Scrap metal dealers

A scrap metal dealer is defined in the 2013 Act as a person who:

• carries on a business which consists wholly or partly in buying or selling scrap metal
• carries on business as a motor salvage operator

If you were registered under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 or as a motor salvage operator under the Vehicles (Crime) Act 2001, your registration will have lapsed as of 16 October 2013.   

Trading without a licence is a criminal offence for which you can be fined up to £5000 on conviction in a magistrates' court. A conviction may also prevent you from being granted a licence in future.

Types of licence

There are two types of licence specified in the Act:

Site licence
A site licence lets you buy and sell scrap metal from a fixed location. All the sites where a licensee carries on business as a scrap metal dealer have to be identified, and a site manager has to be named for each site. 

Collector's licence
This allows the licensee to operate as a collector. It does not allow the collector to operate in any other local authority area, so a separate licence has to be obtained from each council the collector wishes to operate in. The licence does not authorise the licensee to operate a site; to do so they will need a site licence from the relevant local authority.

You may only apply for ONE type of licence within the Borough, but you can apply to run multiple sites under one site licence.  For instance, you could apply to run three sites in the Borough, and also apply to be a collector in another authority's area.

Download an application for a scrap metal licence.

The fees are listed in the table below.