Good!
I wonder what the figure is nationwide?
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From AM-online:
Record numbers of uninsured vehicles are being seized and crushed, according to figures released this week at the ABI?s annual motor conference.
The use of automatic number plate recognition technology by the police has led to over 100,000 uninsured vehicles being seized by the police in roadside checks so far this year, compared to 78,000 during 2006.
Of these, some 45,000 have been crushed.
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I wonder what the figure is nationwide?
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A few more to add to the total. :-))
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/75...m
"Hundreds of cars sent to crusher
A total of 322 unclaimed vehicles seized were sent to the crusher
More than 1,000 uninsured and untaxed vehicles have been removed from Fife's roads in the past year.
Fife Constabulary figures showed that 1,231 vehicles were removed, of which 322 were sent to the crusher.
The rest were returned to their owners after evidence of insurance was produced, along with a recovery fee.
A scheme was launched in August 2007 using new powers introduced to crack down on people who drive their vehicles illegally on Scotland's roads.
Unlicensed drivers have also been targeted.
Figures revealed that 28% of the seizures involved drivers aged 25 and under.
Insp Davy Houston, of the road policing department, said: "Many of these vehicles are the very ones that we don't want on the roads of our local communities.
"The numbers driving whilst uninsured means that this is a tactic that we will continue to exercise."
About two million motorists drive without insurance every year, according to figures from the Motor Insurers' Bureau. "
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1,231 vehicles removed, 322 sent to crusher and the rest returned to owners after insurance produced.
So 909 vehicles were wrongly removed?
I not so sure there really are as many un-insured drivers as the MIB say, or maybe the 2million figure is misleading. Doesn't that work out to about 1 in 10? If so then with ANPR plod should be having a field day and we should be seeing way more than 322 going to the crusher.
Dont get me wrong, Im all for doing everything we can to remove un-insured drivers, but something doesn;t seem to add up quite right.
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There is a slight irony in this in that, IIRC, that model Espace was made up of many plastic body panels instead of conventional metal!
Good on manchester, this is the only way to go!
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2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
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A colossal waste. Why not auction them for the public purse?
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Because most of the cars are worthless old heaps that will cost more to auction than they will make! :-)
When i watch Road Wars etc. I very rarely see them seize nice cars, although they did get a recent year Mercedes SL once which was good to see.
Blue
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Because most of the cars are worthless old heaps that will cost more to auction than they will make! :-)
And which will have been replaced with something similar by the tax-dodging scumbags without a tear shed by the time they hit the crusher.
I agree they need to tackle this, but it should primarily involve prosecuting the backside off the offender rather than crushing the car! The loss of the car is nothing.
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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And yet the number on the roads is increasing according to a police spokesperson.
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i bought some seized cars a few years ago direct off customs (they were running red) and every car was out of its tree
i started buying those cars that credit companies had taken back because the owners either couldnt or wouldnt pay the 45% apr or whatever it is,my overiding memory was buying an astra estate and i collected it next day and not only did it have used nappies in the back it also had small plants growing up through the plastic trim bits
impulse purchases at auction that are on first thought bargains ,rarely turn out to be anything such
you can take the rat out of the sewer but sometimes you cant take the sewer out of the rat
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I had a look in the car pound recently in Hove near Brighton and there was a considerable number of 'nice' cars that were certainly too good to crush. Many of them were 53,54 etc. registrations.
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A colossal waste. Why not auction them for the public purse?
Sometimes they do. A sports car was recently auctioned in these circumstances.
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Are they crushed as complete cars, or are they partially dismantled first? If they're crushed as complete cars I can't see that they could be recycled because they're a mixture of materials. What's the ultimate destination of these crushed cars?
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L\'escargot.
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L'escargot.......
cars are drained of all fluids into respective enviromental containers
wheels/tyres are removed
batteries
transmissions are ripped out with a big jcb
the vehicles are then crushed to save space
they then go through a deffraga that chops them to bite size bits
to go in a big smelting pot or go to china as deffragged bits ,depending on the yard some yards cube them prior to selling on as mixed waste
£82 a tonne waste cars at the moment, add a cat and £2 for the battery and an average scrapper is worth £124 at the mo,this is thinking punto/festa sized , think mondy and you are touching £150 a pot
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The reason why people run these cars without tax/insurance/MOT is you're still unlikely to be caught even with the APNR cameras about. And if you are the fine is way less than the insurance etc. was in the first place!
So they should at least base the fine on what the insurance should have been for the driver of that car. So if you couldn't afford £2000pa insurance on the car well hey we'll find you that instead and you would have been better off with the insurance. Or is that too simple? But surely the fine should be based on what they were avoiding paying. So if driving a performance car without insurance and they cannot pay then how about a ban and prison.
And here's my best idea....
I would target their area and them a few weeks later knowing they will do it again. And two strikes and you get crushed with the car. Obviously drain the liquid first as all that blood would make a mess... ;-)
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Bell boy
With regard to your post it was interesting to see that the wheels fell off the car when it was picked up by the grabber.
There was a site that explained the ELV process in great detail. I think the owners took that part offline, I thought it was Charles Trent.
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>>A colossal waste. Why not auction them for the public purse?
Because the ones that get scrapped are generally worthless, where as the ones that are do have some value the owners tend to come back for, pay the fine and take them away.
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Presumably they would have to pay the fine once they identifed themselves. They could be made to bid at auction to if they wanted to buy the car back, hence some extra puiblic benefit.
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A colossal waste. Why not auction them for the public purse?
Because they are death traps and will be bought by the very people who had them taken away from them.
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Although the scheme is good fro removing dangerous cars from the road, my reservations are as follows.
The scroats who lose them probably paid very little for them in the first place. OK I accept that there is the odd story of someone who paid good money and then decided to dodge the tax etc.
This being the case, their loss is not huge. It is probably cheaper for them to run cars in this manner than to tax and insure them.
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I am surprised that no one has started printing his own tax disks. Scan them into the computer, photoshop the details and churn it out on a colour printer. Should be good enough to take in a parking warden who just glances at it.
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Crushing these motors is in some ways a huge shame in terms of us losing certain examples of vehicles but in the grand scheme of things anything that inconveniences tax-dodgers is a good thing. Unfortunately some people in society are too stupid and selfish to realise that driving is a privilege and not a right, but continued targeting will make some progress - eventually if not immediately.
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I have mixed feelings about this. Simply confiscating and crushing cars is a cheap and effective way to take them off the roads, and punish the offenders without massive police effort.
But, these people will just acquire another car, without tax, and it surely costs much much less to buy a knackered old banger than pay insurance and tax. So the punishment is no more than a bit of inconvenience.
And a large part of the pollution caused by a car is due to the manufacture. Therefore destroying cars will increase demand for new cars (less old ones to go around), and hence increase pollution.
It's better than nothing, but not a real solution. I hope I'm wrong.
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Seems a bit wasteful really. All those parts that could keep another Espace of that vintage going - just destroyed.
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I have a much simpler solution. It's called a negative benefit fine. For every repeat offence within a 5 year period you lose 10% of your entitlement to State Benefits for a 5 year period.. And fines are cumulative. And once you've used up 5 years' worth you start on the next 5 years.. and so on...
Edit: The beauty of it is it also encourages people to get paid employment...
Edited by madf on 21/08/2008 at 18:09
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>>Destroying cars will increase demand for new cars (less old ones to go around), and hence increase pollution<<
That may seem to make sense, but a glance at any used-car strip shows that even with ~25 million cars on the road, there is a similar number off it. So demand will not be affected that much I reckon.
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"I am surprised that no one has started printing his own tax disks. Scan them into the computer, photoshop the details and churn it out on a colour printer. Should be good enough to take in a parking warden who just glances at it. "
on my motorcycles , i do use photocopies of the correct tax disc
A: they tend to get stolen (and cost money to replace)
B: they are so badly waterlogged after a few mths , that they are unreadable,
Yes i know i should not be doingit?
Edited by freddy1 on 22/08/2008 at 07:46
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