Town puts the clamps on untaxed cars

The town, along with Littlehampton, will be the first in the county to experience the use of new council powers to clamp and remove illegal vehicles.

Arun District Council expects to start using the powers against untaxed cars and vans at the end of September.

This is a delay from the original timetable of late June because of internal reorganisations at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

The shake-up has meant that the training needed by Arun's parking wardens and other uniformed officials to enforce the clamping and removal has been put back. But the council is still committed to becoming the first in West Sussex to take on the powers from the agency.

No action, though, will be taken to remove illegal vehicles registered in overseas countries. District council director of services Colin Rogers said: 'Foreign motorists have six months within which to register with the DVLA.

'I know the issue of foreign vehicles is a bone of contention with the enlargement of the EU.

'This is not the scheme to deal with foreign vehicles. My understanding is that the DVLA is looking at that as a national issue with some of the governments now joining that process.'

The devolved powers scheme is being viewed as a pilot for other local authorities in the county. It will enable the council to move quickly to rid the streets of untaxed vehicles.

The project will build on the success of an existing scheme which has seen a tenfold reduction in the number of abandoned vehicles in Arun in the past five years. Reducing abandoned vehicles and getting rid of nuisance vehicles also cuts down the number of arson attacks on vehicles. These have already been reduced around Arun from 100 in ten months in 2004/05 to 60 in the same period in 2006/07 because of the existing

activity.

Those 82 councils and police forces nationally which have taken on the additional powers have seen significant reductions in crime linked with dumped vehicles. Nationally, seven out of ten untaxed vehicles have a direct link with other crimes.

Vehicles which are removed will be impounded in a secure storage facility. Motorists who want to reclaim their vehicle will face an 80 fee within the first day if they produce a tax disc and 160 afterwards. This charge will rise with a 15 a day storage fee.

Vehicles left can be sold or destroyed by the council.

The powers will only be initially used on public land.