Abandoned Vehicles

Council has received many complements in the past couple of weeks from visitors to the area advising of the tidiness of the community, congratulations to everyone who assists and takes pride in the community.

One of the unsightly areas that requires attention is the matter of abandoned vehicles. Abandoned vehicles are unsightly and dangerous, look untidy and can encourage vandalism and arson endangering property, lives and the environment.

A fact sheet has been developed in relation to “Abandoned Vehicles” and can be found on the Councils website.

Council wishes to clear the footpaths and streets of vehicles that meet the criteria of abandoned. The process that Council will undertake is as follows: -

• Identify the abandoned vehicle and contact the owner (if known)
• Placing a sticker on the abandoned vehicle
• Within two weeks (14 days) of placing the sticker – tow the vehicle to an impound yard
• Hold in the impound yard and carry out an inspection of the vehicle
• Identified owners may recover abandoned vehicle from the impound, by proving ownership, details of where the vehicle is to be stored and pays the cost associated with towing etc.
• Advertise the abandoned vehicles for disposal (by auction)
• Vehicles that are not sold at auction will be crushed with other scrap metal at the landfill
• Proceeds from sale or disposal will be applied to the costs of impoundment, advertising and auction.

Mayor Jack Bawden said, “there are many vehicles on footpaths and in the streets that would meet the criteria of abandoned and Council will commence the clean up of the abandoned vehicles in the coming months.”

“If you have a vehicle on the footpath or parked on the streets that you wish to retain, it needs to be stored properly within your property and in a manner so as not to create a further nuisance” he said.

Identified owners of vehicles that meet the criteria of abandoned are advised to remove from the streets and footpaths and store appropriately before this process is commenced to avoid additional cost.

Council anticipates that the metal recyclers will be visiting Carpentaria Shire Council area soon to collect the scrap metal from the landfill. If residents wished to obtain some funds from vehicles that are currently stored or abandoned on the streets and footpaths they are encouraged to contact the recyclers and make any possible arrangement to do so as a matter of urgency.