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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 (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

174.0pper litre

UK average diesel · +6.89p on the previous week

Latest official figure · weekly

Demand

28.3%of retail

Spending online, June 2026 · +0.6pp on May 2026

Jun 2026: 28.3%
Latest official figure · monthly

Workforce

32,000vacancies

UK transport & storage, April to June 2026

Q2 2026: 32k
Latest official figure · quarterly

Online share of retail spending, 24 months

Great Britain · seasonal peaks in November

24%27%30%33%Jul 2024Jan 2025Jul 2025Jan 2026Jun 2026Jul 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: 26.1%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: 28.5%Feb 2026: 27.4%Mar 2026: 28.2%Apr 2026: 27.4%May 2026: 27.7%Jun 2026: 28.3%28.3%
View as table
MonthOnline share
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 202526.1%
Jun 202526.5%
Jul 202526.7%
Aug 202526.1%
Sep 202527.2%
Oct 202527.9%
Nov 202532.3%
Dec 202529.4%
Jan 202628.5%
Feb 202627.4%
Mar 202628.2%
Apr 202627.4%
May 202627.7%
Jun 202628.3%

What the signals suggest

Fuel cost pressure is intensifying: average diesel jumped 6.89p in a week to 173.97p a litre, the second consecutive weekly rise and a much sharper move than the previous week's 2.56p (petrol climbed too, up 3.84p to 156.13p). For an operator running a typical 80-litre tank, that single week added roughly £5.50 to every fill. Online demand stayed firm in June at 28.3% of retail spending, up 0.6 points on May; structural demand for fulfilment remains solid. Transport and storage vacancies edged down to 32,000 in the spring quarter: hiring pressure is easing again, though the market remains far looser than the 2021 squeeze. Underneath it all, commercial vehicles keep covering roughly 207 million miles across Great Britain every day.

Wentworth Ridge reading · 29 July 2026

Sources: DfT provisional road traffic estimates (published 2026-06-25) · Weekly road fuel prices (DESNZ) (week beginning 27 July 2026) · ONS internet sales (June 2026) · ONS vacancies (VACS02) (April to June 2026) · Last updated 2026-07-29

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.