Abandoned cars on Witham housing estates are ''an accident waiting to happen'', it was claimed this week.

An appeal to people to stop dumping the vehicles was made this week by Witham's deputy mayor, Cllr Paul Health.

"With the school holidays currently under way and youngsters out playing more these wrecks are dangerous and an accident waiting to happen," he warned.

"Once one vehicle is dumped, others follow and the situation worsens. Windows are broken, the vehicle is used as a skip and filled with rubbish and there is the real risk of fire," he said.

Moving the wrecks is costing the town's taxpayers thousands of pounds a year.

Each car costs Braintree Council £30 to remove. Across the district up to 50 cars have to be removed every month -- creating a bill for residents of £18,000 a year.

Phil Barlow, Witham councillor and lead member of Braintree Council's economic development group, said: "Dumping cars is a really antisocial thing to do. It creates an eyesore, is environmentally unfriendly and dangerous.

"It is also socially unacceptable as leaving rubbish to be cleared by the council means that everyone is having to pick up a share of the bill.

"As a council we would appeal to people to take responsibility for disposing of the vehicles properly. We have only praise for Braintree Council's policy in getting to grips in a very robust way with what has been a real issue in the town."

Lee Crabb, Braintree Council's environmental protection manager, said problems arise when the last registered owner is not the current owner.

Removing cars can take from 10 days to a month to comply with legal notices that have to be served.

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