The number of cars on Britain's roads year-on-year has fallen for the first time in 64 years - with the recession and changes in legislation being blamed.
There were 31,035,791 cars registered on Britain’s roads in 2009, marking a year-on-year decline of 0.7 per cent according to figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The UK’s total car fleet had grown for the 64 years since the end of the Second World War.
The recession is the main reason for the decline, according to analysts. At the worst stage for car manufacturers in March last year, monthly registrations were down a massive 31 per cent on 2008 figures.
Paul Everitt, the chief executive of SMMT, said: “The recession is the most obvious factor impacting on the number of cars on the road.”
Scrappage has also been blamed, as the 10-month, £400m initiative put 400,000 old cars onto the scrapheap that may have otherwise been sold on.
Also, changes to the rules on off-road notification and licensing have meant unlicensed cars are now removed from the DVLA database.
The SMMT reported that the luxury segment had suffered the most with a year-on-year decline of 6.0 per cent.
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Re: Less cars on UK roads
Re: Less cars on UK roads
Haha I clicked onto this thread to say exactly the same thing.
Plural = fewer
Single entity = less
Elementary my dear Watson.
And I've just spotted it was Autocar itself that initiated this thread :O
Re: Less cars on UK roads
So this might go some way to explaining the hgih prices of fuel - due to economies of scale oil companies and government will have to make the increase to offset the reduced revenue as a result of there being...
...fewer/less/not quite as many/reduced numbers/ comparitive reduction vs previous years/alot but not as many of before...
...cars on the road :-)