The Federation of British Historical Vehicle Clubs has issued a statement based on research by the FIA, conducted by Dr Paul Frost and Dr Chris Hart, that the historical movement in Britain is worth at least £3.2 billion in turnover each year. This represents a contribution to employment with 27,000 people earning some or all of their income from it, and shows that it encourages a substantial following among the public in traditional skills, and in spending considerable sums on specialist publications and attending vintage and historic vehicle events etc. Yet the vehicles involved account
for little more than 0.1 per cent of road traffic.

Obtaining this information involved 750,000 questionnaires in nine languages in five currencies, directed by the FIVA (the ruling body for classic cars, which among 10 other European federations showed an economic value of more than £16 billion. This is valuable ammunition should any government try to reintroduce road-fund taxing of older vehicles.

This has prompted a dream of SORN-registered vehicles being taxed and requiring third-party insurance because postmen and milkmen might suffer accidents on private land, or indeed a ban on using SORNed vehicles at all, even on the shortest private drive or in the smallest field. Fortunately this dream of mine ended in the world being obliterated by atomic bombs or global warming, so I knew I had been imagining absolute nonsense.