Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Respect the Highlands and stop dumping your cars’

David McGrath
David McGrath

 

A community leader is urging people to respect the Highlands by not dumping vehicles across the region.

He claims to have unearthed several dozen within a few miles of his home on the east side of Inverness.

Smithton and Culloden Community Council chairman David McGrath warned of an escalation of such fly-tipping because of an apparent slump in scrap value and the subsequent cost of uplifting vehicles.

Police responded immediately to his complaint earlier this week when raised by the Press and Journal, visiting several locations he had highlighted.

Mr McGrath cited “about 20” abandoned vehicles locally, within a short walk from his home including MacDonald Court, MacLean Court and around the Stratton lane.

“They’re out of tax, out of MOT. They’ve been there for a while and they’re not going anywhere,” he said.

“It’s apalling. Nobody wants to take ownership of the problem.

“They’re all trying to avoid it because they’d have to pay to get these things uplifted if they can’t trace the owner and force the owner to pay.

“They’re on a public road, so the owners are breaking the law but you notify the police about these things and they say it’s the council’s responsibility to pick up abandoned cars.”

He claimed the problem had escalated in recent months because the value of scrap had “crashed.”

Mr McGrath said he had also contacted the new council-run parking warden service but was told it was not a matter for them.

Local police officers were quick to respond but questioned the scale of the problem.

Unless a vehicle is considered hazardous, for example excessively damaged or causing an obstruction, it is not considered a police matter.

One vehicle appeared to have been deserted for some time on a patch of grass at Stratton Road but was not deemed to be causing an obstruction.

An officer will pass the details to Highland Council to decide whether to pursue it as the grass is on council land.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “Officers from community beats responded to the concerns by carrying out vehicle inspections where deemed necessary. Details of vehicles will be shared with the local authority for follow-up.

“Officers will continue to advise anyone with concerns about abandoned vehicles to contact the local authority or if the vehicle is considered dangerous to contact the police on 101.”