Only the incredibly brave or stupid buy convertibles in the rain-afflicted United Kingdom, and it appears the residents of some districts are more courageous (or idiotic) than others. Citroen has conducted research that reveals the UK’s top ten convertible ‘hot spots’, as well as the top ten ‘cold spots’, and the results are somewhat surprising.
Leading the pack by a country mile is Elmbridge, Surrey, whose population of 130,900 registered 5,329 drop tops between them in March 2013, making for a convertible to resident radio of 1 convertible for every 25 residents. The City of London wasn’t far behind. Its residential population of 7,400 is relatively tiny due to the high concentration of businesses in the area, but that didn’t stop them registering 294 cars over the same period, making for the same 1:25 ratio as Elmbridge.
South Bucks, Surrey Heath, Windsor & Maidenhead , hart in Hampshire, Tandridge, Mole Valley, Uttlesford and Epping Forest rounded out the top ten hotspots.
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Eilean Siar in the Outer Hebrides topped the list of convertible cold spots, with 56 convertibles registered as of March 2012 from a residential population of 26,200. That’s surprisingly high if you ask us, given the average temperature in the region is just 6 degrees Celsius.
The 22,400 people of the Shetland Islands bought 57 convertibles between them, while 20,100 Orkney Islanders bought 55 drop tops – a 1:365 ratio. Strangest of all was the fact the people of the Scottish Highlands bought 1,198 convertibles — more than the London boroughs of Newham and Hackney.
The lowest ratio of convertible ownership fell to Kingston Upon Hull in East yorkshire, with just 1,493 drop tops registered between a quarter of a million people.
Check out the full list below.
| UK CONVERTIBLE ‘HOTSPOTS’ | |||||
| DISTRICT | COUNTY | CONVERTIBLES REGISTERED (MARCH 2012) |
POPULATION (MARCH 2011) | CONVERTIBLE: RESIDENT RATIO | |
| 1 | Elmbridge | Surrey | 5329 | 130900 | 01:25:00 |
| 2 | City of London | London | 294 | 7400 | 01:25:00 |
| 3 | South Bucks | Buckinghamshire | 2481 | 66900 | 01:27:00 |
| 4 | Surrey Heath | Surrey | 2940 | 86200 | 01:29:00 |
| 5 | Windsor & Maidenhead | Berkshire | 4864 | 144600 | 01:30:00 |
| 6 | Hart | Hampshire | 3004 | 91000 | 01:30:00 |
| 7 | Tandridge | Surrey | 2727 | 83000 | 01:30:00 |
| 8 | Mole Valley | Surrey | 2799 | 85400 | 01:31:00 |
| 9 | Uttlesford | Essex | 2559 | 79400 | 01:31:00 |
| 10 | Epping Forest | Essex | 4014 | 124700 | 01:31:00 |
| UK CONVERTIBLE ‘COLDSPOTS’ | |||||
| DISTRICT | COUNTY | CONVERTIBLES REGISTERED (MARCH 2012) |
POPULATION (MARCH 2011) |
CONVERTIBLE: RESIDENT RATIO |
|
| 379 | Eilean Siar | N/A | 56 | 26200 | 08:48:00 |
| 378 | Shetland Islands | N/A | 57 | 22400 | 07:33:00 |
| 377 | Orkney Islands | N/A | 55 | 20100 | 07:05:00 |
| 376 | Newham | London Borough | 1070 | 308000 | 05:48:00 |
| 375 | Hackney | London Borough | 1153 | 246300 | 04:34:00 |
| 374 | Isles of Scilly | N/A | 11 | 2200 | 04:20:00 |
| 373 | Manchester | Greater Manchester | 2643 | 503100 | 04:10:00 |
| 372 | Highland | N/A | 1198 | 221600 | 04:05:00 |
| 371 | Moray | N/A | 484 | 87700 | 04:01:00 |
| 370 | Kingston Upon Hull | East Yorkshire | 1493 | 256400 | 03:52:00 |
* DVLA information on the number of cars registered as of March 31 2012 showed that 5,329 convertible cars were registered in the Borough of Elmbridge, which was recorded as having a population of 130,900 in the 2011 Census.
Image: Flickr
