Accredited official statistics

Domestic road freight statistics: October 2022 to September 2023, United Kingdom

Published 14 March 2024

About this release

This publication includes both accredited official statistics and official statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. For more information, see the ‘about these statistics’ section.

This statistical release summarises the latest statistics on the domestic activity of GB-registered Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) operating in the UK between October 2022 and September 2023.

Following the publication of Heavy Goods Vehicle Driver Vacancies in the United Kingdom: October 2021 to September 2023, this release will now include statistics on HGV driver vacancies in the UK. For more information about these statistics, see the ‘HGV driver vacancies’ section.

The information is derived from surveys of businesses that operate HGVs.

A more detailed annual release on domestic road freight for 2022 is also available, as well as previous quarterly releases.

Note: Due to rounding, totals may not appear to equal the sum of their parts and there are differences in units between annual and quarterly figures.

Important note for users

Data collection for domestic road freight statistics moved from a paper to online survey midway through 2021. An investigation of the data concluded that the paper data up to quarter 2 (April to June) 2021 and online data since quarter 3 (July to September) 2021 should not be compared. A number of factors related to the online data collection were considered, alongside other external factors which may have influenced recent data changes.

A detailed explanation of the methodology change and the impact on the data can be found within the methodology note.

Definitions

HGV: a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes.The gross vehicle weight is the weight of the vehicle plus the maximum possible weight of goods that can be carried.

Quarter: a calendar year quarter. In this publication, quarter 1 refers to January to March, quarter 2 refers to April to June, quarter 3 refers to July to September, and quarter 4 refers to October to December.

Goods lifted: the weight of goods carried, measured in tonnes. This is a measure of the amount of goods transported around the UK by GB-registered HGVs.

Goods moved: the weight of goods carried, multiplied by the distance hauled, measured in tonne kilometres. This is a measure of the total activity of GB-registered HGVs, accounting for both the distance travelled by each vehicle and the weight of its load.

Headline figures

In the 12-month period ending September 2023, 1.60 billion tonnes of goods were lifted by GB-registered HGVs operating in the UK, which is 3% lower than the previous 12-month period ending September 2022.

Yearly trends

This section compares the most recent 12-month period to the previous 12-month period.

Infographic 1: Total amount of domestic goods lifted, goods moved, and vehicle kilometres travelled by GB-registered HGVs in the 12-month period ending September 2023 Table RFS0101

The amount of goods lifted was 1.60 billion tonnes in the 12-month period ending September 2023. This was a decrease of 3% compared to the previous 12-month period ending September 2022 (1.65 billion tonnes).

The amount of goods moved was 170 billion tonne kilometres in the 12-month period ending September 2023. This was a decrease of 4% compared to the previous 12-month period ending September 2022 (178 billion tonne kilometres).

The distance travelled was 19.5 billion kilometres. This was the same as the previous 12-month period ending September 2022.

The decrease in the most recent 12-month period was driven by the lower activity in quarter 1 2023. This could have been driven by lower activity following the Christmas period and may have reflected challenges in the economy at the time.

Quarterly trends

This section compares the most recent quarter, quarter 3 2023, to previous quarters. Domestic road freight in quarter 3 2023 was broadly like quarter 2 2023.

Infographic 2: Quarterly trends of domestic goods lifted, goods moved, and vehicle kilometres travelled by GB-registered HGVs, quarter 3 2021 to quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0101

The amount of goods lifted was 411 million tonnes in quarter 3 2023. This was an increase of 1% compared to the previous quarter (407 million tonnes) and slightly lower than the same quarter a year ago (413 million tonnes).

The amount of goods moved was 44 billion tonnes in quarter 3 2023. It was the same as the previous quarter and the same quarter a year ago.

The distance travelled was 5,125 million kilometres in quarter 3 2023. An increase of 4% compared to the previous quarter (4,941 million kilometres) and an increase of 8% compared to the same quarter a year ago at (4,739 million kilometres).

Road freight data is collected for a week at a time, with each week assigned to a single quarter. Data from 26 December to 1 January 2023 has been attributed to quarter 1 2023. Given that road freight activity is low in this period, this will explain some, but not all, of the reduction from quarter 4 2022 to quarter 1 2023.

HGV driver vacancies

Heavy Good Vehicles (HGVs) driver vacancies in the United Kingdom statistics: October 2021 to December 2024

These statistics include data about Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) driver vacancies from quarter 4 2021 to quarter 4 2023.

This is collected as part of the domestic road haulage survey. These statistics are more up to date than our domestic road freight statistics, due to quicker processing time, as the survey responses require less validation than our main domestic road freight survey responses.

HGV businesses are asked about driver vacancies, the impact of vacancies on deliveries, financial incentives and wage increases for their HGV drivers.

A more detailed release on HGV driver vacancies in the UK statistics and accompanying data tables are available.

HGV businesses were asked whether they had any driver vacancies at the time of the survey.

Chart 1: HGV businesses on whether they had HGV driver vacancies, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 4 2023 Table RFS0301

Chart 1 is a line chart which shows the proportion of HGV businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies has continued to fall from 23% (495 out of 2,186 businesses) in quarter 3 2023 to 18% (374 out of 2,095 businesses) in quarter 4 2023.

This compares to 43% (888 out of 2,077 businesses) in quarter 4 2021, which data suggests was the peak of the HGV driver shortage.

Further sources of information

Other statistics related to freight and trade are available.

International road freight statistics: 2022

Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: 2022

ONS UK trade statistical bulletins

Port freight annual statistics: 2022

Rail freight statistics factsheet: 2023

Aviation statistics

Please contact road freight statistics if you have any questions about the Department for Transport’s (DfT) road freight statistics.

About these statistics

This publication is a compendium of both accredited official statistics and official statistics. The type of statistics presented is detailed in the table below.

Name of category of statistics	Label	Description
Domestic road freight statistics	Accredited Official Statistics	These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in December 2016. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
HGV driver vacancies in the UK statistics	Official statistics	These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. More information about these statistics can be found in the statistical release.

Data source

Previously domestic road freight data was collected via paper surveys until 1 August 2021, when the method to collect data transitioned to an online survey.

This short statistical release provides the latest headline statistics on the amount of goods carried by GB-registered HGVs and the distance they travelled. It will now also provide the latest statistics on HGV driver vacancies in the UK. This release is published each quarter.

A more detailed annual release on domestic annual release is also available for 2022. It covers the type of goods carried by GB-registered HGVs, as well as their of origin and destination, method of transportation, intermodal activity and empty running.

A more detailed release on HGV driver vacancies in the UK is also available between October 2021 and September 2023. It covers HGV driver vacancies, the impact of vacancies on deliveries, financial incentives and wage increases for HGV drivers.

Accompanying data tables are available which give further detail on the key results presented in this statistical release.

Further information about the statistics and methodology in this report can be found in the road freight domestic and international statistics guidance.

Strengths and weaknesses of data

Domestic road freight data

The domestic road freight figures in this release are derived from a continuous survey sent to road freight businesses, the domestic road haulage survey. The survey provides information on the activity of UK-registered HGVs operating across the UK only.

These statistics exclude HGVs registered in Northern Ireland, foreign-registered HGVs and vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 3.5 tonnes or less (Light Goods Vehicles and Vans).

The figures also exclude GB-registered HGVs when operating outside of the UK. For information on GB-registered HGVs making international trips, please see the accompanying International Road Freight Statistics.

This survey is based on a stratified sample of HGVs. Figures are weighted to be representative of the HGV population however, like any survey, the figures in this publication are estimates with potential sampling errors.

Guidance on the methods used to compile these statistics can be found in the Road Freight Statistics notes and definitions. The sample size for the 12-month period ending September 2023 was 8,261 vehicles.

This release uses administrative data from DVLA and DVSA. More detail is available on the impact of this on the quality of these statistics.

HGV driver vacancies data

The HGV driver vacancies figures in this release are also collected as part of the domestic road haulage survey.

An additional section with questions on HGV driver vacancies was added in October 2021 in response to the shortage of HGV drivers. The estimates in this release are derived from this section. There are about 2,000 to 2,400 responses per quarter (Table RFS0309).

Respondents will vary significantly between businesses. The individual completing the survey could be an HGV driver, a business owner, or an administrative staff. Therefore, as they may not know all the business’ information, we have provided a ‘do not know’ option in the survey questions.

These statistics are timelier than our domestic road freight statistics, due to quicker processing time, as the survey responses require less validation than our main domestic road freight survey responses.

Data comparability and 2021 methodology change

Before quarter 3 2021, data was collected via paper questionnaires. At the start of quarter 3 2021, the survey forms transitioned from paper to online format. Here, the vehicle operator provides the same information as previously requested in the paper survey. The new online survey has been made more intuitive based on extensive user testing.

The structure has been streamlined and guidance provided for each relevant question to aid interpretation. This increases the likelihood of respondents providing information that more accurately reflects the vehicles true activity, therefore providing more accurate estimates of the overall HGV population.

Due to the methodology change, comparisons between paper (before quarter 3 2021) and online data should not be made. This means no long-term data trends are available for these statistics. More information regarding the methodology change can be found within the methodology note. Long term trends on the level of HGV traffic in Great Britain over time are available in DfT’s Road Traffic Statistics.

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