Berkshire · city guide
Reading is Berkshire’s largest town and a place where many people own a car they barely use, thanks to its rail links. If yours has become more cost than convenience, here is the local way to let it go.
Free collection
Start with the registration and the postcode where the car is parked.
Reading Borough Council covers the town itself, including Caversham north of the Thames and Tilehurst to the west. Some suburbs that feel like Reading, such as Earley and Woodley, are actually in Wokingham borough, which matters when you contact a council about parking.
The Inner Distribution Road loops around the town centre, the A33 runs south to junction 11 of the M4, and the A4 crosses the town from east to west. Much of central Reading is terraced, with residents’ parking schemes common close to the centre and the station.
Reading Borough Council for most of the town; Wokingham Borough Council for Earley and Woodley; West Berkshire Council for parts of Tilehurst and Calcot.
On terraced streets near the centre, suggest a side road or a space where a recovery truck can stop for a few minutes.
Registration and postcode are enough to start.
Tell the DVLA online, then cancel the residents' permit with the right council.
Caversham and Emmer Green sit on the hill north of the Thames, linked to the town by Caversham and Reading bridges. Both get congested at peak times, so a collection mid-morning or early afternoon is usually quickest.
West and east of the centre, the streets off the Oxford Road and around Newtown and Katesgrove are long Victorian terraces with cars on both sides. Here the most useful thing you can give the driver is the nearest junction or wider street where they can pull in for a few minutes.
Three M4 junctions serve the town: junction 10 to the east via the A329(M), junction 11 to the south via the A33, and junction 12 to the west near Theale. Collections from the southern business parks and from Tilehurst and Calcot usually come in from junction 11 or 12, which keeps waiting times short.
Reading at a glance
Questions
Answers specific to scrapping a car here.
Reading Borough Council for the town; neighbouring councils for suburbs outside the borough boundary.
No. Reading has no charging zone for private cars.
Start with the registration and postcode. A licensed buyer covering your area comes back with an offer, and collection is free.