The Irish Times reports today that Local authorities in Dublin have removed about 5,000 unauthorised ‘Cash for Cars’ signs over the past year and a half. In an article written by Dan Griffin it is disclosed that thousands of signs advertising ‘Cash for Cars’ and waste collection services which have been placed on traffic signals, public lighting poles and other street furniture throughout Dublin since mid-2012, have been targeted as they breach litter regulations.

A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said the local authority is “removing these signs on a continuous basis” and puts the number of signs taken down by the council’s litter wardens at approximately 1,500.Dublin City Council said it is also passes the phone numbers that appear on the signs to the Gardaí, with whom they have been liaising about disconnecting the numbers.

Fingal County Council said there had been a “proliferation” of the signs in its administrative area and its litter wardens have so far removed over 1,000 of them.

“Fingal County Council, has made every effort to trace the people who erect these signs in an effort to secure convictions under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, including contacting the mobile phone numbers on the signs,” the council said. “To date, all of these numbers relate to unregistered and untraceable mobile phones.”

Dun Laoighaire/Rathdown County Council also puts the number of signs removed “in the region of 1,000”. A council spokeswoman said “cross departmental resourcing has been provided by the transportation and environment departments to stop this illegal practice, however, the problem persists.”

A spokeswoman for South Dublin County Council said they had taken down a similar number of signs. “It’s something that you see everywhere so we’re dealing with it as best we can,” she said.

(Reproduced from The Irish Times)