Scrap My Car in East London
Free collection from any address across the E, IG and RM postcodes, in any condition including non-runners, vans and 4x4s. The paperwork is handled, DVLA is notified and you get a Certificate of Destruction.
- Free collection
- Any condition
- CoD issued
- DVLA notified
CityGrip Recovery collects scrap cars free of charge across East London, covering Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. That is the whole E postcode area, the IG districts and the Dagenham and Rainham end of RM. Vehicles are taken in any condition, including non-runners that have not moved for years, and vans and 4x4s are collected as well as cars. The vehicle goes to an Authorised Treatment Facility permitted by the Environment Agency, the paperwork is handled, DVLA is notified and a Certificate of Destruction is issued. Payment is made by bank transfer, never cash, because paying cash for scrap metal is a criminal offence in England and Wales. Call or WhatsApp 07960 200253 for a fair price, quoted before collection.
Seven boroughs, three postcode areas, one collection round
East London on this page means seven boroughs: Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. The E postcode area covers most of the inner half of that. Tower Hamlets holds E1 and E1W at Whitechapel, Stepney and Wapping, E2 at Bethnal Green, E3 at Bow and Bromley-by-Bow, and E14 at Limehouse, Poplar and the Isle of Dogs. Hackney holds E5 at Clapton, E8 across Dalston and Hackney Central, E9 at Homerton and the Shoreditch side of E2. Newham runs from E6 at East Ham and Beckton through E7 at Forest Gate and Upton Park, E12 at Manor Park, E13 at Plaistow, E15 at Stratford and West Ham, and E16 at Canning Town, Silvertown and the Royal Docks. Waltham Forest is E4 at Chingford and Highams Park, E10 at Leyton, E11 at Leytonstone and E17 at Walthamstow. Redbridge picks up the Wanstead side of E11 along with E12 and E18 at South Woodford and Snaresbrook.
East of that the map switches to IG. IG1, IG2, IG3, IG4, IG5 and IG6 cover Ilford, Gants Hill, Seven Kings, Goodmayes, Barkingside and Hainault, IG8 is Woodford Green and IG11 is Barking. Two IG districts are a common source of confusion: IG9 at Buckhurst Hill and IG10 at Loughton sit in Epping Forest, which is Essex rather than a London borough. We still collect there, it is simply covered by our Essex page rather than this one.
The RM area is split as well. Barking and Dagenham holds RM8, RM9 and RM10 across Dagenham, Becontree Heath and Marks Gate, RM13 at Rainham and part of RM6 at Chadwell Heath, and all of those belong here. RM1 to RM7 and RM11 to RM14 are Havering, covering Romford, Hornchurch, Upminster and Rainham village, and those addresses are handled on our Romford and Havering page. Our own address, 68 Ruckholt Road, Leyton, London E10 5NP, sits inside this area, so an East London job is local work rather than a long run in from outside the North Circular.
Kerbside collection is the normal case here, not the exception
Inner East London was built before mass car ownership. E2, E3, E10 and E11 are dominated by two-up two-down Victorian terraces with no off-street parking and no rear vehicular access, so a driveway collection is unusual rather than standard. That is not a problem: a scrap car is loaded onto a transporter or winched, not driven away, so it does not need to start, steer under power or hold air in its tyres. What matters is that there is a spot where a truck can legally stop long enough to winch it on.
Two things regularly get in the way. The first is parking control. Most East London kerbs are permit bays inside a controlled parking zone, and Hackney in particular operates small-area controlled parking across almost the whole borough. The second is filtered streets. Waltham Forest installed permanent modal filters at scale under its mini-Holland programme, concentrated around Walthamstow Village and Blackhorse, and Hackney has pursued low-traffic neighbourhood coverage with the stated ambition of making around three quarters of the borough access-only to through traffic. A satnav route into E5, E8, E9, E10 or E17 will often try to send a truck through a filter it cannot pass. Telling us the approach road, and agreeing a loading spot, is worth more than giving us the house number.
Some housing stock has its own quirks. The Becontree Estate in Dagenham is the largest municipal housing estate in Europe, roughly 27,000 homes across about 3,000 acres built between 1921 and 1935, and the original semis and terraces on roads like Becontree Avenue, Wood Lane and Halbutt Street have no driveways at all, so everything is parked on-street inside permit bays. At the other end of the age range, E20 around East Village and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a genuinely new district where many addresses are large blocks with gated or underground parking and height barriers. A vehicle in an underground bay needs access arranged with the building manager before the truck arrives, because a car transporter cannot follow you down the ramp.
Red routes, filtered streets and river crossings
The A12 Eastern Avenue, the A13 through Newham Way and Commercial Road, the A406 North Circular and the A11 Mile End Road are all part of the Transport for London Road Network. That network is around 580km of strategic road, roughly 5 per cent of London's road length but carrying more than 30 per cent of its traffic, and it is designated red route throughout. Single and double red lines prohibit stopping, parking and loading, and they are enforced by TfL Civil Enforcement Officers rather than borough wardens. The honest answer, and one worth having before you book, is that a recovery truck cannot legally stop on any of those roads to winch a car. If the vehicle is sitting on a red route it has to be moved into a side street first, and we will tell you that rather than turn up and improvise.
The practical spine for a round through Newham and Redbridge is the A118 Romford Road, which links Bow Interchange to Gallows Corner through Stratford, Forest Gate, Manor Park and Ilford, feeding off the A12 at Bow and the A406 at Ilford. The A124 Barking Road does the same job for Plaistow, East Ham and Barking. Along the A13 and the River Roding, through Canning Town, Silvertown, Beckton, Creekmouth and Barking Riverside, is where East London's licensed vehicle recycling capacity actually sits, rather than in the residential districts where the cars are. That is exactly why collection, not drive-in, is the realistic model for someone in Hackney or Bethnal Green.
River crossings are a real constraint on anything that has to go south. The Rotherhithe Tunnel is restricted to vehicles no more than 2 metres wide, with a height limit of around 2 metres and a 2 tonne gross weight limit for goods vehicles, enforced by cameras and physical width restrictors at the portals, so no car transporter or recovery truck can use it at all. The remaining options are Blackwall, Silvertown or the Woolwich Ferry. The Silvertown Tunnel opened on 7 April 2025 and both it and Blackwall have been charged since that date, at between £1.50 and £10.00 per crossing depending on vehicle type, applying from 06:00 to 22:00 seven days a week in both directions and free between 22:00 and 06:00. Blackwall's northbound bore has a 4.0 metre height limit and the southbound bore 4.7 metres.
Why a licensed collector cannot hand you cash
Searches for scrapping a car for cash in East London are common, and plenty of pages rank for them, but the vocabulary is legally wrong. Section 12 of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 says a scrap metal dealer must not pay for scrap metal except by a cheque which is not transferable under section 81A of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882, or by an electronic transfer of funds. The prohibition came into force on 3 December 2012 as part of a package aimed at metal theft, the point being that a traceable payment makes stolen metal far harder to move. The penalty is a fine at level 5 on the standard scale, and since 12 March 2015, under section 85 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, level 5 fines in England and Wales are unlimited.
This applies to anyone collecting scrap cars, not only to metal yards. Section 21 of the same Act defines scrap metal to include any product, article or assembly made from or containing metal that is broken, worn out or regarded by its last holder as having reached the end of its useful life, and it brings motor salvage operators inside the definition of scrap metal dealer. So the cash ban covers the man with a trailer as much as it covers a licensed site. If a collector offers you notes at the kerb in Ilford or Leyton, that is the single clearest sign that they are not operating lawfully, and it is worth walking away rather than negotiating.
The identity check works the same way. Section 11 says a dealer must not receive scrap metal from a person without verifying that person's full name and address using documents, data or other information obtained from a reliable and independent source. That is why photo ID and proof of address are asked for: it is a statutory duty on the buyer, not an operator being awkward. Section 11(7) also makes it an offence for the person delivering scrap metal to give a false name or a false address, punishable by a fine of up to £1,000, so it cuts both ways.
The log book, the DVLA notification and the Certificate of Destruction
GOV.UK is direct about the first step: when a vehicle has reached the end of its usefulness you must get it scrapped at an Authorised Treatment Facility, which is a site holding an environmental permit. Only an ATF can lawfully depollute and destroy an end-of-life vehicle, and only an ATF can issue a Certificate of Destruction. You hand your V5C log book to the ATF and keep the yellow section headed sell, transfer or part-exchange your vehicle to the motor trade. Keep that slip. Never let a collector take the whole document away without leaving it with you, because it is your record that the vehicle went to the trade on a particular date.
One part of this is genuinely your job and nobody can do it for you. The registered keeper must tell DVLA the vehicle has gone to an ATF, and GOV.UK states plainly that you can be fined £1,000 if you do not. The ATF also notifies DVLA electronically. Both happening is normal and is not duplication, because the two records serve different purposes, so do not skip your own notification on the basis that the yard has done it. If you no longer have the V5C you can still scrap the car, but you must write to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA with the registration number, make and model, the exact date of transfer and the name and address of the trader. Until DVLA processes that, you remain the registered keeper on record, along with everything that attaches to it.
The Certificate of Destruction is a statutory document, not a courtesy receipt. Regulation 27 of the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 requires an ATF, when it accepts delivery of an end-of-life vehicle for treatment, to issue a certificate of destruction to the last holder or owner, and regulation 29 requires it to contain at least the information listed in Schedule 3. Regulation 28 is the one that stops you being charged: an ATF shall not impose any charge on the last holder or owner. GOV.UK notes the single exception, which is that a fee can be charged where essential parts such as the engine, gearbox, bodywork or wheels have already been removed. Contravening those regulations is a criminal offence under regulations 31 and 32, carrying a fine up to level 3, which is £1,000. Certificates of Destruction are issued for cars and light vans; heavier vehicles are handled differently. Our scrap car collection and car recycling service page sets out the full legal process and what physically happens to the vehicle afterwards, from depollution and battery and fluid removal through parts recovery to shredding.
What decides what your car is worth in East London
A scrap value is not a fixed number and anyone quoting you a standard figure sight unseen is guessing. Four things move it: the kerb weight of the vehicle, the current market rate for the metal, whether the catalytic converter is present and intact, and whether anything on the car is worth recovering as a reusable part. Distance to a licensed facility comes into it too, which in practice works in East London's favour given where the recycling capacity sits along the A13 corridor. Metal rates move week to week on a global market, so we will not publish a rate we cannot stand behind. You get a fair price, quoted before collection, based on the actual vehicle.
Scrapping is not always the right answer, and it is worth saying so. A car with a current MOT that still drives is often worth more as a private sale or a part-exchange than as scrap, and a vehicle with a genuinely valuable single component can be worth more than its weight suggests. Insurance write-off categories matter here as well. Category A and Category B vehicles must be destroyed, with Category B allowing salvageable parts to be reclaimed before the shell is crushed, so those are scrap jobs by definition. Category S means structural damage and Category N means non-structural damage, and both of those can legally be repaired and put back on the road, so a Cat S or Cat N car is not automatically a scrapper.
The other thing pushing East London vehicles off the road is the ULEZ, which has covered the whole of Greater London including all seven of these boroughs since 29 August 2023 at £12.50 a day for non-compliant cars and vans. If you are weighing up an older vehicle against that daily charge, be aware that the TfL scrappage grant scheme which accompanied the expansion closed to new applications after 7 September 2024, having paid out around £186 million to roughly 54,000 applicants. There is no longer a London grant for scrapping a non-compliant vehicle, so ignore any site still implying you can claim one.
Finance, private plates and what to take out of the car first
A car on hire purchase or PCP cannot lawfully be scrapped until the agreement is settled, because the finance company remains the legal owner of the vehicle until the final payment clears. If a finance marker shows on a check, a legitimate operator will stop and tell you rather than take the car anyway. That is protection for you: disposing of an asset you do not own creates a criminal exposure and a credit file problem that far outweighs any scrap value. Ask your finance provider for a settlement figure, clear it, and the job becomes straightforward.
If the vehicle carries a private or retained registration you must take the number off before it is scrapped, and this is the trap that catches people out most often. The application uses form V317, costs £80 and produces a V778 retention document valid for ten years. But DVLA's conditions include that the vehicle must be registered in the UK, must be able to move under its own power, must be of a type that needs an MOT or HGV test, must be available for DVLA inspection, and must have been taxed or had a SORN continuously for the past five years. A car that has been sat dead outside a house in Walthamstow for three years generally fails several of those tests at once. Deal with the plate before you book collection, never after, because once the vehicle is scrapped the registration is gone permanently.
Empty the car properly before the truck arrives. Take out personal belongings, paperwork from the glovebox and door pockets, child seats, any aftermarket unit that is itself on finance, and toll or crossing tags such as a Dartford Crossing account transponder. Check the boot and under the seats, because once the vehicle has been depolluted and shredded nothing is coming back. If you have already dealt with a private plate, remove the physical plates as well.
How to check the operator is licensed before you book
You do not have to take anyone's word for this, including ours. GOV.UK runs a free postcode tool at gov.uk/find-vehicle-scrapyard for finding a licensed scrapyard, breaker's yard or dismantler, and the Environment Agency hosts a single national public register of licensed scrap metal dealers, built from data supplied by local authorities. Both are free to search. Check before you hand over a log book, not after.
There are two kinds of licence under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 and the difference matters in East London specifically. Section 2 provides that a site licence authorises business at a site identified in the licence within that authority's area, while a collector's licence authorises business as a mobile collector in that authority's area only. A person may hold licences from several different councils but not more than one from any single council. Because East London is seven separate licensing authorities, an operator genuinely working across the whole area has to be licensed by Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, or be working through licensed sites. Every one of those councils runs its own scrap metal licensing function, and the licences appear on the Environment Agency register.
The practical shortlist before you book anyone: they can name the Authorised Treatment Facility the car is going to, they will issue a Certificate of Destruction, they will not offer you cash, they will ask for photo ID and proof of address, and they will not ask you for a collection fee for a complete vehicle. If any one of those is missing, it is not a legitimate scrap collection. To book with us, call or WhatsApp 07960 200253, any hour of the day or night.
East London scrap car FAQs
Which East London postcodes do you collect scrap cars from?
The whole E postcode area, which covers Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest along with eastern Hackney, the Redbridge districts E11, E12 and E18, and E6 in Barking and Dagenham. That includes E1, E1W, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10, E11, E12, E13, E14, E15, E16, E17, E18 and E20. We also cover the IG districts IG1 to IG6, IG8 and IG11 across Ilford, Gants Hill, Seven Kings, Goodmayes, Barkingside, Hainault, Woodford Green and Barking, plus RM8, RM9, RM10 and RM13 in Dagenham and Rainham and the Chadwell Heath part of RM6.
Is Loughton or Buckhurst Hill covered on this page?
No, and this catches people out because they carry IG postcodes. IG9 at Buckhurst Hill and IG10 at Loughton are in Epping Forest district, which is Essex rather than a London borough. We do collect scrap cars there, it is simply dealt with on our Essex page. The same split applies to Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster: RM1 to RM7 and RM11 to RM14 are Havering and are covered on our Romford and Havering page. If you are unsure which side of the line your address sits on, call 07960 200253 with the postcode and we will tell you straight away.
Will I be paid in cash for my scrap car?
No, and no lawful operator will offer it. Section 12 of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 makes it a criminal offence for a scrap metal dealer to pay for scrap metal in anything other than a non-transferable cheque or an electronic transfer of funds. The ban came into force on 3 December 2012 to make stolen metal traceable, and the penalty is a fine at level 5 on the standard scale, which has been unlimited in England and Wales since 12 March 2015. Payment for your vehicle is made by bank transfer. If a collector offers you cash at the kerb, treat it as proof they are not licensed.
My car is parked on a terraced street in Bow with no driveway. Can you still collect it?
Yes. Street collection is the normal case in inner East London, not the exception. Streets in E2, E3, E10 and E11 are mostly Victorian terraces with no off-street parking and no rear access, so almost every collection there is from the kerb. The car is winched onto a transporter rather than driven, so it does not need to run, steer under power or have working brakes. What helps is telling us the approach road and agreeing a spot where the truck can stop and load, especially where a controlled parking zone or a modal filter affects the street.
The car is on the A12 or the A13. Can it be collected from there?
Not from the red route itself. The A12 Eastern Avenue, the A13 including Newham Way and Commercial Road, the A406 North Circular and the A11 Mile End Road are all on the Transport for London Road Network and are red routes throughout. Single and double red lines ban stopping, parking and loading, and they are enforced by TfL Civil Enforcement Officers. A recovery truck cannot legally stop there to winch a vehicle. The car needs to be moved into a side road first. If it cannot be moved at all, call 07960 200253 and we will work out the safest legal option with you rather than sending a truck to a spot it cannot use.
My car is in an underground car park in E20. Is that a problem?
It needs arranging in advance. E20 around East Village and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is largely newer blocks with gated or underground parking and height barriers, and a car transporter cannot go down a residential ramp. The usual solution is to get the vehicle brought up to street level, or to arrange access and a loading point with the building manager or concierge before the collection is booked. Tell us at the point of booking that the vehicle is in a gated or basement bay, because it changes what equipment turns up rather than whether the job is possible.
Do I need the V5C log book to scrap my car?
It makes everything simpler, but you can scrap a car without it. If you have the V5C, hand it to the Authorised Treatment Facility and keep the yellow section headed sell, transfer or part-exchange your vehicle to the motor trade as your proof of the transfer. If you do not have it, you must notify DVLA in writing yourself, giving the registration number, the make and model, the exact date of transfer and the name and address of the trader, sent to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA. Until DVLA processes that you are still the registered keeper on record. Without a log book, photo ID and proof of address matter even more.
Do I have to tell DVLA myself, or do you do it?
Both happen, and you should not skip your part. The Authorised Treatment Facility notifies DVLA electronically when it accepts the vehicle, and that is how the Certificate of Destruction is registered. Separately, the registered keeper has a legal duty to tell DVLA that the vehicle has been scrapped, and GOV.UK states that you can be fined £1,000 if you do not. The two notifications are not duplication, they serve different records. We handle the paperwork on the collection side and tell you exactly what your own notification needs to say.
What is a Certificate of Destruction and who can issue one?
It is a statutory document proving your vehicle has been permanently destroyed at a permitted site. Under regulation 27 of the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003, an Authorised Treatment Facility must issue a certificate of destruction to the last holder or owner when it accepts an end-of-life vehicle for treatment, and regulation 29 sets out the minimum information it must contain. Only an ATF can issue one, which is why an unlicensed yard or a man with a trailer legally cannot give you one. It ends your keeper liability on the DVLA record. Certificates of Destruction are issued for cars and light vans; heavier vehicles are handled differently.
Should I be charged anything for scrapping a complete car?
No. Regulation 28 of the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 says an Authorised Treatment Facility shall not impose any charge on the last holder or owner. GOV.UK notes one exception: a fee can be charged where essential parts have already been removed, such as the engine, gearbox, bodywork or wheels. Contravening regulation 28 is a criminal offence under regulations 31 and 32, punishable by a fine up to level 3, which is £1,000. Our collection across East London is free, and you are quoted a fair price for the vehicle before we come out.
Can I scrap a car that still has finance on it?
Not until the agreement is settled. On hire purchase or PCP the finance company remains the legal owner of the vehicle until the final payment has cleared, so the car is not yours to dispose of. Ask your finance provider for a settlement figure, clear it, and the vehicle becomes yours to scrap. If a finance marker shows on a check, a legitimate operator will stop the job and tell you rather than take the car regardless. That is in your interest: scrapping a financed vehicle creates both a criminal exposure and a credit file problem worth far more than the scrap value.
My car has no MOT, no tax, or is on SORN. Does that stop the collection?
None of those stop a scrap collection. A vehicle that is being kept off the public road should have a SORN declared, and an untaxed vehicle should not be sitting on a public road at all, but neither affects whether it can be collected and scrapped. Timing does interact with your tax refund: DVLA cancels the tax and calculates any refund from the date it receives the information, so the sooner the notification goes in after collection, the better. Call 07960 200253 with the registration and we can arrange collection whatever the vehicle's tax or MOT status.
Do I get my road tax back when I scrap the car?
Yes, once DVLA has been told. GOV.UK confirms you automatically get a refund cheque for any full months left on the vehicle tax. Only complete remaining months are refunded, part months are not, and the calculation runs from the date DVLA receives the notification rather than the date the car left your street. The cheque is issued to the name and address shown on the log book, so if you have moved, update that before scrapping or the cheque follows you to the wrong address. Allow up to eight weeks. Any Direct Debit is cancelled automatically, so you do not need to contact your bank.
Can I keep my private number plate when the car is scrapped?
Only if you take it off before the vehicle goes, and only if the vehicle qualifies. The application uses form V317, costs £80 and produces a V778 retention document valid for ten years. DVLA requires that the vehicle is registered in the UK, is able to move under its own power, is of a type needing an MOT or HGV test, is available for inspection by DVLA, and has been taxed or had a SORN continuously for the past five years. That means a long-standing non-runner usually cannot have its plate retained. Do this before booking collection, because once the vehicle is scrapped the registration is gone permanently.
The car has not started for years and the battery is flat. Is it still collectable?
Yes. Most East London scrap collections are non-runners, and vehicles are taken in any condition. A flat or missing battery, a seized engine, no wheels, flat tyres, seized brakes, fire damage, flood damage and vehicles that have not moved since before the ULEZ expansion are all normal work. The car goes onto a transporter or is winched, so it does not need to start or roll under its own power. If it is boxed in tightly on a narrow terraced street or inside a filtered area, tell us when you book so the right equipment and an achievable loading spot are sorted in advance.
I have lost the keys. Can the car still be scrapped?
Yes, collection is still possible without keys. Keys make on-site handling easier, mainly for releasing a steering lock or a handbrake and getting the vehicle to roll, so mention it at booking rather than on the day. Where there is no V5C log book, keys carry more weight as supporting evidence that the vehicle is genuinely yours to dispose of, alongside the photo ID and proof of address that the buyer is required by law to verify. If you have neither the keys nor the log book, call 07960 200253 and we will tell you exactly what else is needed.
There is an abandoned car outside my house in Dagenham that is not mine. Can you take it away?
No, and nobody legitimate can. A vehicle that is not yours cannot be scrapped by you or by us, whatever state it is in or how long it has sat there. Report it to the borough, because each East London council runs its own abandoned vehicle reporting route and councils have a duty to remove abandoned vehicles from the highway. Abandoning a vehicle is a criminal offence rather than a parking matter: section 2 of the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 carries a fine up to £2,500, with imprisonment of up to three months available on a second or subsequent conviction. A vehicle that is merely untaxed rather than abandoned is reported to DVLA instead.
Do you collect vans and 4x4s as well as cars?
Yes. Vans and 4x4s are collected on the same free collection basis as cars, in any condition including non-runners, right across the E, IG and RM postcodes in East London. Certificates of Destruction are issued for cars and light vans, with heavier vehicles handled differently, so tell us what the vehicle actually is when you call. Give us the registration, the postcode and a note of where it is parked, whether that is a permit bay, a shared estate car park or a gated block, and you will get a fair price, quoted before collection.
Updated August 2026. Lines open 24 hours. Call 07960 200253.
Book a free scrap car collection anywhere in East London
Call or WhatsApp 07960 200253 with your registration, your postcode and where the vehicle is parked. Free collection across the E, IG and RM postcodes, any condition including non-runners, a fair price quoted before collection, payment by bank transfer and a Certificate of Destruction from a licensed Authorised Treatment Facility.