Operations · Advisory · Research & Tools

Building the infrastructure behind modern driver work.

Managed driver operations, practical logistics advisory and technology ventures built from real operational experience.

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 (75.5 billion miles, 12 months ending March 2026). 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

207Mmiles/day

Average daily van and lorry miles, Great Britain

Live estimate

Cost

186.4pper litre

UK average diesel · +2.87p on the previous week

Latest official figure · weekly

Demand

27.4%of retail

Spending online, July 2026 · -0.8pp on June 2026

Jul 2026: 27.4%
Latest official figure · monthly

Workforce

33,000vacancies

UK transport & storage, April to June 2026

Q2 2026: 33k
Latest official figure · quarterly

Online share of retail spending, 24 months

Great Britain · seasonal peaks in November

24%27%30%33%Aug 2024Feb 2025Aug 2025Feb 2026Jul 2026Aug 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: 26.1%Jun 2025: 26.5%Jul 2025: 26.7%Aug 2025: 26.1%Sep 2025: 27.2%Oct 2025: 27.9%Nov 2025: 32.3%Dec 2025: 29.4%Jan 2026: 28.6%Feb 2026: 27.4%Mar 2026: 28.2%Apr 2026: 27.4%May 2026: 27.6%Jun 2026: 28.2%Jul 2026: 27.4%27.4%
View as table
MonthOnline share
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 202526.1%
Jun 202526.5%
Jul 202526.7%
Aug 202526.1%
Sep 202527.2%
Oct 202527.9%
Nov 202532.3%
Dec 202529.4%
Jan 202628.6%
Feb 202627.4%
Mar 202628.2%
Apr 202627.4%
May 202627.6%
Jun 202628.2%
Jul 202627.4%

What the signals suggest

Diesel averaged 186.36p a litre in the week beginning 7 September 2026, up 2.87p on the previous week. Petrol averaged 164.40p. The demand, workforce and movement figures alongside are unchanged since their last official release, each shown with its own reference period. Commercial vehicles continue to cover roughly 207 million miles across Great Britain every day.

Wentworth Ridge reading · 9 September 2026

Sources: DfT provisional road traffic estimates (published 2026-06-25) · Weekly road fuel prices (DESNZ) (week beginning 7 September 2026) · ONS internet sales (July 2026) · ONS vacancies (VACS02) (April to June 2026) · Last updated 2026-09-09

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?

Related ventures

Related ventures founded by Joseph Kimbugwe

Separate companies, founded and owned by Wentworth Ridge's founder; Wentworth Ridge Ltd holds no shares in them. Each attacks a form of the same problem: information loss and operational friction in real-world work.

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.