Transport of Goods by Road in Great Britain: 2002

The Continuing Survey of Road Goods Transport (CSRGT) provides information on the activity of heavy goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight. There were about 423 thousand of these vehicles in Great Britain in 2002.

Heavy goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight account for around 95 per cent of all freight moved by road. The remaining 5 per cent is carried by smaller commercial vehicles.

The survey is based upon a sample of about 365 vehicles each week. The operator of the goods vehicle is asked to provide details of all trips undertaken in one week: the domestic part of any trips which start or end in a foreign country are included. This annual report presents a detailed analysis of the survey in the form of a commentary on recent trends and a set of reference tables. Summary figures are published each year in the compendium Transport Statistics Great Britain. Although the CSRGT collects information about vehicles registered throughout the UK, all statistics included in this report are for vehicles registered in GB only, i.e. excluding vehicles registered in Northern Ireland.

The commentary on pages 3 to 17 highlights the main trends with charts and summary tables. Whilst most of the information in the commentary is based on trends over the last twenty-three years (1980 - 2002), table I, describing fuel consumption, is limited to the period since 1989 when collection began. Where appropriate the opportunity has also been taken to describe the trends since 1992, the end of the last economic trough.

The reference tables show data for 2002 and a number of tables also show comparisons with the previous 10 years' data. The tables include detailed analysis of activity by type and weight of vehicle, and by public and own account operation, length of haul, commodities carried, mode of appearance of load and inter-regional flows.

There are five appendices covering:

• survey characteristics and response rates
• sample design and sample errors
• commodity classification
• the Government Office Regions
• survey questionnaires

Publication details

Published on 15 May 2003 by Transport Statistics

Available by telephone order on +44 (0)20 7944 4261 SB (03) 22

E-mail roadfreight.stats@dft.gov.uk for queries concerning this publication.

For information about release of this product see National Statistics Online