CHECK WHETHER A VEHICLE DISMANTLER OR SCRAP YARD IS PROPERLY LICENSED
Vehicles are complex products containing
many materials that are potentially hazardous to human health & the environment. So at the end of their useful lives, scrap
vehicles (End of Life Vehicles, ELVs) have to undergo decontamination (depollution)
before they can be dismantled & scrapped.
ELVs, vehicles that have been sent
for dismantling/ scrapping, are defined in law as waste. So in order to protect
the environment, any company carrying out dismantling & scrapping must be ‘licensed’
by Government. These companies are called ELV ATFs – End of Life Vehicle
Authorised Treatment Facilities.
The Environment Agency (EA) is the
Government Department responsible for regulating our industry in England; in
Scotland it is SEPA, in Wales it is Natural Resources Wales (NRW), & in
Northern Ireland it is Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).
All vehicle dismantlers, scrap metal
yards, and motor salvage dealers also have to be registered with their local
councils as Scrap Metal Dealers. This is
to help prevent & detect scrap metal & vehicle theft.
So, the licenses required by anyone
dismantling &/or scrapping vehicles are:
- Waste Management License/
Environmental Permit
- Waste Carriers License (if
they collect/deliver/ transport scrap vehicles)
- Scrap Metal Dealer (not in Northern Ireland)
They will need ALL of these separate licenses.
In order to allow people to check
whether the company they are selling their vehicle to is legally allowed to
take it, Government has put in place ‘public registers’. The links below take
you through to these ‘public registers’.
You can check using, for example, the
company name, or its site address/ postcode.
This link (below) allows you to check
whether an operator in England has any of the above licenses:
https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/index
The links below take you to the
section of the EA, NRW , SEPA, & NIAE websites where there are up to date
lists of companies dealing specifically with
scrap vehicles (ATFs).
You can also find details of permitted ELV ATFs is the Republic of Ireland here:
http://facilityregister.nwcpo.ie/
Search by LOW code – use the drop down menu & select 16 01 04*
You can find out details about other related licences here.
Waste
carriers:
Scrap
Metal Dealer
Caution!
These lists aren’t definitive, because they’re constantly being
updated. Also, licenses aren’t always issued in the business name or
address; they maybe in the owner’s name/ address or at the company registered
office. So if you can’t find the company you’re searching for, they may
well be illegal, and you should not deal with them. Be particularly careful selling vehicles to
operators that don’t have a physical site.
If you have encountered what you
think is an illegal dismantler or scrap yard, & you can’t find their
details on the public registers, then you can notify us, using our on-line
form, & we will check. And if they
are illegal we will inform the authorities for you.
REMEMBER. IF YOU WANT TO STAY SAFE & LEGAL - USE A VRA MEMBER