NEW powers which should help rid York and North and east Yorkshire of abandoned cars have been welcomed by authorities today.

As part of a government clampdown, local authorities have been given the right to take away dumped vehicles after just one day, rather than having to wait seven days.

And they will be able to destroy the vehicles after one week, instead of facing a delay of five weeks, as they did previously.

Over the years the Evening Press has repeatedly highlighted the problem of abandoned cars.

In York, burnt-out wrecks have made life a misery for residents living near to Clifton "Backies" and the Tang Hall area has also been badly hit.

A City of York Council spokeswoman said today: "We welcome the new powers, which will help us to take a tough stance on abandoned cars.

"We already work closely with North Yorkshire Police to tackle this problem - we will now be having detailed discussions with our contractors to see what these new powers mean, how they can be implemented and what we can do to speed up the process of removing abandoned cars."

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Terry Glover said: "Our recently launched Arson Reduction Initiative identified abandoned vehicles as one of the main targets for arson. These new powers will play a significant role in reducing the length of time these vehicles are left to become targets thus enabling our firefighters to concentrate on their primary duty of saving lives and safeguarding the community from fire and other emergencies."

The new powers came into force this week, following a six-month consultation exercise carried out by the Department of Transport.

It follows evidence that the problem of abandoned cars is worsening because it is no longer possible to sell ageing vehicles for scrap.

Nationally, about 1,000 are dumped every day - because owners of cars that fetched £30-40 as scrap five years ago now have to pay to have them taken away.

Mr Byers said the government was spending £2.7 million to set up computer links between local councils and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).

The project would break down the "bureaucratic barriers" that had frustrated attempts to trace the owners of abandoned vehicles, he said.

Updated: 08:45 Thursday, April 11, 2002