Road freight statistics: 2024
Road freight transported by Great Britain and UK registered heavy goods vehicles (HGV). It also includes statistics on HGV driver vacancies in the UK.
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Details
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
This publication includes both accredited official statistics and official statistics. are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
You are welcome to contact us directly by e-mailing road freight statistics with any comments about how we meet these standards.
Important note for users
Domestic road freight data
Data collection for road freight statistics moved from a paper to online survey midway through 2021. An investigation of the data has concluded that the paper data up to June 2021 (quarter 2), and online data from July 2021 (quarter 3) onwards, for domestic road freight statistics should not be compared.
A detailed explanation of the methodology change and the impact on the domestic road freight data can be found within the聽methodology note.
International road freight data
This publication includes revisions to the statistics for the period January 2022 to December 2023.This change is based on revisions to statistics in the separate publication on聽Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: 2024. These figures are used to calculate international road freight statistics by scaling the results of the international road freight survey to be representative of the total activity by all聽GB-谤别驳颈蝉迟别谤别诲听HGVs.
Headline figures
Statistics on the domestic activity of聽GB-registered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) operating in the聽UK聽in 2024
In 2024:
- 1.59 billion tonnes of goods were lifted by聽GB-谤别驳颈蝉迟别谤别诲听HGVs聽operating in the聽UK
- 168 billion tonne kilometres of goods were moved by聽GB-谤别驳颈蝉迟别谤别诲听HGVs聽operating in the聽UK
- 19.4 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled聽GB-谤别驳颈蝉迟别谤别诲听HGVs聽operating in the聽UK
Statistics on聽HGV聽driver vacancies in the聽UK in 2024
滨苍听2024:
- The proportion of HGV聽businesses reporting聽HGV聽driver vacancies has decreased to 24% in聽quarter 4聽2024, from 28% in quarter 2 2024. This is the first fall in reported HGV driver vacancies following increases since quarter 4听2023
- The top three most common reason for driver vacancies remained the same in 2024 as in 2023. These were 鈥榖etter pay or benefit elsewhere鈥�, 鈥榚xisting driver leaving industry鈥� and 鈥榙river retirement鈥�, each reported by a third of businesses
Statistics on the international activity of聽UK-谤别驳颈蝉迟别谤别诲听HGVs聽in 2024
In 2024:
- 5.7 million tonnes of goods were lifted by聽UK-谤别驳颈蝉迟别谤别诲听HGVs聽operating internationally
- 3.4 billion tonne kilometres of goods were moved by聽UK-谤别驳颈蝉迟别谤别诲听HGVs聽operating internationally
The previous announcements of the聽UK聽leaving the European Union (EU) and subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and resulting supply chain聽disruption, have caused higher levels of volatility in international road freight statistics over the past 6 years. Therefore, caution should be taken when comparing this data to previous time periods.
Contact us
Road freight statistics
Email roadfreight.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
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Updates to this page
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Comparison between 2024 and 2023's volume of freight moved by GB-registered HGVs corrected in the Domestic report.
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First published.