Hundreds of cars are being dumped the by the side of Bradford roads every year, putting a sizeable dent in council and emergency service resources.

In the past year alone, traffic wardens issued notices on around 1,660 abandoned cars, warning the owners they will be towed away in seven days if they were not moved.

Almost 1,000 were were removed when the owners failed to respond, according to Bradford Council figures.

Scrapyards have blamed the problem on the plummeting price of metal, saying it discouraged people from disposing of them properly.

Amir Shiraz, from AS Auto Spares, said: "There was a time when people were paid to bring in their scrap cars. Now they are not."

He said his own firm could expect to earn around £5 per car after costs such as towing and tyre disposal had been accounted for.

"There are so many old cars on the road. People will pay £50 for them and when the MOT or tax runs out it is not worth them replacing it. They just leave them by the side of the road and if it gets clamped, they will not want to pay the fine to free it."

Bradford Council said it was an expensive problem for its cleansing department.

A spokesman said: "It costs £60 to remove an abandoned vehicle, including officer time. If the vehicles are in a poor condition they are taken directly to the scrapyard, if not we take them to the council's compound where they are kept for three months before being disposed of."

The situation also causes a major headache for West Yorkshire Fire Service. A spokesman said: "Last year we dealt with 4,000 car fires around the county. While some of these were legitimate cases and others stolen cars which had been burned, some will have been dumped cars which were set alight."

The news came after the release of an RAC Foundation study which examined cases of car dumping in 50 local authorities. It concluded that the falling price of cars and a slump in the price of scrap meant many motorists abandoned vehicles when they broke down.