EXCLUSIVE
TV stars appeal to Westminster for more support for our old cars
The stars of Wheeler Dealers have called formore investment and support for Britain’s classic car scene – saying that it generates more money than golf.
Speaking at an event at the Houses of Parliament Mike Brewer and Marc Priestley said that the economic boost provided by businesses, events and individual owners meant that the historic vehicle movement was hugely valuable to the UK’s economy, and that the government could do more to help encourage more people to buy and treasure older vehicles.
Marc said: ‘The classic car industry in the UK is massive – there are 4.6 million people in this country that would like to own classics and 18.7 million who see them as important to our country’s heritage. Annually £7.2bn a year is spent on this industry, which is £2bn more than is spent on golf – staggering when you think how much attention the golf industry gets.
‘It is an enormous amount of money, and both Mike and I would like to see that perpetuated through investment into and support for the classic car industry.’
The value of Britain’s historic vehicle industry has been measured at £7.2 billion a year by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC), up from £5.5 billion in 2016. The presenters argued that this meant that the hobby created significantly more wealth than golf, estimated by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews to be worth around £5.1 billion annually.
Mike added: ‘The classic car industry is hugely important and is well supported at some levels by the government, but I’d like to see more support in terms of incentivising garages and small business owners and maybe some tax breaks wherever they can be made to happen to help encourage this industry because £7.2bn is not to be laughed at.
‘The other thing about classic cars
