REPORT A SUSPECTED ILLEGAL VEHICLE DISMANTLER
OR SCRAP YARD
PLEASE NOTE.
THIS SERVICE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
WE NO LONGER ACCEPT OR FORWARD TO GOVERNMENT REPORTS OF SUSPECTED ILLEGAL OPERATORS - SIMPLY BECAUSE THESE REPORTS ARE NOT ACTED UPON.
PLEASE USE THE ADVICE BELOW TO REPORT SUSPECTED ILLEGAL DISMANTLERS & SCRAP YARDS - WE RECOMMEND USING CRIMESTOPPERS
After 10 years of proactive
activity with UK Government/ Agencies, during which time we have handled more
than 10,000 reports, VRA has now suspended its ‘illegals’ programme. This is
simply because time & time again Government regulators have shown
themselves to be unresponsive, inflexible, ineffective & self-serving.
There is a huge world-wide
problem with illegal vehicle dismantlers, chop shops & vehicle/ parts
theft.
We all pay for this –
not least through higher car insurance premiums, higher tax burdens, increased
crime & environmental damage. Legitimate vehicle recycler business are also
massively undermined & outcompeted. The amounts of money involved are
stupendously large – perhaps GBP ½ billion
in the UK every year.
REPORTING A SUSPECTED
ILLEGAL CAR BREAKER
All vehicle
dismantlers & scrap yards are legally required to be licensed by
Government.
Details of all
licensed operators are displayed on ‘public registers’.
Use the links to the
UK public registers on this website to CHECK
WHETHER A DISMANTLER OR SCRAP YARD IS LICENSED.
You can also use this
website to check:
www.carbreaker.info
If you have encountered what you think is an illegal car
breaker or scrap yard, and (having checked first) you can’t find their details
on the public registers, then you have a number of options:
Firstly, don’t deal with them.
Report them to the authorities.
You can do this anonymously in a number of
ways:
a.
Report them to the licensing department of your
local council (for unlicensed scrap metal dealers or those offering to pay with
cash). You have to search on each local authority website to find their contact
details.
b.
Use the anonymous Crime Stoppers website.
This doesn’t take very long but we suspect that not much action (if any) is
taken with the reports – we have never received a response (probably because
it’s overwhelmed with every other kind of illegal activity):
0800 555 111
https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/pre-form
c.
Report it to your regional environment agency
using the details provided below.
Environment Agency (England) 0800
80 70 60
NRW (Wales) 0300 065 3000
On-line form: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/7J4RH1/
SEPA (Scotland) 0800 80 70 60
On-line form: https://www2.sepa.org.uk/EnvironmentalEvents
DAERI (Northern Ireland) 0800 80
70 60
e-mail environmentalcrime@daera-ni.gov.uk
EPA (Republic of Ireland) 1890
33 55 99