Croydon is one of the Top 20 dumped car hotspots in the country

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 20th Feb 2004

Croydon is in the top 20 dumped car hotspots

Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed that Croydon is amongst the country's worst 20 black spots for abandoned cars.

Croydon had 4,376 cars dumped in 2001/02 (11th out of the 20). Out of 278,821 cars dumped in England and Wales, one in three (91,361) were in London boroughs.

Simon Hughes MP, Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate, said:

"The Government and Blair's Mayor are still failing to do enough to deal with the blight of dumped cars and has been reluctant to follow the European example of requiring producers to pay for the recycling of end of life vehicles.

"In the UK the whole of the responsibility rests with the last owner of the vehicle. This is an unwanted expense and encourages illegal dumping.

"If someone buys an old banger for £100 they will have to pay at least £50 or £60 to have it dealt with at the end of its life. The reality is that they are much more likely to dump it illegally and not deal with it responsibly."

Steven Gauge, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Spokesman for Croydon & Sutton, said:

"Dumped cars are a massive eyesore on our streets. Local residents need action from the Government and Mayor to tackle this problem."