-
A phenomenon last seen 30 years ago
For only the second time since the second world war, the number
of licensed vehicles on UK roads declined over a whole year as
covid lockdowns led to hundreds of thousands owners taking their
cars off the road. This has been revealed in new vehicles
licensing statistics released today by the Department for
Transport*.
Not since 1991 has there been four consecutive quarters where
there was a year-on-year decline of licensed vehicles.
It comes as a result of owners applying for their vehicles to be
given a Statutory Of Road Notification (SORN).
In December, there were 192,000 fewer cars licensed to be on the
road after the number of SORN-declared cars rose by 259,000**.
Overall, the number of road-legal vehicles dropped by 101,000
after SORNs rose by 421,000.
“Today’s Government statistics are yet another indication of just
how much the coronavirus epidemic has disrupted travel in the UK.
Stuck in their homes for months on end, many car owners took the
opportunity to save money by declaring that they had taken their
vehicles off the road during the lockdowns”, says Jack Cousens,
the AA’s head of roads policy.
“Even today, with lockdown rapidly easing and a new relaxation of
restrictions due on Monday, car travel during the working week
remains at least 10% below pre-pandemic levels***. The AA expects
travel to pick up with the staycation but the true test of ‘long
covid’ for UK travel will come after the August bank holiday and
a full return to work.”
ends
NOTES TO EDITORS
* https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-licensing-statistics-2020
