1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188 
Freight market records 1% year on year increase
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE AMOUNT OF freight carried by British trucks rose by 1% last year compared to the year before, the Department for Transport announced last week.
Although total freight carried increased, distance travelled was unchanged at 22.2bn kilometres.
There were 426,000 goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes registered in the UK in 2003.
The survey's figures are based on a weekly sample of nearly 400 vehicles. Analysis within the report indicates that the amount of freight carried has increased by 69% since 1980, although it has remained fairly constant since 1998 after a
spurt of growth in the five years before that.
Since 1980 articulated trucks have prospered at the expense of their rigid cousins: goods lifted by artics have increased by 95% while those carried by rigids have declined by 12%.
The long-term trend toward fewer vehicles carrying more freight is reflected in a decrease in the total number of registered goods vehicles from 475,000 in 1980 to today's 426,000. The number of rigids has fallen from 375,000 to 309,000 in the same time, with artics increasing from 100,000 to 117,000. • Full survey at www.dft.gov.uk