A crackdown on abandoned vehicles in the Braintree and Witham areas has led to a dramatic drop in the number of cars cluttering up the roadside.
But council chiefs say they are still facing problems dealing with false reports of abandoned vehicles.
Tough Government targets and a database link to the DVLA, announced last autumn, have allowed the council to remove abandoned and wrecked cars much quicker then before.
Peter Tattersley, head of environmental services, said: "The number of abandoned cars has been pretty steady over the year, but the speed at which we can deal with them has improved and we are happy that the new systems are working well. It's been a real breakthrough.
"We get a lot of calls from the public about abandoned cars, between July and September there were 410 reports but only 172 of those were actually abandoned.
"We can now sort out those we can deal with from those which we can't in a matter of hours."
The ambitious targets pledge that all cars dumped on major routes like the A12, A120 and A131 should be removed within 48 hours of locating and marking them.
Vehicles of no value which are burnt out, badly damaged or with three or more major parts missing should be moved within five days, vehicles dumped on public land within 10 days and those on private land within 21 days.
Mr Tattersley said the biggest problem the department now faces is dealing with false reports of abandoned cars.
He said the reason for so many abandoned cars is almost certainly due to the costs in the processing of defunct vehicles.
Published Wednesday, January 8, 2003
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