we send fire appliances out to deal with vehicles which have been set on fire we are not protecting the public although we have to go as we do not know what we are dealing with.

"These incidents can be time wasting and hazardous to our firefighters."

Bradford Station Officer David Sidebottom described the number of vehicle arson attacks as "absolutely ridiculous" and called for something to be done quickly to control the problem.

"If we do a tour of duty without being called out to a car fire it is very unusual. Somebody needs to get hold of the problem by the throat and do something," he said.

Chief Inspector John Chambers, of Bradford North Police, urged people to contact police if a vehicle was abandoned so its ownership could be checked.

Any vehicle which is not reported stolen is attached with a notice by the Council's waste management team warning that it must be removed within seven days. When that period expires, the vehicle is removed by one of the Council's contractors at no charge to the Council in exchange for the scrap value, he said.

Any vehicles that are a danger to the public or of no value are removed within 24 hours of the Council being contacted. A Council spokesman said private sector partnerships were now being developed to deal with the problem more quickly.

A spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited said: "An end of life vehicle often has a negative value. Cars are often dumped as it's going to cost money for someone to take it away.

"In Germany for example, until a car owner can satisfy the authorities that they have taken the vehicle to a proper dump or scrapyard the owner will continue to pay tax on the car but we do not have that initiative here.

"At present there is no specific Government legislation that says where vehicles should go when they are worth very little and have no further use.

"But the DVLA needs to develop a better system so that a car's last registered owner can be tracked more effectively if it is found dumped."

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers warned that the high number of car fires would increase car insurance premiums.

"Quite clearly cars that are maliciously set alight do have an impact on insurance prices and this leads to an increase on a national scale."