DfT: WE WON’T SAVE SCRAPPAGE CLASSICS
As a petition seeking exemption for historic vehicle scrappage is dismissed by the Government, we ask manufacturers if they will remove cars voluntarily
The Government has ruled out preventing historic vehicles from being consigned to scrappage schemes – despite more than 14,000 classic fans calling for it to be made illegal.
The Department for Transport (DfT) argument is that it is independent of manufacturer-led initiatives; it did, however, confirm that the Government had no current plans to reintroduce a national scrappage scheme backed by Whitehall.
The same week, footage emerged of the latter’s disposal sites, still full to the brim with classics traded in when that scheme ended in 2009.
The DfT said in a statement: ‘It is for the manufacturers to choose how to dispose of the older vehicles.
‘While we have been clear that we want to see these older vehicles scrapped in order to improve air quality, where a manufacturer receives a vehicle with historic value they are able to choose to preserve it.’
Danny Hopkins, who founded the CCW- backed petition and is editor of CCW’s sister magazine, Practical Classics, says: ‘As I expected, the DfT passes the responsibility of managing scrappage back to manufacturers.
‘It will not make happy reading for enthusiasts of older cars.’ ‘It also confirms however, that it is the manufacturer’s choice whether to scrap or not; all current scrappage schemes are not voluntary so not statutory. It’s good to have that in black and white, at least.’
CCW is now asking all car manufacturers whether they will consider exempting historic vehicles from their scrappage schemes voluntarily. So far Vauxhall, Ford and Toyota have confirmed that historic vehicles would be taken out of any scrappage trade-in initiatives they chose to run; all said they would work with their dealerships, scrap metal processor Autogreen and clubs to prevent classics from being scrapped.
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs gave the petition a mixed reception, but supports manufacturers exempting classics from any scrappage schemes voluntarily.
Communications director, Geoff Lancaster, said: ‘We felt uncomfortable about calling for legislation to constrain owners of historic vehicles when our central philosophy is all about protecting freedoms.
‘We would prefer that manufacturers make provision for preserving historic vehicles in their scrappage plans, much as have Vauxhall has and latterly, after much persuasion, Ford.’