THE number of company cars on Britain’s roads fell last year but there was a 1.4% rise in the total number of vehicles registered, according to new data published by the Department for Transport.

There are now 33,369 million cars, taxis, motorcycles, mopeds, scooters, buses, coaches and commercial vehicles on the roads. But, the 2,410,000 company cars on the UK’s roads is a drop of 1% from the 2,434,000 on the roads in 2005.

The number of vehicles registered for the first time during 2006 was 3.6% lower than the number registered for the first time during 2005. With the exception of taxis there were decreases in first time registrations for all body types.

Changes from 2005 to 2006 in the number of vehicles being registered for the first time included:

The number of cars registered for the first time decreased by 4.2%

The number of company cars registered for the first time decreased by 3.2%

The number of light goods vehicles registered for the first time decreased by 0.4%

The number of motor cycles, scooters and mopeds registered for the first time decreased by 0.3%

The number of heavy goods vehicles registered for the first time decreased by 2.3%.