Online vehicle remarketing and recycling specialist Copart UK has secured final planning permission for a new site in East Kilbride, which will double its operational capabilities in Scotland.

East Kilbride is a strategic location close to Glasgow with good transport links, which gives Copart and its customers a significant northern hub

The plans were first announced last year and the finalisation of the deal means work can now start on the Operation Centre near Glasgow, which will provide annual storage capacity for more than 49,000 vehicles.

Expected to be fully operational in 2023, the site will support Copart’s continued growth in Scotland alongside its existing Operation Centre in Whitburn and Recycling Centre in Inverkeithing. It will also increase the geographical reach of the firm’s surge management services, in response to an increasing number of extreme weather events in Scotland.

It forms part of Copart’s growth and investment programme to meet continued demand from customers, including most of the UK’s major insurance companies and thousands of nationwide automotive customers.

Other announcements from Copart over the past year include a major new customer service centre in Bedford, the quadrupling in size of its Bristol Operation Centre, and a new 68-acre UK ‘Super Centre’ in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Phil Briggs, Copart UK’s director of operation centres, transport & engineering, said: “We’re passionate about continuously growing and improving our services to customers, so we’re very excited to secure final planning permission for our new Operation Centre in East Kilbride.

“Alongside our existing 30-acre site in Whitburn, it offers the potential for Copart to handle around 100,000 cars per year across Scotland, doubling our operational capabilities in this part of the UK. With extreme weather events increasing in Scotland, the provision of latent storage capacity is more important than ever.”