Newcastle upon Tyne · North East
Newcastle’s Clean Air Zone sits on the bridges over the Tyne, and its streets of Tyneside flats make kerbside parking the norm. Both affect how a scrap car is collected.
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Start with the registration and the postcode where the car is.
Ask anyone in Newcastle about traffic and the talk turns to the river. The Tyne Bridge, Swing Bridge, High Level and Redheugh bridges funnel cars between the city and Gateshead, while the A167(M) Central Motorway cuts north to south past the universities. The A1 Western Bypass skirts the city, and to the east the A19 passes beneath the river through the Tyne Tunnel.
The housing has its own character. Heaton, Benwell, Elswick and Arthur’s Hill are known for Tyneside flats: terraces built with one home upstairs and another below, each with its own front door. Two households often share a single stretch of kerb. In Jesmond and Sandyford, student lets change hands every summer, and a car is sometimes left with no clear owner nearby.
Charging began in January 2023 under a joint Newcastle and Gateshead scheme covering most of the city centre plus the routes over the Tyne, Swing, High Level and Redheugh bridges. It is a Class C zone: cars and motorbikes in private use are exempt, while older taxis, vans, buses, coaches and HGVs below the national standard are charged.
Anyone running an older diesel van across the river for work should bear that in mind. For an ordinary car, a failed MOT or a Cat S or Cat N write-off is the more likely trigger.
Start with the registration, then add the postcode, for example NE6 for Byker or NE3 for Gosforth. A Tyneside buyer holding the right licences comes back with an offer. Accept it and the car is taken away free, at a time that suits you, then recycled by an ATF.
Newcastle upon Tyne 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.
Yes. Say which door the car is nearest and whether permit bays apply; that is all the crew needs.
Yes. Gateshead, Wallsend, North Shields and Whitley Bay get the same free collection.
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.