Q1) How many vehicles are there in the United Kingdom?
Q2) Which is the fastest growing category of vehicle?
Q3) How many licensed cars have a female registered keeper?
Q4) How often is a car in use or parked?
Q5) Where are household vehicles parked overnight in England?
Q6) Has the average size of a garage kept up with the current car size?
Q8) How can I identify how old a vehicle is?
Q9) How old is the average car?
Q10) What percentage of the car fleet in the United Kingdom is over 13 years old?
Q11) In the average car's lifetime, how many owners will it have?
Q12) What proportion do company cars comprise of the licensed car stock?
Q13) How many new cars were registered in the UK in 2025?
Q15) What were the most popular new cars registered in 2025?
Q16) Are most new cars now sold with an automatic gearbox?
Q17) What was the favourite new car colour in 2025?
Q18) How many used cars changed hands in 2025?
Q19) How many cars were manufactured in the UK in 2025?
Q20) How many driving licence holders are there?
Q21) What proportion of young adults (aged 17 - 20) in England hold a full driving licence?
Q22) What proportion of young people expect to be regular drivers?
Q23) What proportion of older people in England hold a full driving licence?
Q24) How many people aged 70 or over in Great Britain hold a full driving licence?
Q25) How many jobs require the applicant to be able to drive?
Q26) How many households in England have access to a car or van?
Q27) How many adults in England live in a household with access to a car or van?
Q29) Are the majority of SUVs registered to urban or rural households?
Q30) How important is the car as a mode of transport?
Q31) What proportion of people commute to work by car?
Q32) What is the average annual mileage per car in England?
Q34) How many miles per year does motor vehicle traffic travel on the roads of Great Britain?
Q35) What are the road traffic forecasts for future years?
Q36) How many miles of road are there in Great Britain?
Q37) What are the road lengths in England, Scotland and Wales?
Q38) How much of the British road network has no mobile phone coverage?
Q40) What type of roads does traffic travel on?
Q42) What are smart motorways?
Q43) Is the rollout of future smart motorways to be cancelled?
Q44) What type of vehicles use the roads in Great Britain?
Q45) How many tonnes of goods are carried by GB-registered HGVs in the UK?
Q46) What percentage of HGVs "drive around empty"?
Q47) How busy are the roads in Great Britain?
Q48) Which road has the highest average traffic flow?
Q49) What are average vehicle free flow speeds?
Q50) Which local authorities have the highest amount of vehicle miles driven on their roads?
Q51) Which of England's major A roads have the highest seasonal increase in traffic?
Q52) How many foreign registered vehicles use the roads in Great Britain?
Q56) How can I report a pothole to a local authority?
Q57) What percentage of local authority roads are considered to be in a poor state of repair?
Q58) How can I tell how well my local authority is maintaining its local roads?
Q59) How many bridges managed by local authorities in Great Britain are substandard?
Q61) What is the Blue Badge Scheme?
Q62) How many Blue Badges are on issue in England?
Q63) How many Blue Badges were lost or stolen in England in the year ending 31 March 2025?
Q1) How many vehicles are there in the United Kingdom?
A1) At the end of December 2025, there were 42.3 million licensed vehicles in the UK, an increase of 1 per cent compared to December 2024.
Cars make up the majority of licensed vehicles. In the United Kingdom, there were 34.49 million cars (81.5 per cent), 4.89 million LGVs (11.6 per cent), 0.54 million HGVs (1.3 per cent), 1.36 million motorcycles (3.2 per cent), 0.14 million buses & coaches (0.3 per cent) and 0.87 million other vehicles (2.1 per cent) licensed at the end of December 2025.
The total number of licensed vehicles has increased in all but two years (1991 & 2020) since the end of the Second World War.
Source: Vehicle licensing statistics, United Kingdom 2025
Historical details about the number of licensed vehicles can be viewed in Table VEH0101
Q2) Which is the fastest growing category of vehicle?
A2) Vans.
In the last 25 years, van traffic has seen the fastest growth (in percentage terms) in miles travelled of any motor vehicle, increasing 82 per cent to 58.5 billion vehicle miles in 2024. This rapid rise in van traffic now means that van traffic as a proportion of all motor vehicle miles has increased from 14 per cent to 23 per cent over the same period.
The number of vans in Great Britain has also increased substantially over the last 25 years, the numbers doubling from 2.34 million licensed vans in 1999 to 4.65 million licensed vans in 2024.
Source: Table TRA0101 and Table VEH0101
Q3) How many licensed cars have a female registered keeper?
A3) At the end of December 2024, about 35 per cent of registered private keepers of licensed cars in Great Britain were female.
Over the last 25 years, compared to the end of December 1999, the proportion of licensed cars registered to female private keepers has increased from 30 per cent to 35 per cent in Great Britain whilst over the same period, the proportion of licensed cars registered to male private keepers has decreased from 55 per cent to 50 per cent.
Source: Table VEH1102
Q4) How often is a car in use or parked?
A4) RAC Foundation analysis carried out in 2021 shows that the average car or van in England is driven just 4 per cent of the time, a figure that has barely changed in quarter of a century.
For the rest of the time the car or van is either parked at home (73 per cent) or parked elsewhere (23 per cent), for example at work.
Source: RAC Foundation: Standing Still
Q5) Where are household vehicles parked overnight in England?
A5) In England in 2024, 9 per cent of household vehicles were parked in a garage overnight; 64 per cent were parked on private property (but not garaged); 25 per cent were parked on the street; and 3 per cent were parked in other places.
Since 2002, the proportion of respondents parking vehicles in garages has decreased from 22 per cent to 9 per cent and the proportion parking elsewhere on private property has increased by about the same amount (from 50 per cent to 64 per cent).
Source: National Travel Survey 2024: Household car availability and trends in car trips and Table NTS0908
Q6) Has the average size of a garage kept up with the current car size?
A6) No. RAC Foundation analysis carried out in 2021 shows that the cars on Britain’s roads have, on average, got larger over time, both in width and in length. In 1965 the top five models sold in the UK had an average width of 1.5m and average length of 3.9m, compared to an average width of 1.8m and length of 4.3m for the top five sellers of 2020. Despite this, the typical garage door width for a domestic property is around 2.1m, leaving just 0.15m on either side of the average car in 2020.
While there is no extensive data on the changes in domestic garage dimensions over time, through evidence provided by various councils it can be seen that garage size poses a problem for anyone wanting to use their garage to park their car, and not merely in older residential developments. It comes as no surprise, then, that the ‘garage’ in many homes ends up being converted into a room, or simply serves as a storage shed. This view is borne out by an RAC study from 2014 which revealed that 62 per cent of households use their garage for purposes other than parking a car. Of the 38 per cent choosing to use their garage for its intended purpose, one in five had a hard time getting their car in, owing to limited dimensions.
Source: RAC Foundation: Standing Still
Q7) What proportion of Britain’s households have, or have the potential to have, enough off street parking to accommodate at least one car or van?
A7) RAC Foundation analysis carried out in 2021 shows that 18 million (65 per cent) of Britain’s 27.6 million households have – or could have – enough off-street parking to accommodate at least one car or van.
Breaking the numbers down:
- Wales – 75 per cent of households have – or could have – off-street parking and electric vehicle charging
- England (excluding London) 68 per cent
- Scotland – 63 per cent
- London – 44 per cent
- Great Britain – 65 per cent
Details of the proportion of homes with – or with the potential to have – off-street parking by both local authority area and Westminster parliamentary constituency can be viewed in the report.
Source: RAC Foundation: Standing Still
Q8) How can I identify how old a vehicle is?
A8) In the United Kingdom you can identify the age of the vehicle by looking at the registration plate. This is because registration plates in the United Kingdom follow a specific format and set of rules.
Before 1983, letters were used as a suffix to the registration plate. This started in 1963 with the letter A and ended in 1983 with Y.
From 1983 until 2001, letters were used as prefixes before the rest of the letters and numbers to identify the age of the vehicle.
Since 2001, there are two numbers in the middle of the registration plate that represent the age of the vehicle. The first number indicates the year of registration and the second number indicates the specific six-month period within that year (March to August or September to February).
Full details, including a number plate registration years chart, can be viewed here.
Q9) How old is the average car?
A9) At the end of December 2024, the average age of a licensed car in the UK was 9.9 years old, an increase of 16 per cent compared to the end of December 2019.
The average age varied between fuel types. Petrol cars were on average 10.3 years old and diesel cars 10.1 years old. However, battery electric cars were on average 2.5 years old and plug-in hybrid cars 3.4 years old.
Full details can be seen in the chart in our Green Fleet Index.
Q10) What percentage of the car fleet in the United Kingdom is over 13 years old?
A10) In 2024, 24.2 per cent of the car fleet in the United Kingdom was over 13 years old. This has risen from 23.6 per cent in 2023 and from 13.3 per cent in 2014.
Full details can be seen in the chart in our Green Fleet Index.
Q11) In the average car's lifetime, how many owners will it have?
A11) In the average car’s lifetime, it will have 4 owners.
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – Motorparc Census
Q12) What proportion do company cars comprise of the licensed car stock?
A12) The commercial fleet and company car market is a primary driver of new registrations for cars. During 2024, about 61 per cent of cars registered for the first time in the United Kingdom were sold to businesses and fleets. However, the proportion of all licensed cars at the end of December 2024 kept by companies was much lower at only 9.3 per cent. This is due to company-kept cars typically moving to become privately-kept after the car is around three years old.
The proportion of licensed cars with company keepers in the United Kingdom has remained within the range of 8 per cent to 9 per cent since 2014.
Source: Table VEH1102
Q13) How many new cars were registered in the UK in 2025?
A13) The UK new car market grew for the third year in a row in 2025, breaching the two million mark for the first time since the pandemic, with 2,020,520 new car registrations. This was up 3.5 per cent over the 1,952,778 new cars that entered the UK market in 2024.
Over the full year, there was growth across all buyer types. Demand from private buyers recovered slightly from 2024 – when uptake fell below levels last seen during 2020 – with a 4.5 per cent increase. Fleet and business registrations also rose, up 2.6 per cent and 8.8 per cent respectively.
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – New Car Registrations
Details of the latest new car registration figures can be viewed here.
Q14) Of those new cars registered in 2025, how many were sold to businesses, fleets and private buyers?
A14) In 2025:-
- 46,388 cars were sold to businesses (companies that operate up to 24 vehicles) – an increase of 8.8 per cent from 42,647 in 2024;
- 1,194,545 cars were sold to fleets (companies that operate fleets of 25 or more vehicles) – an increase of 2.6 per cent from 1,163,855 in 2024; and
- 779,587 cars were sold to private buyers – an increase of 4.5 per cent from 746,276 in 2024.
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – New Car Registrations
Q15) What were the most popular new cars registered in 2025?
A15) The UK’s top three most popular new cars of 2025 were:- 1) Ford Puma with 55,488 registrations 2) Kia Sportage (47,788 registrations) and 3) Nissan Qashqai (41,141 registrations).
The Tesla Model Y was the most popular electric car of 2024 with 24,298 registrations.
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – New Car Registrations
Q16) Are most new cars now sold with an automatic gearbox?
A16) Yes. Automatic cars now make up four in five new car sales.
The proportion of new cars with manual gearboxes has declined from 86 per cent in 2000 to 22 per cent in 2024, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. In 2000, 1,913,384 out of 2,225,071 new car registrations were manuals. However, in 2024 only 438,828 new cars out of a total of 1,952,778 new car registrations had a manual gearbox.
The percentage of new cars with a manual gearbox was also down 7 per cent on the 2023 figure.
The decline in manual cars is being accelerated by the rise of electric cars which all have automatic gearboxes.
Q17) What was the favourite new car colour in 2025?
A17) For the eighth year running, grey retained its position as the UK’s favourite car colour in 2025. More than half a million grey new cars (558,050) were registered last year – up 2.7 per cent to a record total for the shade – accounting for more than a quarter (27.6 per cent) of all new car registrations.
Black retained second place with 464,369 new registrations – its highest volume since 2019 – after a 9.7 per cent increase on the previous year. Blue came in at number three for the second time with 306,349 registrations (up 4.9 per cent). Together, the top three accounted for nearly two thirds (65.8 per cent) of all new cars joining UK roads in 2025.
Elsewhere in the charts, white retained fourth place. Silver returned to the top five for the first time in nearly a decade, marking a notable comeback for a colour that previously dominated Britain’s roads in the early 2000s. Red, once a mainstay of the British car parc, slipped to sixth with the lowest market share (5.8 per cent) since detailed records began.
Green retained seventh place, but volumes rose 46.3 per cent to 99,793 registrations – the most since 2004. Appropriately, registrations of green-tinted battery electric (BEV) cars almost doubled – up 95.2 per cent on 2024 to reach 23,249 units – accounting for one in 20 new BEVs, compared with just one in 300 last year.
At the bottom of the popularity palette, maroon, pink and turquoise counted just 342 registrations between them.
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
Q18) How many used cars changed hands in 2025?
A18) The UK’s used car market grew by 2.2 per cent in 2025 to 7,807,872 transactions, up from 7,643,180 transactions in 2024.
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – UK Used Car Sales Data
Q19) How many cars were manufactured in the UK in 2025?
A19) 717,371 cars were manufactured in the UK in 2025, down 8.0 per cent compared to the 779,584 cars manufactured in 2024. Volumes were constrained by a number of factors, including a cyber incident stopping production at Britain’s biggest automotive employer; new tariffs on trade across the Atlantic; and ongoing restructuring as plants shift to a decarbonised future.
While 161,545 cars were built for domestic buyers, nearly eight in ten cars produced (555,826 units) were destined for export last year. Europe received the majority (56.7 per cent) of vehicles exported, followed by the US (15.0 per cent) and China (6.3 per cent). Exports to each were down, by -3.3 per cent, -18.3 per cent and -12.5 per cent respectively – with shipments to the US impacted by tariff uncertainty earlier in 2025. Turkey and Japan rounded off the UK’s top five global export markets, followed by Canada, Australia, South Korea, Switzerland and UAE.
Production of battery electric (BEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and hybrid (HEV) cars rose by 8.3 per cent to a combined 298,813 units – a record 41.7 per cent share of output.
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – UK Automotive Manufacturing
Q20) How many driving licence holders are there?
A20) In November 2025, the total number of driving licences registered with DVLA was 53,365,156. Of these, 42,854,992 were full driving entitlement licences and 10,510,164 were provisional entitlement licences. These figures are for the whole of Great Britain.
It should be stressed that neither DVLA or DfT would recommend that users rely on this data being a true reflection of the number of active driving licence holders in Great Britain as the DVLA data includes details of people who have died, emigrated etc and who have not been removed from the DVLA database.
Source: Driving Licence Data
More robust estimates of active driving licence holders are available from the National Travel Survey. Latest estimates show that in 2024, 34.74 million of English residents aged 17 and over held a full driving licence. This equates to about 75 per cent of English residents aged 17 and over. In 1992, the proportion of adults with a licence in England was estimated at 67 per cent (an estimated 25.4 million people).
Around 80 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women of English residents aged 17 and over hold a full driving licence. Whilst, over the long term, licence holding among both men and women has increased, the rate of increase has been much greater for women. For men, the percentage has stayed the same since 2002, but for women, driving licence holding has increased by 10 percentage points over the same period.
Source: National Travel Survey 2024: Factsheet and Table NTS0201
Q21) What proportion of young adults (aged 17 - 20) in England hold a full driving licence?
A21) In 2024, 29 per cent of men and women aged 17 – 20 held a full licence.
The percentage of young men holding a full driving licence was higher than the percentage of young women holding a full driving licence – 31 per cent for young men and 27 per cent for young women.
Source: National Travel Survey 2024: Factsheet and Table NTS0201
Q22) What proportion of young people expect to be regular drivers?
A22) Aside from those unable to drive because of a disability of health condition, more than 8 out of 10 (85 per cent) of young people aged 17 to 24 think it is certain or likely they will be driving a car or van at least once a week by 2035, even though only little over half (56 per cent) currently do so now.
The most common reasons given by those questioned for believing they will start driving include an expectation their lifestyles will require it and a belief that driving will be more convenient for them than either public transport or active travel (such as walking and cycling). However, young people also recognise that driving is set to change in the coming years and there is a broad recognition of the need to reduce the environmental impact of driving.
The numbers are revealed in a survey by Ipsos for the RAC Foundation.
Source: RAC Foundation
Q23) What proportion of older people in England hold a full driving licence?
A23) 74 per cent of people aged 70 or over hold a full driving licence in England.
There has been a large increase in the number of older people in England holding a full driving licence. Between 1995/1997 and 2024 the proportion of people aged 70+ holding a licence increased from 39 per cent to 74 per cent. This is due to aging of existing licence holders rather than large numbers of newly qualified drivers in older age groups.
The increase among older women is particularly notable: 80 per cent of women aged 60-69 and 64 per cent aged 70+ held a full driving licence in 2024 compared with 46 per cent and 22 per cent in 1995/97 respectively.
Source: National Travel Survey 2024: Factsheet and Table NTS0201
Q24) How many people aged 70 or over in Great Britain hold a full driving licence?
A24) According to DVLA data there are now 5.97 million people aged 70 or more in Great Britain who hold a full licence.
1.65 million holders of full driving licences in Great Britain are aged 80 or over, including 510 aged 100 or over. The oldest holder of a full licence is 108.
While not all of these licence holders will be active drivers, the statistics illustrate the growing number of older people who still use a car.
Drivers do not have to have mandatory tests or health checks after obtaining their licence no matter how old they become, although they are required to inform the DVLA if they are no longer fit to drive.
However, at age 70 all drivers must self-certify their fitness to drive, something they need to do every three years thereafter.
Source: RAC Foundation
Q25) How many jobs require the applicant to be able to drive?
A25) More than one in six jobs being advertised in the UK requires applicants to be able to drive.
Research by the RAC Foundation shows that in the first week of October 2023 a total of 1,092,172 recruitment advertisements were posted on the job vacancy aggregator site Adzuna.
Of the 1,092,172 advertisements, 189,608 (17.4 per cent) explicitly or implicitly required those applying to have at least a standard driving licence because the job was either:-
- specifically for a driver
- or required driving during the course of work
- or a car was needed to reach work (due to reduced accessibility by public transport)
Using specific occupation categories as defined by the Office for National Statistics, the data revealed that the need to drive was, to a greater or lesser degree, a requirement in a wide variety of roles, for example:-
- 100 per cent of driving instructors
- 67 per cent of plumbers
- 59 per cent of estate agents and auctioneers
- 34 per cent of care workers and home carers
The sectors least likely to require job applicants to have the ability to drive were teaching and education; culture, media and sport; and secretarial and administrative.
Further details of the top 30 occupations with driving as an explicit or implicit requirement in job advertisements and an analysis of the data for the same week in October in the eight years from 2016 to 2023 can be viewed here.
Q26) How many households in England have access to a car or van?
A26) About 78 per cent.
There have been significant long-term increases in the proportion of households with access to a car or van. The proportion of households without a car has fallen from 48 per cent in 1971 (based on the Census) to 22 per cent in 2024, while the proportion of households with access to two or more cars or vans has increased over this period from 8 per cent to 34 per cent.
Since 2000, there have been more households with two or more cars or vans than households with no car or van.
Source: National Travel Survey 2024: Household car availability and trends in car trips and Table NTS0205
Q27) How many adults in England live in a household with access to a car or van?
A27) In 2024, 83 per cent of adults in England lived in a household with access to a car or van. This differed very slightly between men and women (84 per cent and 82 per cent respectively).
Source: National Travel Survey 2024: Household car availability and trends in car trips and Table NTS0206
Q28) Which local authorities in England and Wales have the highest and lowest number of cars and vans per head of population?
A28) Research carried out by the RAC Foundation in 2012 (based on 2011 Census data) shows that of the 348 English and Welsh local authorities, the East Dorset District Council area has the highest number of cars and vans per head of population.
For every thousand people – men, women and children – living in East Dorset, there are 694 cars. This compares with an average of 487 cars and vans per thousand people as a whole. By contrast, Hackney has the fewest at 170 cars and vans per thousand people.
Q29) Are the majority of SUVs registered to urban or rural households?
A29) Urban households.
Three quarters of SUVs sold in the UK are registered to urban households according to analysis of data from 2019 and 2020 by the think tank New Weather Institute and climate charity Possible.
According to the report, “rather than large SUVs being most popular in remote farming regions, six of the top ten areas for new sales are urban or suburban districts. Although these vehicles have 4-wheel-drive and off-road capability, the top three districts for large SUVs are inner London boroughs. These include Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Westminster. On average, the report found that one in three new private cars bought in these areas is a large SUV”.
Q30) How important is the car as a mode of transport?
A30) The car continues to dominate most people’s daily travel. In 2024, 59 per cent of trips were made by car, either as a driver or passenger. The car is also the most common mode for distance travelled, accounting for 76 per cent of all miles travelled in 2024.
Walking was the most frequent mode used for short trips – 81 per cent of trips under one mile were completed by walking in 2024. However, for all other distance bands, the car was the most frequent mode of travel.
Source : National Travel Survey 2024: Introduction and main findings and National Travel Survey 2024: Mode share and multi-modal trips
Car use (both as driver and passenger) accounts for only 8 per cent of the trips under half a mile in length but rises to 76 per cent of all trips in the 2 – 3 mile band and 80 per cent of trips longer than five miles in length; above one mile, more than half of all trips are by car.
Source: The Car in British Society
The Commission for Integrated Transport noted in its “Medium-length Trip Patterns” report that 42 per cent of car mileage was driven on medium-length car trips (defined as 5 – 25 miles).
Q31) What proportion of people commute to work by car?
A31) Across Great Britain, 67 per cent of commuters used a car to get to work in 2023. This was similar to previous years. Wales (79 per cent) and Scotland (70 per cent) have higher rates of commuting by car than England (66 per cent).
At least 70 per cent of people travelled to work by car in most regions. London, however, has much lower rates of commuting by car than other regions (25 per cent) and is the only region where a majority commute using public transport.
The percentage of workers usually travelling to work by car by region of workplace in 2024 can be seen below:-
| GB Country | English Region | Proportion |
| England | 66% | |
| North East | 75% | |
| North West | 75% | |
| Yorkshire & Humber | 75% | |
| East Midlands | 79% | |
| West Midlands | 78% | |
| East of England | 70% | |
| London | 25% | |
| South East | 71% | |
| South West | 75% | |
| Scotland | 70% | |
| Wales | 79% |
Source: Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2024 Domestic Travel and DfT Table TSGB0108
The issue was also considered in a RAC Foundation report The Car and the Commute.
Q32) What is the average annual mileage per car in England?
A32) The estimated average annual mileage per car in England has decreased as the number of cars per household has risen, falling from around 9,200 miles in 2002 to 7,100 miles in 2024.
The estimated average annual mileage was 6,200 for petrol cars, 8,000 for hybrid cars, 8,300 for diesel cars and 8,900 for battery electric cars in 2024.
Source: Table NTS0901
Q33) What is the average annual mileage of new cars in each of the first 3 years after they are registered?
A33) An analysis carried out by the RAC Foundation shows that in their early years on the road, pure battery-electric cars appear now to be covering almost the same number of miles annually as relatively new diesels, the traditional high-mileage work horses. Ten years ago, a new battery-electric car was covering less than half (49 per cent) the miles of a new diesel.
In 2024, it is estimated that pure battery-electric cars less than three years old were driven an average of 10,054 miles. This compares with an average of 10,728 miles for diesels less than three years old.
The study also shows that plug-in hybrids under three years old averaged an estimated 9,367 miles in 2024, whilst new petrol cars were only driven an average of 7,585 miles.
The average annual mileage for all cars under three years old in 2024 was 8,460 miles.
Private cars are required to start having annual MOTs once they are three years old. At that point the mileage is recorded by the test venue and it is this information that has been used in the research.
Full details can be viewed here.
Q34) How many miles per year does motor vehicle traffic travel on the roads of Great Britain?
A34) 336.2 billion vehicle miles were driven on Great Britain’s roads in 2024, an increase of 1.6 per cent compared to 2023. However, traffic in 2024 was 0.7 per cent lower when compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Vehicle miles travelled in Great Britain saw year-on-year growth in each year between 2014 and 2019, and then saw a sharp decline in 2020 followed by increases from 2021 onwards.
Car traffic increased by 1.9 per cent from 2023 levels to 256.1 billion vehicle miles but 2024 car traffic estimates are lower than those for before the pandemic (-2.6 per cent when compared to 2019); van traffic increased by 1.3 per cent from 2023 to 58.5 billion vehicle miles and van traffic estimates for 2024 are higher than levels before the pandemic (+9.5 per cent when compared to 2019); and lorry traffic decreased by 2.0 per cent from 2023 to 16.6 billion vehicle miles. 2024 lorry traffic estimates are lower than levels before the pandemic (-3.5 per cent when compared to 2019).
Bus and coach traffic increased by 1.7 per cent from 2023 levels to 2.0 billion vehicle miles but 2024 bus and coach traffic estimates remain lower than those for before the pandemic (-17.2 per cent when compared to 2019). Motorcycle traffic increased by 3.5 per cent from 2023 to 3.0 billion vehicle miles. Motorcycle traffic estimates for 2024 are higher than levels before the pandemic (+10.6 per cent when compared to 2019).
In 2024, motorway traffic showed little change (+0.5 per cent) compared to 2023, carrying 70.2 billion vehicle miles. Motorway traffic estimates for 2024 are similar to those for before the pandemic (-0.4 per cent when compared to 2019); ‘A’ road traffic saw an increase of 2.2 per cent from 2023, to 148.7 billion vehicle miles. ‘A’ roads traffic estimates for 2024 are lower when compared to those for before the pandemic (-1.0 per cent when compared to 2019); and minor road traffic increased by 1.6 per cent since 2023, carrying 117.2 billion vehicle miles. 2024 minor road traffic estimates are lower when compared to those before the pandemic (-0.6 per cent when compared to 2019).
Source: Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2024: Headline Figures
Latest provisional figures show that 337.8 billion vehicle miles were driven on Great Britain’s roads in the 12 month period ending September 2025. This was up 0.9 per cent compared to the year ending September 2024. Motor vehicle traffic levels fell during the pandemic but have since increased. Traffic levels for the year ending September 2025 were similar to pre-pandemic levels.
Cars and taxis travelled 256.2 billion vehicle miles in the 12 months ending September 2025. Car and taxi traffic remained at similar levels to the year ending September 2024. Car and taxi miles for the year ending September 2025 were down by 2.6 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
59.9 billion vehicle miles were driven by vans on Great Britain’s roads in the 12 month period ending September 2025. This was a rise of 2.9 per cent compared to the year ending September 2024. Van distance travelled for the year ending September 2025 was 12.1 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
16.7 billion vehicle miles were driven by lorries on Great Britain’s roads in the 12 month period ending September 2025. Lorry traffic was similar to the year ending September 2024. Distance covered by lorries for the year ending September 2025 was 2.9 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. The pandemic had a lesser effect on total lorry traffic than other vehicle types. Between the years ending December 2019 and December 2020, lorry traffic only fell by 5.9 per cent, while car and van traffic fell by 24.9 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively.
On Great Britain’s roads, in the year ending September 2025, 21 per cent of motor vehicle miles travelled were on motorways, 44 per cent on ‘A’ roads, and 35 per cent on minor roads. 65 per cent of motor vehicle miles travelled were on major roads (motorways and ‘A’ roads) despite comprising only 13 per cent of the road network by length.
Source: Provisional road traffic estimates in Great Britain, October 2024 to September 2025
Q35) What are the road traffic forecasts for future years?
A35) The National Road Traffic Projections 2022 study presents the Department for Transport’s latest projections of road traffic, congestion and emissions in England and Wales up to the year 2060, using the DfT’s National Transport Model (NTM). Within these forecasts, seven different plausible scenarios have been constructed that reflect the uncertainty in the key drivers of road traffic demand.
The factors with the biggest influence on future traffic volume are:-
- population
- economic growth
- employment levels
- number and type of households
- fuel prices
- fuel efficiency.
Traffic levels in England and Wales are projected to grow in all the scenarios, but with large variation around the size and trend of that growth. From 2025, traffic is projected to grow between 8 per cent and 54 per cent by 2060. Consequently, delay is projected to increase by between 6 per cent and 85 per cent from 2025 to 2060. (This is measured as average delay per vehicle per mile in seconds).
The lowest levels of traffic are seen in the Behavioural Change Scenario which assumes increased flexible working, online shopping and reduced rates of driving licence holding among younger cohorts. In this scenario, traffic is projected to grow by 8 per cent between 2025 and 2060. The highest growth is seen in the Technology Scenario which assumes high and fast uptake of connected and autonomous vehicles (AVs) and high and fast uptake of electric vehicles which are assumed to maintain their current cost advantage over petrol and diesel vehicles. This is just one potential future with AVs which assumes increased trip making for the elderly and increased driving licence holding for all. In this scenario, traffic is projected to grow by 54 per cent between 2025 and 2060.
Source: National Road Traffic Projections 2022
Q36) How many miles of road are there in Great Britain?
A36) In 2025, the total length of roads in Great Britain was estimated to be 247,200 miles. This was 700 more miles than in 2024.
There were 32,000 miles of major road in Great Britain in 2025, consisting of 2,300 miles of motorway and 29,700 miles of ‘A’ road. These major roads make up about 13 per cent of the total road length.
The majority of road lengths in Great Britain is made up of minor roads, with these roads accounting for 215,200 miles in 2025. The minor roads consist of 18,900 miles of ‘B’ road and 196,300 miles of ‘C’ and ‘U’ road.
In 2025, there were 6,100 more miles of roads than in 2005 (a 2.5 per cent increase). Most of this change seen over the last 20 years is due to the changes in minor road lengths. There were 5,300 more miles of minor road in Great Britain in 2025 than in 2005 mainly driven by an increase in ‘C and U’ roads. The remainder of the increase in road length between 2005 and 2025 was accounted for by an 800-mile increase in major roads in Great Britain, the majority of this growth coming from ‘A’ roads which grew by over 650 miles during the same period.
Source: Road Lengths in Great Britain: 2025
Q37) What are the road lengths in England, Scotland and Wales?
A37) Of the 247,200 miles of road in Great Britain in 2025, 188,900 miles (76.4 per cent) of road were in England, 37,200 miles (15.0 per cent) were in Scotland and 21,100 miles (8.5 per cent) were in Wales.
The road networks for Scotland and Wales account for a higher proportion of all road length in Great Britain compared to the population of these countries, which are more sparsely populated.
Within England, the regions with the largest amount of road length were the South West, which had 31,172 miles, and the South East, with 30,291 miles.
Source: Road Lengths in Great Britain: 2025 and Table RDL0101
Q38) How much of the British road network has no mobile phone coverage?
A38) RAC Foundation analysis carried out in 2018 shows that there are still more than five and a half thousand miles of road in Britain where drivers would find it impossible to call for help in case of a crash or breakdown because there is no mobile phone voice coverage from any network provider.
The stretches of road – measuring 5,540 in total – represent 2 per cent of the length of Britain’s overall road network – which is 245,705 miles long.
A further 44,368 miles of road (18 per cent) have only partial voice coverage meaning there are many areas where some but not all phones will receive a signal depending on the service provider they rely on.
Source: Mobile phone coverage across the GB road network
Q39) How many of Britain’s most common type of public chargepoints suffer limited mobile signal connectivity?
A39) RAC Foundation research suggests that around two-thirds of Britain’s most common type of public chargepoints suffer limited mobile signal connectivity. This failure to design public chargepoints to work around Britain’s patchy mobile signal coverage means drivers of electric cars could be facing problems when they seek to ‘fill up’ at thousands of locations.
Britain has four mobile network providers: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone, on which other companies – giffgaff, Tesco Mobile etc. – can piggyback. Unless all four are providing adequate signal coverage at the chargepoint location there’s a risk that either the user or the charger will lack the connection needed to unlock the flow of electricity.
To check the signal coverage, The RAC Foundation analysed a randomly selected sample of 2,059 Type-2 public chargers across Britain. The research reveals that the majority of these chargers do not have an adequate level of coverage from all four mobile phone network providers to guarantee they can be activated 100% of the time.
In Britain, outside of London, just a third (33.4%) of the Type-2 chargers analysed are in locations where there is acceptable all-network 4G coverage. Two-thirds (66.4%) are in spots where a signal from one, two, three or even all the providers is absent or too weak to work. In London, the picture is only slightly better at 39.7% and 61.3% respectively.
Full details can be viewed here.
Q40) What type of roads does traffic travel on?
A40) In 2023, 70.2 billion vehicle miles (bvm) were carried on motorways; 100.8 bvm on rural ‘A’ roads; 48.0 bvm on urban ‘A’ roads; 49.7 bvm on rural minor roads; and 67.6 bvm on urban minor roads.
Motorway traffic increased by 0.5 per cent between 2023 and 2024. 21 per cent of all vehicle miles were driven on motorways in 2024.
Traffic volumes are not proportionate to road lengths. In 2024, 65 per cent of the motor vehicle miles travelled were on motorways and ‘A’ roads, despite comprising only 13 per cent of the road network by length. On an average day in 2024, 55 times more vehicles travelled along a typical stretch of motorway than a typical stretch of a minor road (‘B’ roads, ‘C’ roads, and unclassified roads).
Source: Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2024: Traffic in Great Britain by road type and TRA0102
A41) A journey analysis undertaken in November 2019 showed that only a small proportion (14 per cent) of car and taxi trips on the M25 – one of the longest and busiest ring roads in the world – bypass London completely and are made by people travelling from one part of the country to another.
The vast majority (74 per cent) of car and taxi trips that include the M25 actually start or end in London.
The remaining proportion (12 per cent) of car and van trips are so-called intra-London movements, meaning the journeys both start and end in the capital but use the 117-mile-long orbital motorway as part of the route.
The analysis also revealed that of the strategic routes “feeding” the M25, the M1 was the most significant, followed by the M4, M3, M40 and A2.
Full details can be viewed here.
Q42) What are smart motorways?
A42) A smart motorway is a section of a motorway that uses technology to monitor and manage the flow of traffic permanently or at particularly busy times of the day. The technology is controlled from the National Highway’s regional control centres which can activate and change signs and variable speed limits. A map showing where smart motorways are operating can be viewed here.
There are currently three different types of smart motorway:- controlled motorways; dynamic hard shoulder running schemes and all lane running schemes.
Controlled motorways have three or more lanes with variable speed limits but retain a hard shoulder. Variable speed limits are displayed on overhead gantry signs – if no speed limit is displayed the national speed limit is in place. Speed cameras are used to enforce these limits.
Dynamic hard shoulder running involves opening the hard shoulder as a running lane to traffic at busy periods to ease congestion. Overhead signs on gantries indicate whether or not the hard shoulder is open to traffic. The hard shoulder must not be used if the signs over it are blank or display a red X, except in the case of an emergency.
All lane running schemes permanently remove the hard shoulder and convert it into a running lane. These motorways also have overhead gantry signs that display the mandatory speed limit which varies depending on the traffic conditions – if no speed limit is displayed the national speed limit is in place. Speed cameras are used to enforce these limits. Should drivers break down or be involved in an accident there are emergency refuge areas at the side of the carriageway for them to use.
The RAC’s advice on smart motorways, and how to use them, can be viewed here.
Q43) Is the rollout of future smart motorways to be cancelled?
A43) Yes. The former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP announced in April 2023 that there will be no more smart motorways built in England given financial pressures and in recognition of the current lack of public confidence felt by drivers.
A total of fourteen schemes in the pipeline will now be abandoned; eleven that were already paused from the current Road Investment Strategy (RIS) 2 and three scheduled to get underway in RIS3. The move will save about £1 billion.
However, while no new stretches of road will be converted into smart motorways, the M56 J6-8 and M6 J21a-26 will be completed given they are already over three quarters constructed.
The £900 million investment being made to improve safety on existing smart motorways will continue. This includes the installation of 150 extra emergency areas in line with the government commitments made to the Transport Select Committee.
Improvements will also be made to stopped vehicle detection technology which will cover every all lane running smart motorway.
Further details can be viewed here.
Q44) What type of vehicles use the roads in Great Britain?
A44) Car and taxi traffic accounted for 76 per cent of all motor vehicle traffic in Great Britain in 2024, with light van and Heavy Goods Vehicle traffic accounting for 17 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Motorcycles/scooters and buses/coaches both accounted for 1 per cent.
Source: Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2024: Traffic in Great Britain by vehicle type
Q45) How many tonnes of goods are carried by GB-registered HGVs in the UK?
A45) In 2025, 1.53 billion tonnes of goods were carried by GB-registered HGVs operating in the UK. This was 3 per cent less than in 2024 when 1.59 billion tonnes of goods were carried by GB-registered HGVs in the UK.
Source: Domestic road freight statistics, UK: 2025
Q46) What percentage of HGVs "drive around empty"?
A46) In 2025, GB-registered HGVs travelled 5,897 million kilometres whilst empty. This is 31 per cent of total (loaded and empty) vehicle kilometres travelled during the same period (18,975 million kilometres).
This is similar to 2024 where GB-registered HGVs travelled empty for 30 per cent of total vehicle kilometres travelled (5,843 out of 19,394 million kilometres).
Source: Domestic road freight statistics, UK: 2025
Q47) How busy are the roads in Great Britain?
A47) Motor vehicle flow statistics give an indication of how busy roads in Great Britain are rather than volume of miles travelled on the road network. They are presented as the average number of vehicles passing per day on a typical stretch of road.
Motorways continued to have the highest average traffic flow in 2024 with 82.3 thousand vehicles passing on a typical stretch of motorway. The average traffic flow on urban “A” roads was 18.0 thousand vehicles and traffic flows on rural “A” roads were 12.3 thousand vehicles.
The average traffic flow on urban minor roads was 2.1 thousand vehicles and traffic flows on rural minor roads were 1.1 thousand vehicles.
Source: Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2024: Traffic in Great Britain by road type and TRA0301
Q48) Which road has the highest average traffic flow?
A48) The road link with the highest average daily traffic flow in 2024 was the section of the M25 between junctions 14 and 15 with 210,000 vehicles per day passing along it.
This was followed by 3 other sections of the M25 motorway – between junctions 13 to 14 (206,000 vehicles per day), junctions 15 to 16 (205,000 vehicles per day) and junction 12 to 13 (196,000 vehicles per day).
In fifth place was the M60 between junction 12 to 13 (192,000 vehicles per day).
Source: Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2024: Traffic in Great Britain by road type
Q49) What are average vehicle free flow speeds?
A49) For 30 mph roads, the average free flow speed for cars was 30 mph. The average free flow speed for all vehicle types ranged from 27 mph to 31 mph.
For national speed limit single carriageways, the average free flow speed for cars was 51 mph and the average free flow speeds were below the relevant speed limits for all vehicle types.
For motorways, the average free flow speed for cars was 68 mph. The average free flow speed was at or below the designated speed limit for each vehicle type with the exception of motorcycles where the average speed was greater than the designated speed limit.
The 20 mph ‘free flow’ sites on which average free flow speeds are measured tend to be on ‘through routes’ rather than smaller residential streets. Therefore the ‘free flow’ 20 mph sites in this data set will tend to be unrepresentative of 20 mph roads in general. With this proviso, the average speed for cars was 24 mph and the average speeds for all vehicle types ranged from 19 mph to 25 mph.
Source: Vehicle speed compliance statistics for Great Britain: 2024
Q50) Which local authorities have the highest amount of vehicle miles driven on their roads?
A50) The local authority with the highest amount of miles driven on their roads in 2024 is Essex with 9.708 billion vehicle miles. Essex is followed by Hampshire (9.611 billion vehicle miles) and Kent (9.537 billion vehicle miles).
Of the five local authorities with the highest levels of traffic, three are in the South East region (Hampshire, Kent, Surrey) and two are in the East of England region (Essex, Hertfordshire). These are all authorities with relatively large road networks, and they all contain some of the major motorways of Great Britain.
Source: Road traffic estimates in Great Britain, 2024: Headline Figures and TRA8901
Q51) Which of England's major A roads have the highest seasonal increase in traffic?
A51) The A458 heading towards Snowdonia sees the biggest seasonal increase in traffic on England’s major A roads. During the summer it carries almost a quarter (23.1 per cent) more vehicles than during the rest of the year.
After the A458, comes the A30 in the West Country (19.2 per cent increase) and the A2070 in Kent heading towards the coast and Camber Sands (16.1 per cent). The road with the fourth biggest increase is the A494 just north of Chester which runs into North Wales (15 per cent) and fifth is the A31 through the New Forest (13.1 per cent).
Full details can be viewed here.
Q52) How many foreign registered vehicles use the roads in Great Britain?
A52) In 2019, 0.3 per cent of all traffic on British roads was estimated to be accounted for by foreign registered vehicles. By vehicle type, lorry traffic had the highest proportion of foreign registered vehicles at 3.9 per cent, this was a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared to 2017. Foreign registered lorries cabotage accounted for just over 1 per cent of road freight activity within the UK.
The South East region had the highest proportion of foreign registered vehicles of any region within Great Britain in 2019. This likely reflects that the South East is the region of arrival and departure for many motor vehicles coming from Europe through ports and the channel tunnel.
(NB These statistics are the latest to be published by the Department for Transport.)
Source: Road Traffic Estimates: Great Britain 2019
A53) National Highways is the government company which plans, designs, builds, operates and maintains England’s motorways and major A roads, known as the strategic road network.
A map of the National Highways network can be found here.
In Scotland a similar responsibility falls on Transport Scotland, and in Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government.
Other roads are managed by local authorities.
Q54) How many claims on average were received by local authorities for damage to persons or vehicles as a result of poor road conditions and what is the total amount of compensation paid?
A54) In 2025/26, the average number of claims received by local authorities in England and Wales decreased by 32 per cent to 279 per authority (2024/25: 410 per authority) with almost all of these claims (99 per cent) reportedly relating specifically to potholes on roads, footways or cycleways.
The total amount paid out in compensation by local authorities in England (including London) and Wales in 2025/26 for damage to persons or vehicles as a result of poor road condition was £15.9 million. The associated staff costs spent processing these claims totalled £15.1 million.
The overall total cost for addressing these compensation claims was therefore £31.0 million – an decrease of about 17 per cent over the £37.3 million reported in the previous year. The total cost of compensation claims in 2025/26 is the equivalent of £151.45 paid out per mile of road last year.
Source: The Asphalt Industry Alliance ALARM Survey Report 2026
Q55) How many potholes were filled in over the last year and what was the cost of filling these potholes in?
A55) In 2025/26, the total number of potholes filled in in England (including London) and Wales was 1.9 million – the same as reported in ALARM 2025. This is the equivalent to more than 5,200 potholes being addressed every day of the year.
The total cost of filling in these potholes was estimated at £149.3 million, up about 9 per cent from the £137.4 million reported in the previous year.
Source: The Asphalt Industry Alliance ALARM Survey Report 2026
Q56) How can I report a pothole to a local authority?
A56) If you want to report a pothole you can go straight to the authority responsible for the road (most now have an electronic or web-based system available to the public to report potholes and highway faults).
Alternatively, you can report potholes through the following sites:- www.fillthathole.org.uk or www.fixmystreet.com
Q57) What percentage of local authority roads are considered to be in a poor state of repair?
A57) 10 per cent of roads in England (excluding London), 18 per cent of roads in London and 7 per cent of roads in Wales are reported as being in a poor state of repair and likely to require maintenance in the next 12 months.
Local authorities’ estimate the combined one-time “catch-up” cost – over and above what local authorities indicate they already receive – to bring their road networks up to scratch in England and Wales (including London) is now £18.62 billion, an increase of 11 per cent on last year’s figure of £16.8 billion. This is the highest reported amount in ALARM and continues the upward trajectory reported over the last decade. The one-time catch-up cost is an average of £145.9 million per authority in England (excluding London); £38.2 million in London and £28.3 million in Wales.
Even if adequate funding and resources were in place to get roads back into a reasonable condition, it is estimated that to clear the carriageway maintenance backlog will take 12 years in England (excluding London), 8 years in London and 15 years in Wales.
Source: The Asphalt Industry Alliance ALARM Survey Report 2026
Q58) How can I tell how well my local authority is maintaining its local roads?
A58) The Department for Transport has introduced a rating system measuring how well each local highway authority is maintaining its local roads and making use of its increased government funding. This allows local people to see how well their council is maintaining roads in their area.
The new ratings grade 154 local highway authorities as red, amber or green based on how effectively they are fixing potholes and investing in preventative measures to maintain their road network in the long term.
You can use this map to see whether your local highway authority has been rated as red, amber or green when it comes to keeping your roads in good condition and free from potholes.
Further details can be viewed here.
Q59) How many bridges managed by local authorities in Great Britain are substandard?
A59) RAC Foundation research carried out in 2024 shows that one in every twenty-five council-maintained road bridges in Great Britain is officially deemed as substandard.
Analysis of the data collected from 201 of the 208 local highway authorities in England, Scotland and Wales who responded to FOI requests from the RAC Foundation about the condition of the bridges they managed has identified 2,928 bridges – defined as structures over 1.5 m in span – as being substandard at the end of 2023. (Substandard means unable to carry the heaviest vehicles now seen on our roads, including lorries of up to 44 tonnes). These bridges make up 4.0 per cent of the total of 73,208 bridges the 201 councils manage between them.
This compares with the previous year’s figures provided by 200 councils which showed that of the 72,540 bridges they reported as managing, 3,174 (4.4 per cent) were substandard.
Some of the bridges were built decades, if not centuries, ago and will be substandard because they were built to earlier design standards as their designers could not have envisaged the type, size and volume of traffic seen today, whilst others will have deteriorated through age and use. Many of these bridges have weight restrictions. Others will be under programmes of increased monitoring or even managed decline.
Between them, councils say they would ideally want to bring 1,955 (66.8 per cent) of the 2,928 substandard bridges back up to full carrying capacity. However, budget limitations mean they anticipate that only 292 of these will have the necessary work carried out on them within the next five years.
Based on responses from 122 councils (61 per cent of the 201 total), it would cost £4.1 billion to clear the total backlog of maintenance work on the 45,796 bridges (63 per cent of the 73,208 total) they manage between them. Extrapolating from this figure, it can be estimated that the total outstanding value of the bridge maintenance workbank for highways authorities in Great Britain is around £6.8 billion.
Councils were also asked what specific issues concerned them most when it came to managing their bridge stocks. The responses could be broadly categorised as follows:-
- Weather and climate change impacts
- Budgetary pressures
- Inflationary effects
- Staffing, including lack of trained personnel, recruitment and retention
- Skills outside of councils particularly among contractors and consultants
- Ageing infrastructure
- Specific issues relating to bridges under/over railways, or liaison with Network Rail
Increased concern about weather and climate impacts was particularly notable this year. These worries included not just the impacts of heavier rainfall leading to things like flooding, washout and the increased scouring of submerged parts of a structure, but also ground shrinkage caused by hotter, drier weather.
Further details can be viewed here.
Q60) How often are railway bridges struck by vehicles and which are the most struck railway bridges in Britain?
A60) 1,666 bridges were struck by vehicles in 2024/25 – roughly one every five hours. This represents an 8.75 per cent increase on the previous year.
These strikes cost Britain’s rail industry around £12m in delays and cancellations and caused over 120 days (186,384 minutes) of delays for rail passengers
Watling Street A5 in Hinckley tops the list as Britain’s most bashed bridge with 22 recorded incidents in 2024/25. This is followed by Harlaxton Road, Grantham with 18 strikes.
Bridge strikes reported across the railway network in the last five financial years are as follows:-
Year 2020/21 – 1,650 strikes
Year 2021/22 – 1,864 strikes
Year 2022/23 – 1,588 strikes
Year 2023/24 – 1,532 strikes
Year 2024/25 – 1666 strikes
Source: Network Rail
Q61) What is the Blue Badge Scheme?
A61) The Blue Badge scheme is designed to help people with disabilities or health conditions park closer to their destination. The eligibility criteria and the information that you need to apply for a Blue Badge can be viewed here.
Eligibilty for a badge was extended to people who cannot walk as part of a journey without considerable psychological distress or the risk of serious harm in August 2019.
The way in which a Blue Badge can be used differs in England, Scotland and Wales. Full details can be viewed here.
You can apply for, or re-new, a Blue Badge here.
Q62) How many Blue Badges are on issue in England?
A62) In England, there were 3.07 million valid Blue Badges held as at 31 March 2025, an increase of 8 per cent (228,000 badges) when compared with the previous year.
On 31 March 2025, 5.2 per cent of the population in England held a valid Blue Badge, up from 4.9 per cent the previous year. The region with the most Blue Badge holders as a proportion of their population was the North East (6.1 per cent). The region with the lowest proportion was London (3.5 per cent).
As at 31 March 2025, 3.22 million people (5.5 per cent of the population in England) were entitled to a Blue Badge without further assessment (previously known as automatically entitled). However, the number and proportion of people entitled to a Blue Badge without further assessment who hold a Blue Badge has been falling since 2020. On 31 March 2025, 37 per cent of people entitled to a Blue Badge without further assessment held one. The equivalent figure was 46 per cent in 2020.
Source: Blue Badge scheme statistics: April 2024 to March 2025
Q63) How many Blue Badges were lost or stolen in England in the year ending 31 March 2025?
A63) In England, 6,600 badges in the year ending 31 March 2025 were reported to be lost or stolen. Of these, 78 per cent (5,200) were reported to be lost and 22 per cent (1,400) were stolen. The figures reflect cases that have been recorded in the Blue Badge Digital Service database. It is possible that not all instances of loss or theft will be reported and recorded, and therefore will not be included in these figures.
Source: Blue Badge scheme statistics: April 2024 to March 2025