Car Service, Local Car Services

Access Local Services Carless households - twice the difficulties
Households without access to a car are almost twice as likely to say they face difficulties in accessing at least one local service, according to 2001 figures.

Only 21 per cent of people in households with access to a car said they experience difficulties accessing either their chemist, General Practitioner (GP), post office, main food shop, or local hospital - compared to 38 per cent in households without a car.

People living in rural or deprived areas report only slightly more difficulty in accessing services than people living in more urban areas. Across each of the main services, use of the car is substantially greater in rural areas.

More than nine in ten people living in rural areas use the car for their main food shopping and for travel to the hospital. This compares with little more than seven in ten adults in urban areas for these services.

Overall, 20 per cent of adults said that they had difficulty getting to their local hospital. Less than six per cent experienced difficulty accessing their GP, post office, main food shop and chemist.

Women are more likely than men to report difficulty in accessing a chemist, GP, post office or main food shop. This reflects the longer journey times they experience and their lower car use.

Younger people, aged 16 to 24, and the elderly, aged 75 and over, have more difficulty accessing services than the general population. These differences remain, even when controlling for different levels of household car availability and other factors.