Burned-out and abandoned cars on road verges in an Oxfordshire district are an eyesore and a possible health hazard, a councillor has said.

Tim Horton, of Watlington, is South Oxfordshire District Council's chairman of community services committee and a member of Oxfordshire County Council.

He wants better liaison with police, county and district councils to get the problem cleared up fast - and to have costs covered by the owners.

He is asking the district council to kick-start action to rid the roadsides of abandoned vehicles.

He says: "Abandoned vehicles are left too long on highway verges and alongside roads in the district.

"They are an eyesore, a distraction to other road users, they are the targets for vandalism and they represent a health hazard. "I want our officers to work with the Thames Valley Police and the county council to solve this problem.

"Everyone needs to know about the vehicle as soon as possible, the risks have to be assessed, responsibility for removal assigned and the costs recovered."

He wants a detailed report on the problem - and its answers - presented to the district council as soon as possible.

A spokesman for Thames Valley police said: "On the surface it looks an easy problem to solve but we all have different roles to play.

"As police we have to act differently if it is a stolen or abandoned vehicle.

"Stolen cars are taken in to a garage and checked over by our scenes of crimes officers and the owners are told about them.

"Burned-out cars and abandoned cars are the subject of basic inquiries to try to find the owners and recoup our costs." Mrs Gina Coupar, in the community services department at the district council, said: "We have the power to remove them but only after a lengthy legal process.

"We have to stick seven-day and then twenty-one-day notices on them, try to contact the owners.

"We have no right to go on private land without the landowner's permission.

"It is our duty eventually to remove them and the county council's to dispose of them.

"In reality we do both and the county pays us for their bit of it.

"We all try to get the owners to meet the costs."

Story date: Wednesday 24 February

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