V5 loophole closed
September 6th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
THE scrapping of a logbook loophole has been welcomed by one leading car salvage auction specialist.
London-based Bluecycle have welcomed the Government’s decision to amend the DVLA’s V5C document, closing a money-making loophole and stopping hundreds of unauthorized scrap yards cashing in at the expense of reputable recycling plants.
The revision effectively deletes the ‘Scrapped’ box on the document, meaning that scrapped cars have to receive a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) to prove its legal and environmentally compliant disposal.
CoDs can only be issued from one of the UK’s 1558 Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATFs), therefore removing the ability by car owners to scrap their cars themselves.
The amendment is also good for the industry as rogue traders can no longer advise car owners to tick the box once they’d sold it for scrap, flouting car disposal environmental legislations, or worse, reselling it in the UK or even abroad as a ‘cloned’ vehicle.
DVLA figures reveal that approximately two million cars a year are claimed to have been scrapped, though only a million CoDs are issued, therefore making the revision much-needed.
Bluecycle’s Reputation Manager Andy Latham said: ‘This small yet important amendment to the Vehicle Registration Certificate is very welcome news in the ongoing campaign to clamp down on the dearth of unauthorised scrap yards still in operation.
‘By removing the option for car owners to ‘self scrap’ their car, we expect to see a significant reduction in what we call the ‘Lazarus effect’ where supposed scrapped vehicles are quite literally coming back from the dead, as they never receive a Certificate of Destruction.’
Latham continued: ‘With more vehicles forecast to be built in the next 20 years than in the entire industry’s history so far, it’s vital that each and every car is disposed of responsibly and legally at the end of its life.
‘Bluecycle will continue to play its part in improving this process but there needs to be a concerted move by European Governments and environmental agencies towards ensuring no cars slip through the net.’
By James Batchelor
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