Transport written question – answered at on 9 January 2006.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his estimate is of the number of foreign registered (a) cars, (b) commercial vans and (c) lorries on UK roads in each year since 1997.
Estimates of the number of foreign registered vehicles on UK roads are not available. However, the estimated number of foreign registered vehicles leaving the UK is as follows.
Cars(7) | Goods vehicles(8) | |
---|---|---|
1997 | 1,019 | 671 |
1998 | 880 | 826 |
1999 | (9)1,015 | 967 |
2000 | 801 | 1,153 |
2001 | 722 | 1,319 |
2002 | 862 | 1,435 |
2003 | 770 | 1,453 |
2004 | 799 | 1,595 |
(6)Vehicles leaving on ferries or through the Channel Tunnel. Figures are for vehicle trips (i.e. a vehicle is counted once each time it leaves the UK).
(7)Cars includes minibuses (small passenger vehicles with 9 to 15 passenger seats) and similar vehicles, and light goods vehicles up to 4.5 metres long.
(8)Goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight.
(9)From 1999, traffic between the UK and the Irish Republic, either by sea or across the land border (about 130,000 cars) is included. This was excluded in earlier years.
Source:
Cars, International Passenger Survey (Office for National Statistics); Goods vehicles, Roll on/Roll off Goods Vehicle Survey (Department for Transport)
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Annotations
William Blakemore
Posted on 26 Jan 2006 10:03 am (Report this annotation)
It's a pity the Minister was unable to answer the question posed. It would also have been interesting to know the figures for foreign registered vehicles (FRV's)entering the country, to identify whether or not the overall FRV population is growing or shrinking. Given the difficulties of enforcing the traffic laws against FRV's (in most respects they are effectively anonymous, as there is so little visibility of vehicles on a foreign registration system) and the belief among some parts of the enforcement community that the system is being abused by FRV owners/drivers who know they can't be traced, the Government could do better in informing itself about this sub-section of the traffic population.