Councils are being forced to remove an abandoned car every 30 minutes, according to a new investigation.
The freedom of information request, conducted by Confused.com, reveals that the number of cars abandoned on the roadside has increased six-fold in the last four years.
Although councils spent almost £1m removing 32,000 cars in 2016 and 2017, they only issued £116,000 in fines over the same period. According to the data, councils were also responsible for destroying 20,551 of the seized vehicles.
The scrapyard map from Confused.com reveals that councils in the South East removed the most unwanted vehicles throughout 2016 and 2017 by taking care of 6,264 vehicles.
Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said: 'The rising cost of fuel, car insurance and tax is overwhelming some motorists, causing some of them to ditch their vehicles when they breakdown.
'Our interactive map shows just how much of an issue this has become across Britain, as councils spend hundreds of thousands of pounds every year removing unwanted cars from the roadside.'
