Akureyri car parts dealer granted temporary lot amid ongoing disputes and pollution concerns

The car parts dealer Auto ehf in Akureyri has been granted temporary use of a lot to store car parts. Cars from the company in varying states of disrepair have been appearing all across the town of Akureyri. A lot at Krossanes has now been set aside for the company to use until autumn to sort out its affairs.

The Health Inspection of Northeastern Iceland has suspended daily fines for a car parts dealer that has left broken cars scattered across Akureyri. The chairman of the committee believes the situation is improving. “Today, this company, Auto, has been granted temporary use of a lot until autumn. The lot is in Krossanes and some cars have been moved there,” says Leifur Þorkelsson, CEO of the Health Inspection of Northeastern Iceland.

In May, he stated that hardly a day went by without complaints about the company’s poor handling, either due to car parts in the town of Akureyri, on their industrial lot on Svalbard coast, or at a private lot in a residential area in Akureyri, where dozens of cars had been collected. Some of these cars are in very poor condition.

More than two million in unpaid daily fines are now owed because of the aforementioned lot. However, the committee has suspended them since the company seems to be addressing the car fleet issue. It is temporarily allowed to move cars to the lot in Krossanes, before they are recycled or disposed of properly. Leifur says they will monitor the progress this summer and the issue is not yet resolved.

Disputes between the municipalities near Eyjafjörð and the company have a long history, and court orders have previously been required to remove cars and improve handling and pollution prevention. The company has been asked 150 times to remove car parts, and twenty cars have been removed. The committee is considering raising the daily fines.