Massive shortage of van and truck drivers for Christmas deliveries

Esendex, the retail communications business, has analysed data to calculate the vacancy rate for the most common delivery job titles. The report highlights over 11,000 open vacancies for HGV drivers and 13,000 for delivery drivers.

‘Picker packer’ roles also face a notable shortfall, with 5,000 positions unfilled, although vacancies for ‘logistics coordinators’ and ‘parcel sorters’ remain comparatively lower at 200 and 25 respectively.

The company’s Delivery Delays report shows a significant variation in delivery vacancies across regions and cities in the UK, indicating that some retailers may face a critical challenge in meeting rising consumer demand during this year’s Christmas period, which is expected to see a 5.6% increase in sales compared with last year.

Within England, the South West region faces the largest shortage, with 1,931 delivery vacancies in total and a vacancy rate of 33.8 per 100,000 residents.

This was closely followed by the East of England, with a rate of 33.5, suggesting a potentially higher rate of delivery delays within these regions.

Conversely, the North East of England had a much lower vacancy rate of 9.6, with just 256 vacancies in total, which could lead to a more stable delivery season.

At a city level, Bristol stands out as the city most at risk for delivery delays, with a staggering 98.0 vacancies per 100,000 residents. As a critical shortage in one of the UK’s key cultural hubs, the resulting disruption could widely impact local businesses and shoppers.

Peterborough and Southampton followed behind, with a rate of 86.9 and 75.2 vacancies per capita respectively, further indicating the vulnerability of these cities to potential delays this close to the holiday season.

Shoppers in Manchester can also expect to experience some delays to parcels. Although the third largest city in the UK, there were over 230 vacancies in total for delivery jobs, creating a delivery gap of 59.4 vacancies per 100,000 residents.

York, Oxford, and Leeds round out the top 10 cities most at risk.

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