UK lacks data on whether new HGV drivers find work, report warns

The UK has no clear way to track whether newly qualified HGV drivers enter paid work and remain in the sector, according to a new report from Fueler Consulting.

The report, titled Driving Blind, says the UK can count HGV test passes, licences and vacancies, but cannot say how many newly qualified drivers become active professional drivers.

Fueler Consulting said this creates a major gap in understanding the HGV driver pipeline and leaves the logistics sector poorly equipped to prevent another driver shortage.

The report is the third part of Fueler’s UK HGV driver market analysis series. It follows earlier work on the transition from licence acquisition to paid work and the insurance restrictions that can prevent newly qualified drivers from securing their first HGV job.

Fueler said the UK has no live dashboard for HGV driver availability, no national employment outcome tracking for newly qualified drivers, no real-time vacancy index, no national driver health baseline and no sector-wide system for learning from near misses before they become serious incidents.

The report pointed to Department for Transport road freight statistics published in May 2026, which showed a 31% HGV driver vacancy rate in Q3 2025, 23% missed deliveries in Q4 2025 and driver pay 18% below the all-employee median.

Fueler said the figures were already 5 months old when published and argued that delayed data makes it harder to identify shortages before they become operationally disruptive.

The report said the UK currently records different parts of the driver journey separately, with DVSA recording test passes, DVLA recording licences and HMRC recording employment.