The number of old cars abandoned on Britain's streets has fallen with the rising costs of recyclable metal.

Scrap merchants would have charged £30 to £50 to take away your rusty old motor once it had failed its MoT only a few years ago. Now carbreakers and scrapyards will pay up to £200 for an old banger, because of the price of steel, aluminium and copper found in the body, wheels and wiring. Cars with reusable parts will fetch much more.

A survey from the Local Government Association published yesterday shows that on average councils had to move 800 abandoned cars every day in 2003 - but this year the number has fallen to 225. The annual number of dumped cars has dropped from 290,000 to 71,000 as recyclers employ more sophisticated techniques to get the most valuable elements from a car.

Recycling companies are exporting steel to Spain and Turkey for £150 to £200 a tonne, aluminium to China for up to £1,200 a tonne and copper to China, India and the United States for £3,000 a tonne.

Aluminium now makes up a greater proportion of cars, particularly in wheels, and about 90 per cent of this is recoverable. By the end of next year each car in Europe is expected to contain about 150kg (331lb) of aluminium, up from 99kg in 1999.

Bob Dunn, of Cars4scrap.com, said: "“Just four years ago steel was selling at only £3 a tonne. A scrap merchant would have charged £50 to take it away. So most people would have just taken the numberplates off and stuck their car down a back street.”

Now, companies are paying £115 for a 1985 Volvo 360, £74 for an old Nissan Micra and more than £150 for a Land Rover or Rover 800.

Council leaders said that the sharp reduction was also explained by authorities taking tough action against those who abandoned cars. New rules had been introduced.

Councillor Paul Bettison, chairman of the environment board at the Local Government Association, said that councils were now trying to clear abandoned cars in a minimum of 24 hours. “A triple whammy of cracking down on would-be dumpers, quicker clearing-up by councils and soaring metal prices are helping to win the battle against unsightly old bangers being left on our streets,” said Mr Bettison said.

“A few years ago, you'd have had to pay someone to take your old car away but now, scrap metal dealers will pay you up to £1,000 for the pleasure. This has helped the situation but councils are also playing an important role. They've listened to the concerns of local people and reacted accordingly.”

Michael Campbell, of ASM Metal Recycling, said that he would pay about £110 a tonne if someone brought a car in and would sell it on for about £130 to £140 a tonne after it was stripped of tyres. The average car weighs about one tonne but only 75 per cent of it can be used for scrap metal.

Graeme Carus, of European Metal Recycling, said scrap metal had been a lucrative business over the past four years although in the past month the price of metals had dipped slightly and it was a very volatile market.

Mr Carus said that once the vehicles had been sent from the scrap merchant to EMR, one of the biggest recyclers in the country, the bodies would be shredded into fist-sized bits of metal.

Then the bits of fabric from seats and carpet would be removed from the metal before it was put on a conveyor belt. A magnet would then pick up the steel, leaving other metals such as aluminium, copper and platinum, which would be sorted before being sold on separately.

Scrap offers

Nissan Micra £74

Toyota MR2 £99

Volvo 440 £117

Ford Granada £150

Rover 800 £155

Land Rover 90 £160

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