DfT STATISTICS: 2015 For Taxi and PrivaTe Hire veHicles


In August 2015 the Department for Transport released the statistical data for all taxis and private hire vehicles in England as of 31st March, 2015. Figures are updated every two years via surveys of each licensing authority in England and Wales.


Comparable records were first recorded in 2005. The figures make for some very interesting reading.


 RECORD LEVELS OF TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES IN ENGLAND 2015  9.3% INCREASE SINCE 2013  RECORD LEVELS OF DRIVER LICENCES IN ENGLAND 2015  4.3% INCREASE SINCE 2013  LONDON ACCOUNTS FOR 35% OF ALL LICENSED VEHICLES


Department for Transport licence statistics (2510) 2015


Every two years the Department for Transport produces vehicle licence statistics for our industry. You will have had a link for the latest set in last month’s PHTM, and you will have had an opportunity to read the ten-page fan- fare of success carried on throughout the document.


Now some of you may be aware that the National Association does our own survey every two years, and in 2014 we found 42.6 per cent of councils had gone down in vehicle numbers regularly since 2010. So when we saw this DfT fanfare, we thought we would check this out; and in order for us to get the message to our readers, we have put the comparison figures between the last three NPHA surveys compared with the DfT surveys


in this issue of the paper. (See pages 74-77 for that list).


If you look at this information you will see some figures bracketed in red. We bracketed them in red because they appeared to be incorrect, and because there were a good many of these, we sent it on to councils to check and verify their figures.


Not all have


replied, but where they have done so, the cor- rections will be seen in black.


TABLE 1 31%


CHANGE IN TOTAL LICENSED VEHICLES BY REGION (2013-2015) ENGLAND


69%


We thought long and hard about how to get to readers our opinion that this fanfare is really a requiem. And first you will see this map, which was on page 6 of the DfT document; on that page it said, “The number of total licensed vehicles increased in 193 out of 293 licensing authorities in England.” We decided to inves- tigate this.


If you look at the tables you will see some green boxes (pages 74-77): those green boxes highlight where there has been a decrease in numbers, not an increase. If you want to count them, there are 182 councils that have had a decrease in either hackney carriages, or private hire, or both; in fact 44 of those councils have lost numbers in both types of vehicle licence.


As you can see on the map on page 73, there are six councils highlighted as being the lead- ers in increased and decreased numbers. As they were the six main trumpet players of the fanfare, we decided to check them out as well. You can see the calculations on the two boxes headed “decreased figures” and “increased figures” (table 1 and table 2 page 73). The boxes headed “2013” and “2015” are the DfT figures from their sheet; the figures in red we


were doubtful about, so we checked with the councils involved. Their corrections are in the column “Corrected figures”; you will see that Chorley hasn’t really decreased almost 50 per cent as stated – it is actually 15 per cent. East Northants doesn’t lose at all, but has a gain of 1.8 per cent. And East Riding is half of what the DfT said. In increased figures, Har- borough should be in decrease, not 116 per cent increase.


Shropshire was supposed to


be 85.8 per cent increase; I don’t know what sort of calculator they were using, but I made it 5.88 per cent. Same sort of figures – eights and fives – but not exactly the same value. Then I saw that Telford and Wrekin being in Shropshire; maybe they would have put those figures in as well.


So those figures were


included... and the increase comes down to 4.28 per cent.


So you can see that scepticism rules OK. But I didn’t mention Rossendale.


marks all over that entry because Rossendale is still having problems with their computers, but as plates numbered over 2600 have been seen on the streets (of other licensing areas) I am not prepared to go any further than the fol-


PIE CHARTS & GRIDS (DfTFIGURES)


LICENSED VEHICLES INENGLAND


I put question


PERCENTAGE OF VEHICLES:


35% 65%


LONDON v ENGLAND


72


OCTOBER 2015


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