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UK Logistics Pulse

The forces shaping movement, work and delivery

A changing view of the physical, commercial and workforce signals behind UK logistics, drawn from official national statistics and read together.

Live estimate

Estimated commercial vehicle miles travelled across Great Britain since midnight, vans and lorries combined. Derived from the latest Department for Transport rolling annual figures (76.6 billion miles, 12 months ending September 2025). An annualised indicator presented live, not vehicle tracking.

Every parcel is counted once; the difficulty of reaching the door usually is not. Explore the Observatory →

Movement

210Mmiles/day

Average daily van and lorry miles, Great Britain

Live estimate

Cost

164.8pper litre

UK average diesel · -2.35p on the previous week

Latest official figure · weekly

Demand

28.8%of retail

Spending online, May 2026 · +0.7pp on April 2026

May 2026: 28.8%
Latest official figure · monthly

Workforce

34,000vacancies

UK transport & storage, January to March 2026

Q1 2026: 34k
Latest official figure · quarterly

Online share of retail spending, 24 months

Great Britain · seasonal peaks in November

24%27%30%33%Jun 2024Dec 2024Jun 2025Dec 2025May 2026Jun 2024: 26.2%Jul 2024: 26.9%Aug 2024: 25.5%Sep 2024: 27%Oct 2024: 27.7%Nov 2024: 30.3%Dec 2024: 29%Jan 2025: 26.8%Feb 2025: 25.9%Mar 2025: 26.6%Apr 2025: 26.2%May 2025: 26.2%Jun 2025: 26.5%Jul 2025: 26.7%Aug 2025: 26.1%Sep 2025: 27.3%Oct 2025: 27.9%Nov 2025: 32.4%Dec 2025: 29.5%Jan 2026: 28.6%Feb 2026: 27.4%Mar 2026: 27.9%Apr 2026: 28.1%May 2026: 28.8%28.8%
View as table
MonthOnline share
Jun 202426.2%
Jul 202426.9%
Aug 202425.5%
Sep 202427%
Oct 202427.7%
Nov 202430.3%
Dec 202429%
Jan 202526.8%
Feb 202525.9%
Mar 202526.6%
Apr 202526.2%
May 202526.2%
Jun 202526.5%
Jul 202526.7%
Aug 202526.1%
Sep 202527.3%
Oct 202527.9%
Nov 202532.4%
Dec 202529.5%
Jan 202628.6%
Feb 202627.4%
Mar 202627.9%
Apr 202628.1%
May 202628.8%

What the signals suggest

Diesel eased 2.35p this week, giving route economics a little breathing room. Online demand strengthened again in May, at 28.8% of retail spending; structural demand for fulfilment remains firm. Transport and storage vacancies held at 34,000: well below the 2021 squeeze, but no longer falling, which suggests workforce pressure has stopped easing. Underneath it all, commercial vehicles keep covering roughly 210 million miles across Great Britain every day.

Wentworth Ridge reading · 12 July 2026

Sources: DfT provisional road traffic estimates (published 2025-12-10) · Weekly road fuel prices (DESNZ) (week beginning 6 July 2026) · ONS internet sales (May 2026) · ONS vacancies (VACS02) (January to March 2026) · Last updated 2026-07-12

Methodology

Live estimate: derived continuously from the latest official annual or quarterly total (daily estimated miles × proportion of the day elapsed, resetting at midnight UK time). It is a live presentation of an estimated rate, not measurement.

Latest official figure: the most recent value published by the named official source, shown with its reference period. Figures are updated when new releases are verified; if an update fails, the last verified value remains displayed with its original date.

Commercial vehicle miles combine van and lorry traffic. Van traffic includes tradespeople and other commercial activity beyond parcel delivery.

Operational credibility

Grounded in real delivery operations

This is not theory. Wentworth Ridge works inside the day-to-day realities of parcel delivery, and brings direct experience of the things that decide whether an operation succeeds.

  • National parcel networks
  • Depot-based delivery operations
  • Subcontracted driver teams
  • Route economics
  • Fleet and driver costs
  • Volume fluctuations
  • Compliance and onboarding
  • Service continuity

Operating as a company since 2019, with leadership drawing on more than twenty years of experience inside major UK parcel delivery networks.

Advisory

The questions we help answer

Practical advice grounded in the economics and operational realities of running driver-based businesses.

Is this delivery contract commercially viable?

What should I pay drivers?

Should I supply vehicles or use owner-drivers?

How do I scale without losing operational control?

What compliance processes do I need?

Where can technology remove operational debt?

Start with a conversation

Whether you need operational capacity, an experienced view of a logistics challenge or a partner for a new driver-focused venture, start with a conversation.