Accredited official statistics

Overview of the road freight sector: 2023

Published 11 July 2024

About this release

This release summarises the latest economic statistics about heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and the road freight industry. It is a compendium of different types of statistics relating to road freight from both the Department for Transport (DfT) and other government departments. For further information, please see the ‘about these statistics’ section.

Accompanying this release are statistics on international road freight, domestic road freight and HGV driver vacancies.

Road freight sector in the wider economy

Infographic 1: Overview of the road freight sector in the wider economy in the United Kingdom (UK) and Great Britain (GB)

Infographic 1 shows that in 2023:

• UK GDP was £2.3 trillion, a 0.1% increase from 2022 (£2.3 trillion) (Source: Office for National Statistics)
• the average price of diesel in the UK was 158 pence per litre, a decrease of 11% from record highs in 2022 (178 pence per litre) but an increase of 17% from 2021 (135 pence per litre) (Source: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
• HGV traffic estimates in Great Britain were 16.9 billion vehicle miles, which was 2.5% lower than 2022 levels (17.4 billion vehicle miles) (Source: Department for Transport)

Infographic 1 also shows that in 2022 (this is the latest data available at the time of publishing):

• the road freight sector approximate gross value added (GVA) at basic prices was £17,921 million, an increase of 16% from 2021 (£15,420 million), which is 17% of the Transport and Storage sector GVA (Source: Office for National Statistics)

Road freight sector and the environment in the UK

Infographic 2: Overview of the road freight sector and the environment in the UK

Infographic 2 shows that in 2022 :

• the domestic transport sector was responsible for 113.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in the UK in 2022, an increase of 2% from the 2021 figure of 111.4 million tonnes
• this follows a period of reduced domestic travel in 2020 and 2021 due to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions
• HGVs were responsible for 19.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in the UK in 2022, a decrease of 5% from the 2021 figure of 20.2 million tonnes
• the domestic transport sector remained the largest emitting sector in the UK, accounting for 28% of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in 2022 (26% in 2021), of which 17% were emitted by HGVs (18% in 2021)

Source: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Road freight sector including heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers

Infographic 3: Overview of the road freight sector

Infographic 3 shows that in 2022 (this is the latest data available at the time of publishing):

• the number of enterprises in the road freight transport sector was 55,733 in the UK, a decrease of 4% from 2021 (58,262) (Source: Office for National Statistics)

Infographic 3 also shows that in 2023:

• the number of HGV drivers in the UK was 271,800, a decrease of 5% from 2022 (286,500) (Source: Office for National Statistics)
• the median hourly pay for HGV drivers was £15.00, a 6% increase from 2022 (£14.19). This is 14% lower than the median hourly pay for all employees (£17.48) in 2023 (Source: Office for National Statistics)
• HGV drivers worked an average of 48 hours per week, the same as in 2022. This is 28% higher than the average for all employees (37.5 hours per week) (Source: Office for National Statistics)
• the number of licensed HGVs was 534,969, a decrease of 0.4% from 2022 (537,341) (Source: Department for Transport)
• the number of licensed HGVs which are zero emissions HGVs was 519, an increase of 10% from 2022 (471) (Source: Department of Transport)

Definition

Zero emission vehicles (ZEVs): vehicles which do not emit any carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from their tailpipe, including battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles.

About these statistics

This chapter of the publication is a compendium of different types of statistics relating to road freight from the Department for Transport and other government departments. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Name of category of statistics	Description
Gross domestic product	Further information on measuring gross domestic product (GDP) can be found in the Guide to the UK National Accounts, and more quality and methodology information (QMI) is available in the Gross domestic product (GDP) QMI. Source: Office for National Statistics
Gross value added	Annual Business Survey - Non-financial business economy, UK regional results: Sections A to S (standard industrial classification H49.41) Source: Office for National Statistics
Diesel prices	Monthly and annual prices of road fuels and petroleum products Source: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
HGV distance travelled	Road traffic estimates Source: Department for Transport Note: This is an estimate of the distance travelled by all heavy goods vehicles, not just road freight vehicles.
Emissions	Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics: 1990 to 2022 Source: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Number of road freight sector enterprises	Annual Business Survey - Non-financial business economy, UK regional results: Sections A to S (standard industrial classification H49.41) Source: Office for National Statistics
Number of HGV drivers	Annual population survey - regional - occupation (SOC2020 code: 8211) by sex by employment type Source: Office for National Statistics
Median hourly pay	Annual Survey of hours and Earnings (ASHE), table 14.5a (SOC2020 code: 8211) Source: Office for National Statistics
Paid hours worked	Annual Survey of hours and Earnings (ASHE), table 14.9a (SOC2020 code: 8211) Source: Office for National Statistics
Number of licensed HGVs including zero emissions HGVs	Vehicle licensing statistics: 2023 Source: Department of Transport

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Road freight statistics

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