Copart to double operational capabilities in Scotland

Online vehicle remarketing and recycling company Copart UK has secured final planning permission for a 31-acre site in East Kilbride that will double its operational capabilities in Scotland.

Originally announced last year, works can now commence for the new operation centre near Glasgow, which will support Copart’s continued growth in Scotland alongside its existing facilities in Whitburn and Inverkeithing.

Copart anticipates the operation centre in East Kilbride to be fully operational in 2023.

This expansion in Scotland is part of Copart’s growth and investment programme to meet continued demand from customers, including major insurance companies and thousands of nationwide automotive customers.

The company’s reinvestment strategy combines a programme of land acquisition with continuous improvement at existing sites and reinvestment in transport, services, and technology.

East Kilbride is a strategic location close to Glasgow with good transport links, which gives Copart and its customers a significant northern hub. The provision of further storage capacity and scale will also increase the geographical reach of its surge management services, in response to an increasing number of extreme weather events in Scotland.

As part of Copart’s ongoing sustainability refurbishment programme, facilities at the new site will be constructed responsibly and designed to be inclusive, energy efficient, and eco-friendly.

The news follows a series of similar growth announcements from Copart over the past year, including a major new customer service centre in Bedford, the quadrupling in size of its Bristol operation centre, and a new 68-acre facility in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Phil Briggs, director of operation centres, transport and engineering at Copart UK, 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, which will provide annual storage capacity for over 49,000 vehicles.” 

“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.” 

Jane Pocock, managing director of Copart UK and Ireland, added: “We’re delighted to extend our investment programme into Scotland, further strengthening our unrivalled operational capabilities in this part of the UK in line with the continued growth of the UK car parc and the ever-changing needs of our customers.”

“Because of the strategic and unrivalled positioning of our sites across the UK, we are proud to say that we are never far from communities, and therefore our customers. This means we can collect and handle vehicles quickly, efficiently, and with minimal environmental impact, supporting our ongoing Plan-Net-Zero sustainability commitment.”

Image: Canva

Mark Dugdale