Accredited official statistics

Domestic road freight statistics, United Kingdom: April 2025 to March 2026

Published 5 August 2026

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 and Northern Ireland (NI) registered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) operating in the UK between April 2025 and March 2026.

It also includes 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.

The previous more detailed annual release on domestic road freight for 2025 is also available.

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 total amount of goods transported around the UK by 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.

Vehicle distance: distance travelled, measured in kilometres. This is a measure of the total distance travelled by GB-registered HGVs.

Headline figures

In the 12-month period ending March 2026,

1.56 billion tonnes

of goods were lifted by GB-registered HGVs operating in the UK, which remained similar to the previous 12-month period ending March 2025.

Infographic 1: Total amount of domestic goods lifted, goods moved, and vehicle distance travelled by GB-registered HGVs in the 12-month period ending March 2026 and quarterly trends Table RFS0101

Infographic 1 shows that in the 12-month period ending March 2026, GB-registered HGVs transporting freight within the UK:

• lifted 1.56 billion tonnes of goods, which is similar to the previous 12-month period ending March 2025 (1.56 billion tonnes)

• moved 164 billion tonne kilometres of goods, which is 1% lower than the previous 12-month period ending March 2025 (165 billion tonne kilometres)

• travelled 19.0 billion kilometres, which is 1% lower than the previous 12-month period ending March 2025 (19.1 billion kilometres)

In quarter 1 2026, the most recent quarter of data, GB-registered HGVs transporting freight within the UK lifted 387 million tonnes. This is an increase of 3% compared to the previous quarter (377 million tonnes in quarter 4 2025), and an increase of 8% compared to the same quarter a year ago (360 million tonnes in quarter 1 2025).

Trends

Domestic road freight has been broadly stable since the earliest comparable data in quarter 3 2021, with a very slight downwards trend.

In 2025, the total amount of goods lifted decreased by 3% (1.53 billion tonnes) compared to 1.59 billion tonnes in 2024.

During 2025, the amount of goods lifted fluctuated more than in 2024, varying by up to 14% between quarters with a high of 408 million tonnes in quarter 2 2025 and a low of 360 million tonnes in quarter 1 2025.

The amount of goods lifted in 2024 were more stable, varying by no more than 3% between quarters.

In January to March 2026 (quarter 1), 387 million tonnes of goods were lifted, which was 8% higher than in the same period the year before, January to March 2025 (360 million tonnes).

Freight operations

Empty running of GB-registered vehicles

Infographic 2: Distance travelled by empty GB-registered HGVs in the UK, million kilometres, in the 12-month period ending March 2026 Table RFS0117

Infographic 2 shows that in the 12-month period ending March 2026, GB-registered HGVs travelled a distance of 5,714 million kilometres whilst empty. This represented 30% of total (loaded and empty) vehicle distance travelled during the same period (18,975 million kilometres).

A similar proportion of the total vehicle distance that was travelled whilst empty was seen in the 12-month period ending March 2025 (31% compared with 30%).

In quarter 1 2026, the most recent quarter of data, GB-registered HGVs travelled a distance of 1,295 million kilometres whilst empty (28% of the total 4,548 million kilometres vehicle distance travelled). This was similar to the previous quarter (27% of the total 4,564 million kilometres distance travelled in quarter 4 2025) but lower than same period the year before, January to March 2025 (33% of the total 4,547 million kilometres distance travelled).

Road freight activity by Northern Ireland registered HGVs

Note

The domestic road freight haulage survey for Northern Ireland (NI) measures road freight activity within the UK by HGVs registered in Northern Ireland and is run in parallel to the domestic road freight haulage survey for GB-registered vehicles.

The sample sizes of the surveys are proportional to the numbers of HGVs in each country. Due to the smaller sample size for the NI survey, NI road freight estimates see more variation from quarter to quarter and further breakdowns of the data are often not possible to avoid disclosure.

Infographic 3: Road freight activity of NI-registered HGVs within the UK, in the 12-month period ending March 2026 Table RFS0130

Infographic 3 shows that in the 12-month period ending March 2026, within the UK, NI-registered HGVs transporting freight:

• lifted 67.3 million tonnes of goods, which is 13% higher than the previous 12-month period ending March 2025 (59.4 million tonnes)

• moved 6.0 billion tonne kilometres of goods, which is 2% higher than the previous 12-month period ending March 2025 (5.9 billion tonne kilometres)

Of the total amount of goods lifted by NI-registered vehicles within the UK, 77% (52.0 out of 67.3 million tonnes) was lifted completely within Northern Ireland in the 12-month period ending March 2026. This compares to 74% (43.9 out of 59.4 million tonnes) in the previous 12-month period ending March 2025.

HGV driver vacancies

Heavy Good Vehicles (HGVs) driver vacancies in the United Kingdom statistics: January 2023 to March 2026

These statistics include data about Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) driver vacancies from quarter 1 2023 to quarter 1 2026.

This is collected as part of the domestic road haulage survey.

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

The previous more detailed annual release on HGV driver vacancies in the UK for 2025 is also 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 1 2023 and quarter 1 2026 (Table RFS0301)

Chart 1 is a line chart which shows the proportion of HGV businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies remained similar at 25% (616 out of 2,424 businesses) in quarter 1 2026, compared to 26% (580 out of 2,242 businesses) in quarter 4 2025.

HGV businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies in quarter 1 2026 were similar to quarter 1 2025 (24%, 528 out of 2,201 businesses).

The top three most common reasons for vacancies remained the same in quarter 1 2026 as in quarter 4 2025. These were ‘existing drivers leaving industry’, ‘better pay or benefits elsewhere’ and ‘driver retirement’, each reported by around a third of businesses.

The proportion of HGV businesses reporting increasing wages of their HGV drivers in the preceding three months was (11%, 266 out of 2,424 businesses) in quarter 1 2026, which was comparable to the proportion seen in quarter 4 2025 (11%, 249 out of 2,242 businesses).

Further sources of information

Other statistics related to freight and trade are available:

International road freight statistics

Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe

ONS UK trade statistical bulletins

Port freight annual statistics

Rail freight statistics

Aviation 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 and NI-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 road freight is also available for 2025. It covers the type of goods carried by GB-registered HGVs, as well as their origin and destination, method of transportation, intermodal activity and empty running. It also covers the amount of goods carried by NI-registered HGVs.

A more detailed release on HGV driver vacancies in the UK is also available for 2025. 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 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 March 2026 was 8,462 vehicles and the response rate during this this period was also 100%. This release uses administrative data from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). More information is available on the impact of this in 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 2,424 responses for this 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.

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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Contact us

Road freight statistics

Email roadfreight.stats@dft.gov.uk

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