Liberal Democrat Council Scoops Silver Award for Removing Abandoned Cars

3.01.48pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 21st Sep 2004

Milton Keynes Council's innovative scheme for dealing with abandoned vehicles has received a 'silver' award for being joint second best in the country.

Even world-class moaner Victor Meldrew couldn't suppress a smile when he presented the award. Victor - alias actor Richard Wilson - was on hand to do the honours at the annual ENCAMS (Environment Campaigns) People and Places awards, held in Edinburgh.

The Milton Keynes scheme - run jointly by the Council and Thames Valley Police, and supported by the Fire Service - beat off stiff competition from all over the country to come joint second with Islington.

"Once again, Milton Keynes is leading the way nationally," said Liberal Democrat Councillor Douglas McCall, Cabinet member for the Environment. "It shows the work we are doing on abandoned vehicles in Milton Keynes is innovative and that the hard work and dedication put in by our staff has been recognised at a national level. This is a real feather in our cap."

The Abandoned Vehicles Unit has now cleared over 1,000 cars from the streets of Milton Keynes and has cut the response time from 42 days to less than 8 days - four out of five vehicles are removed within 24 hours. And the number of abandoned cars reported has almost halved.

The council's Dial-a-Wreck scheme - where the council collects 'end of the road' vehicles for just £20 (£10 for those in receipt of benefits) also came in for praise at the awards. 541 vehicles have been collected since this scheme was set up in January last year.