Hemel Hempstead · East of England
Hemel Hempstead was planned as a new town of separate neighbourhoods, and free collection reaches every one of them, from Gadebridge and Grovehill to Leverstock Green and Apsley.
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Start with the registration and the postcode where the car is.
Hemel Hempstead was designated a new town in February 1947, one of the ring of towns meant to take homes and jobs out of post-war London. Planners laid it out as a set of neighbourhoods, each with its own shops and schools, spread over the valleys of the Gade and the Bulbourne and joined by distributor roads and roundabouts.
That layout shapes how a collection goes. If your car is in a garage block, a parking court or a shared bay behind the houses rather than on the road, say so when the buyer calls, along with anything that might slow the loading. The rest begins online with the registration and an HP1, HP2 or HP3 postcode, and the buyer covering that district comes back with an offer, usually within about an hour.
Anyone who drives in Hemel knows the Plough Roundabout, opened in 1973, where traffic circulates both ways around a ring of mini-roundabouts on the edge of the town centre. It is a fair test of nerve in a car with failing brakes or a warning light that will not go out.
Longer journeys usually leave by the A41, which bypasses the town to the south, or by junction 8 of the M1 on the eastern side. Berkhamsted, Tring, Kings Langley and Bovingdon are all within reach for collection.
Parts of Hemel are older than the new town. The Old Town at the top of the High Street and the Victorian streets of Boxmoor near the station are tighter than the planned estates, so a few words about access help the collector.
The Maylands area on the east side is Hemel’s main business district. It includes the Buncefield oil terminal, where an explosion in December 2005 badly damaged the surrounding industrial estate. Company cars and vans from Maylands follow the same steps as a private car: an offer, an agreed time, and a licensed collector who is a registered waste carrier. Check any site access rules with the buyer beforehand.
Hemel Hempstead at a glance
Neighbourhoods
How it works
Four stages take an unwanted car from your drive to a new life as recycled material. Here’s what happens at each one.
Enter the registration and the postcode where the car is parked. The details go to a licensed buyer who covers that area, and they come back with an offer.
Agree the offer and pick a day. The car is collected free of charge from a drive, a street, a car park or a garage, wherever it happens to be.
The car goes to an Authorised Treatment Facility, where fluids, the battery and hazardous parts are removed safely and the paperwork is completed.
Reusable parts are recovered, and the shell is shredded so the steel, aluminium and other materials can be made into something new.
Questions
Straight answers to what people ask before scrapping a car.
Can’t see your question? Read every answer or call 0800 058 8087.
Dacorum Borough Council deals with abandoned vehicles on public land in the town. If the car is yours, scrapping it through an Authorised Treatment Facility avoids the council removing it and charging you for removal and storage.
Yes. Bovingdon is in the HP3 district with Apsley, Felden and Leverstock Green. Use the Bovingdon postcode in the form, and the buyer who covers HP3 will contact you.
No. Collection is free wherever the car is in the UK, there are no admin or hidden fees, and turning down an offer costs nothing.
No. Since the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, scrap metal dealers in England and Wales can't pay cash for scrap vehicles. Payment is made by bank transfer or another traceable method.
Get an offer from a licensed local buyer in minutes, with free collection whenever suits you.