THREE times more people in the Isle of Man are interested in cherished car number plates than the economy, according to statistics released yesterday by government.
The figures have been released by the Department of Economic Development in response to a written Tynwald question.
A table of the top 100 downloads from the Isle of Man government’s official website has provided some revealing statistics with the Cherished Vehicle Numbers Availability List on top of the pile by some margin with the only 5-figure sum - 12,442.
Meanwhile, interest in the Manx economy comes much further down the list by comparison with 4,324 downloads of the Economy 2014 Report.
Another surprise is the number of downloads for the TT events schedule which comes quite a distance down the list with only 3,304.
The range of subjects covered is enormous and covers topics ranging from cinema seating plans and school holiday dates to Japanese knotweed and maps of the Isle of Man. However, the majority of downloads involve documents such as driving licence renewal forms and many of a financial nature, such as benefits and income tax.
It also emerges that Manx residents are not too good at looking after their passports! During the last 12 months an amazing 3,193 notifications were received that passports had been stolen or lost. It equates to 3.6% of the whole population.
