LANDOWNERS fear hundreds more abandoned vehicles could blight the landscape of York and North Yorkshire when new European legislation comes into force.

Local authorities say they are already facing a massive problem of cars dumped at the side of the road.

Ryedale District Council says abandoned vehicles left alongside the A64 between York and Scarborough during summer months turn the road into a "car park".

City of York Council says about 100 cars are reported abandoned across the city each month - a tenfold increase on the number just six years ago. About half of the reported vehicles turn out to have actually been abandoned.

Now there are concerns that the problem may worsen in the wake of a European directive under which the cost of disposing of dangerous pollutants such as lead, mercury and cadmium will temporarily be met by the final user.

Dorothy Fairburn, regional director of the Country Land and Business Association, said North Yorkshire's countryside could be "ruined" if owners chose to dump their vehicles to avoid the charges.

She said: "Our members already have to contend with the dangers of old cars being dumped or set on fire, often damaging crops and hedges.

"This proposal is obviously going to make matters much worse."

Rosie Dunn, National Farmers' Union chairman for York East, said the Government's decision would simply "dump the problem in farmers' laps".

She said: "This will lead to an increase in illegal vehicle dumping in rural areas and once it is on a farmer's private land it will be up to them to dispose of it."

A spokesman for the European Commission denied that the directive itself would force drivers to meet the costs of vehicle disposal.

However, member state governments would have the right to decide how the cost of collection and recycling was met.

After 2007, the vehicle producer would be responsible for meeting these costs. A British Government spokesman denied that the new legislation, on which the Government would go out to consultation shortly, would worsen the existing problem of dumped cars, which was mainly caused by the collapse of the scrap metal market.

He said most vehicle owners would pay the fee to dispose of their car in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Car owners could once receive a modest payment for the scrap value of their old cars, before there was a collapse in value of scrap.

A North Yorkshire scrap yard said that, at present, it would take old cars off people's hands for no charge, provided they could bring it to the yard. But people would be charged to pick up a vehicle that could not be moved.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, January 17, 2003