Time called on Tameside cowboy scrap dealers

Time is being called on the activities of Tameside cowboy car scrap dealers.

A loophole in vehicle licensing rules that has allowed millions of cars to be scrapped but not deregistered is to be closed after a campaign by Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Chris Davies.

Environmentalists claim that it has led to thousands of tonnes of oil and brake fluid being poured down drains, while millions of old tyres have ended up dumped on wasteland or in the countryside.

The loophole allows owners of old bangers to claim that they are scrapping the cars themselves.

It has been exploited by rogue scrap dealers who use it to avoid paying to meet the depollution requirements of EU end-of-life vehicles legislation introduced 10 years ago.

Now the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea is to start the issue of revised V5C registration forms.

Davies has been working for four years with operators of licensed waste treatment facilities to get the changes made and environmental standards improved.

He said: “The figures suggest that up to a million cars have been taken apart and scrapped on peoples’ driveways in the last 5 years.  This is clearly absurd, but it’s been an uphill task to persuade the DVLA to make the changes required.

“Rogue scrap dealers advertising for old cars need to be put of business. They are not paying tax, they harm the environment, and they undercut legitimate vehicle dismantlers.”

However, the DVLA claims that it will take at least two years to issue new registration documents to every car owner and that could mean another 300,000 to 400,000 cars slipping through the net.

Davies, who will shortly meet with new Business Minister Mark Prisk to discuss the issue, wants owners of every car destined for the breaker’s yard to be told that they should insist now that scrap dealers supply them with a
key document.

He said: “A Certificate of Destruction is essential.  It ensures that the car is deregistered and properly depolluted.”

Davies says that DVLA procedures have until now failed to ensure that vehicles are deregistered even when they have in fact been dismantled.  He warns that if a car taken for scrapping is in fact put back on the road by a
rogue trader, the original owner will unknowingly retain responsibility if it is involved in an accident.

“The EU end-of-life directive is a good environment law intended to ensure that the millions of cars disposed of each year are treated properly.  The time is long overdue for Britain to apply it across the board.”

Andy Kenny, spokesman for the End of Life Vehicle Recyclers Association said, “Cowboy dealers with a mobile phone and a van have been undercutting legitimate businesses for years with the help of the DVLA.

“Chris Davies has worked with us to slam the door on the people who dump tyres in laybys and pour poisons down the drain.

“There have been many false dawns on this issue and I hope that this time the DVLA will stick to its guns.”

Controversial children’s database ContactPoint to be scrapped

Today Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee on Education, Families and Young People Baroness Walmsley welcomed the Government’s announcement that the controversial children’s database ContactPoint will be scrapped.

Liberal Democrats opposed ContactPoint from the start. At the last Lib Dem Autumn Conference a motion was passed calling for an end to the database and to invest the money in alternatives to help staff more effectively.

Commenting, Baroness Walmsley said: “It is very important that we improve our child protection services and make sure that no abuse or neglect can fall through the cracks. However, ContactPoint was not the answer.

“We have campaigned against this database for a very long time. It was a waste of time and money that staff neither wanted nor needed. The privacy and security implications of such a large collection of personal data were another headache that those working to protect vulnerable children could have done without.

“Now we need to look for ways we can help the professionals do their jobs properly.”

RBS must use profits to help struggling businesses

“We cannot simply allow banks to go back to business as usual while viable British firms are suffering,” says MP Stephen Williams.

Commenting on the £1.1bn pre-tax half year profits announced by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) today, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Policy Committee, Stephen Williams said:

“RBS is almost entirely owned by the taxpayer, so these huge profits must be used for the national interest and not just to pay massive bonuses to senior staff.

“There is no excuse for RBS not to loan to good British companies that are struggling to get credit. We cannot simply allow banks to go back to business as usual while viable British firms are suffering.”

End to unreasonable stop-and-search

Commenting on the Home Secretary’s announcement that stop and search powers will be subject to stricter conditions, Tom Brake MP, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs, Justice and Equality, said: “This is a very welcome announcement. Section 44 was an unreasonable power, applied in an indiscriminate way.

“This change strengthens our civil liberties, building on a longstanding commitment from Liberal Democrats.

“When the Labour benches attacked the coalition for what they described as an obsession with defending civil liberties, it just highlighted their dangerous obsession with eroding them.”

Court ruling secures freedom from persecution for gay asylum seekers

Commenting on the Supreme Court ruling that it is not acceptable to refuse asylum to an individual on the basis that they can hide their sexuality to avoid persecution, Lib Dem deputy leader  Simon Hughes MP, said, “I am delighted this ruling recognises the rights of gay asylum seekers, ensuring their freedom from persecution around the world.
“This plight is one that my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have campaigned on for years. It is an issue that the Coalition Government is committed to addressing as we seek to restore Britain’s reputation around the world as a leader in the protection of human rights. I believe that today’s ruling will go some way to restoring that reputation.

“Other countries around the world must now follow the UK’s lead and recognise freedom of expression and freedom of sexuality for all people.”

John Sharkey appointed as Chair of the Lib Dems’ Fairer Votes Campaign

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has announced the appointment of John Sharkey as chair of the Liberal Democrats’ Fairer Votes Campaign.

Nick Clegg said, “I am delighted that John Sharkey has accepted this role.

“This is a vital campaign for the country and I can’t think of a better person than John to run it for the Liberal Democrats.”

£15m for green buses

Over 150 new low carbon buses will join fleets throughout England saving around 50,000 tonnes of CO2 thanks to £15m of additional Government funding, Lib Dem Transport Minister Norman Baker MP announced today.

The funding is intended to put low carbon buses within the reach of as many operators and local authorities as possible throughout England.

Bus operators and councils can bid for the money which they can then use towards the additional up front cost of buying low carbon buses.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said, “We want to support new transport technologies to help make our transport system greener and more sustainable.

“This investment will stimulate the market for low carbon buses by reducing some of the initial costs for operators and councils. It will deliver significant benefits, in particular reducing the impact of road transport on climate change and improving air quality.”

Low carbon buses use at least 30 per cent less fuel and emit nearly a third less carbon than a conventional bus, yet they currently make up just 0.2% of buses on the road.

The funding will support investment in more low carbon buses as well as addressing the information gap about their performance by requiring the winning bidders to share information with others in the industry.

Freedom

Nick Clegg MP

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg MP

This morning Nick Clegg delivered a speech asking the public how they want the Government to redress the balance between the citizen and the state. He said:

 

This morning I want to talk about freedom.

For too long new laws and regulations have taken away people’s freedoms, interfered in everyday life, and made it difficult for businesses to get by. The state has crept further and further into people’s homes, the places they work, their private lives. That intrusion is wrong; it’s illiberal; it’s disempowering and it’s going to change.

This government is putting freedom under the spotlight in a way the previous government never did. We want the British people have their say on where the state should step in, and where it should butt out. We are asking people for ideas on restoring hard won liberties that have been lost… On repealing unnecessary laws that have no place on the statute book… And on stripping away the excessive regulation that stops businesses from innovating. (more…)