Dumped cars are turning North Yorkshire into a graveyard for scrap.

The trend is costing taxpayers a fortune as the number of vehicles abandoned increases dramatically.

City of York Council expects to remove 800 cars left on city streets this year - a massive increase from 260 in 1997 - and Ryedale and Selby District Councils have both noticed a massive rise.

John Brown, Ryedale's environmental co-ordinator, said: "The number of cars we move has more than doubled in the past few years.

"It is because of a reduction in the price of scrap, the drop in second-hand car prices and the fact that cars have more plastic on them now there isn't as much scrap metal to sell. It isn't worth the owner's while to sell the car any more."

Richard Clancey, of Clancey and Sons scrap metal merchants, of Murton, said scrap used to be worth £55 a tonne.

Now it is £20, largely because of the collapse of the Asian scrap market.

He said: "After the costs of transport, removing tyres and running a business, we can't give anything for a car now."

Selby's head of environmental services, Nigel Currey, said £2,500 of taxpayers' money was spent on moving cars last year. The figure would increase this year as the number of dumped cars was expected to grow.

He said: "It is illegal to dump cars, but unfortunately, when a car gets to five or six years old, the record of ownership very often just disappears. If it has been bought and sold in the street or at auctions, the new ownership is often not passed on."

A spokesman for City of York Council said it paid a scrap dealer £35 to remove each car,

The authority is calling for a change in legislation so that manufacturers pay for dumped cars to be disposed of.

He said: "It is true that there is an increasing problem across the country with the dumping of vehicles, and York is no exception.

"As a council, we have had to increase our annual budget for dealing with this problem, but there is unlikely to be an improvement until the market for scrap improves or there is some kind of legislation."

Selby District Council is sending a representative to meet the Local Government Association to discuss the issue. Mr Currey said his department was also supportive of a scheme to make manufacturers pay for the removal of dumped cars.

adam.nichols@ycp.co.uk