Access to driving in Scotland.

Note 10: Separate figures for taxi and private hire licences are not available.

Note 62: Statistics for East Renfrewshire have been entered to reflect the totals as of 2nd March, 2025.

Note 64: East Lothian Taxi and PHC Driver licenses are not recorded separately. A Driver licence will allow the holder to drive either licensed vehicle. All taxi’s are required to be Wheelchair Accessible. PHC vehicles are not subject to this requirement and those that are Wheelchair Accessible are not recorded.

Note 39: Percentage includes people for whom it was not known, or not recorded, what type of driving licence (if any) was held

Note 66: Response options for gender changed in 2022. Previously there were 4 response categories: Man/Boy; Woman/Girl; In another way; Refused. From 2022 onwards there are 3 response categories: Male; Female; Prefer not to say. For time series analysis all categories are presented. For results from 2022 onwards, only the 3 current responses are presented. While ‘Prefer not to say’ is not directly equivalent to ‘Refused’ there is likely to be considerable overlap, so for time series analysis both groups are represented by ‘Prefer not to say’. There is no 2022 equivalent of ‘In another way’. The proportion of respondents who gave these responses was historically not large enough to meet our reporting threshold, so there should be no functional effect on comparability across years.

Note 42: From 2012 Quarter 4 the question was amended to ask about access to cars / vans instead of just vans.

Note 43: Blue Badges for display on motor vehicles used by disabled persons were introduced on 1 April 2000.

Note 44: Totals relate to the number of badges on issue as at 31st March that year. Data prior to 2008 not available.

Note 45: The automatic category includes badges issued to individuals in receipt of the higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance, certain levels of Personal Independence Payment, a War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement, a lump sum (tariffs 1-8) of blind people. (Not subject to further assessment.)the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, or to blind or registered blind people. (Not subject to further assessment.)

Note 46: Badges issued in the discretionary category to people with a substantial permanent or temporary disability who are unable or virtually unable to walk or pose a risk to themselvesor others in traffic or who have difficulty using parking meters (Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 as amended). (May be subject to further assessment.)

Note 47: Aberdeenshire introduced an electronic data capture system in 2010; therefore figures may not be comparable with previous years.

Note 48: Glasgow changed data capture process in 2011; therefore figures may not be comparable with previous years.

Note 49: Highland Council, in April 2010, introduced a fee for the first time which may have contributed to the decline in number of badges issued.

Note 50: Orkney introduced an electronic system in 2009; therefore figures may not be comparable with previous years.

Note 51: Scottish Borders data was reviewed in 2012. Data is not available for previous years and is therefore excluded from the totals. Scottish Borders is included in the 2012 totals

Note 52: City of Edinburgh Council advised of error in 2013 total. Revised figure down from 27,309 to17,502

Note 53: The 2020 figures include cancelled and replaced badges as we now have the timestamps for those elements. This takes into account badges that may have been cancelled or replaced after March 2020.

National Records of Scotland output-area data · Original NRS geography index · Geographic Data Service preprocessing reference · NRS statistical disclosure control.

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