North West Regional Minister Phil Woolas has told local MP Gordon Prentice the that the Chancellor’s car scrappage scheme has been a success in the North West.

The region has had one of the highest take-up rates in the country, with nearly 30,000 North West orders for new vehicles under the scheme by the start of January—over five and a half thousand of them in Lancashire.

The MP said "I'm pleased to see that the scheme has been taken up by so many people, and I would urge people who are still keen on taking part to get their orders in as soon as possible, as time is running out.

"The scrappage scheme, which discounts the price of a new car by £2,000 if you trade-in a qualifying old one, has received an additional £100 million funding, but the current estimate is that it will end by 20th February 2010."

"Speaking to local car dealers I am told that up to 50% of all new car sales are cashing in on the scheme. This is good news for manufacturers, dealers and customers."

Note to Editors: The £2,000 car scrappage scheme grant is made up of £1,000 from Government with matched funding from vehicle manufacturers.  In October 2009 the new terms of the scrappage scheme were introduced:

- An extra £100 million extended the scheme’s budget to £400 million. 

- Van owners looking to trade in their vehicles were able to scrap their eight-year-old van, instead of the previous 10-year requirement.