Increasing presence of foreign trucks on UK roads
- The UK looks eastwards to Europe as its principal trading partner. Just over one and a half million foreign registered goods vehicles travelled out of the UK on roro ferry services in 2006, a 45 per cent increase on the number seen in 2000
Roughly one in seven of the heaviest lorries on UK roads are registered abroad
- The expansion of the EU in 2004 has been accompanied by an infl ux of hauliers based in the East European accession states. There has been a fi vefold increase in the cross Channel movement of lgvs registered in new member states over the last four years. New member states’ total share of the cross Channel market now stands at 10.3 per cent up from 2.2 per cent in 2002
- A combination of a strong Pound against the Euro and strong economic growth relative to the rest of Europe has meant that UK international hauliers have not been able to capitalise on increased trade volumes. UK international hauliers have seen their market share slump from 50 per cent to 25 per cent over the last 10 years
- Continental hauliers usually have a markedly lower cost base than UK hauliers (NERA)
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