THE Government has unveiled a raft of measures intended to eradicate the blight of rusting, wrecked and burnt-out abandoned cars that is spreading throughout the UK.

An estimated 350,000 cars were dumped on Britain's streets last year. In response, the Government wants to give local councils the power to remove them within 24 hours and crush them a week later.

Local authorities will also be able to clamp and remove unlicensed vehicles, and vehicle registration procedures will be tightened to allow dumpers to be tracked down and prosecuted.

At present, councils have to wait a week before removing cars with no value, three weeks for vehicles deemed worth selling. Critics claim this delay creates a danger on the streets as vandals smash the car up, or arsonists set fire to it. Children are also often attracted to abandoned cars as somewhere to play.

The problem has been exacerbated by the price of scrap metal plummeting, which has seen owners of cars having to find dealers willing to take old bangers off their hands.