Car Burnings on the Increase!
Monday 5th November, 2012
Since the end of the government car scrappage scheme, the Dublin Fire Brigade has noticed an increase in the number of cars being set alight, an officer has said.
Greg O’Dwyer, third officer with the fire brigade, said a number of vehicles had been set alight and others driven into bonfires during the course of the night, one of “the usual busy Halloween nights that we’ve come to expect”.
Revellers drove cars into bonfires in Finglas, Ballyfermot and Tallaght, while other vehicles were set alight across Dublin.
This practice had been “very common” a few years ago but had “died off a bit” recently. Mr O’Dwyer said.
Typically “a few lads would get together and put in €10 or €50” to buy a cheap car that was due to be scrapped. The youths would joyride this “company car” before abandoning it, burning it out, or, frequently at Halloween, driving it into a bonfire.
Mr O’Dwyer said the practice almost “completely died off” following the introduction of the government scrappage scheme in 2009, which offered drivers a discount of up to €1,500 on a new car if they traded in a vehicle aged 10 years or over.
The scheme came to an end in 2011 and since then, Mr O’Dwyer said, the fire brigade has noticed an increase in the number of car fires.
An official from Dublin City Council said it had recently received a high volume of calls about abandoned vehicles.
“We always would have got a lot of calls but it did seem to increase since the end of scrappage.”
(source irish times .com)
