Amazonian Effort Required on HGV Parking and Cargo Crime Says Broker

Fleet transport insurance broker, McCarron Coates, has responded to recent news of the £40bn investment by Amazon, which will create four new facilities, including two new fulfilment centres, by calling for more HGV parking facilities and more action on cargo theft.

With two fulfilment centres already due to open in Hull and Northampton in 2025/6, and now two more in the East Midlands in 2027 through this latest investment, McCarron Coates says fast ministerial action is required.

Director Ian McCarron says, “To create more distribution hubs without having the parking infrastructure in place to cope with an accompanying increase in vehicles is the equivalent of building hundreds of houses without any school capacity nearby. The HGV parking system is already at breaking point and too little has been done to respond to the post-pandemic boom in online shopping.  Things are only going to get worse, unless someone takes swift action.”

The broker points to the fact that, despite £13m investment in HGV facilities that has recently been the catalyst for 430 new overnight parking places for HGV drivers[1], England alone is around 4000 places short. 

The shortfall in England, even back in 2022, between parking spaces at on-site facilities and the number of lorries parked up within five kilometres of the strategic road network was 4473.[2]  Of the 21,234 vehicles parked up in total, 73% were UK-registered and 27% were non-UK registered.  At that point, the situation with regard to lorry parking was described as being “at nearly critical level.”

This is forcing lorries to use rural lay-bys or lay-bys off A-roads as parking options. The result is annoyance for local residents and often a bio-hazard, as waste is discarded at these spots.

There is also an imbalance in HGV parking provision, with many rural locations left behind, despite recent financial support from funds like the National Highways’ Users and Communities Designated Fund.

To address this, McCarron Coates wants to see the Government doing more than applauding Amazon’s decision and actually investing in the HGV parking infrastructure that will be required.  The starting point for this is a simplification of planning policy. It will also require a good level of financial investment, if the current parking pressures are not to be raised to crisis point.

In addition to all of this, some lorry drivers do not feel secure in motorway service stations.  With only basic security measures in place, thefts from lorries parked up at motorway services are rife.  Lorry drivers would rather take their chances and park in a lay-by than be a sitting duck for organised gangs targeting service stations.

Here, McCarron Coates is reiterating its June 2022 call for a new freight crime category to be created in official crime reporting systems. Currently, cargo theft is often logged as ‘theft from vehicle’ – something that some police forces do not investigate further.  Thieves know this and rely on cargo thefts not being followed up.  Having a cargo theft tag applied in crime reporting would make a huge difference to NAVCIS - the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service – who McCarron Coates liaised with in 2022.

Three years for calling for this distinct crime tag, nothing has been done.  This allows the level of freight crime to go under the radar, allowing organised gangs to continue to profit.

Unless cargo thefts can be identified separately and not simply labelled ‘theft from vehicle’, as they are now, they will continue to cost the UK economy between £680m and £700m a year.  HGV drivers will continue to bear the cost of crime through their insurance premiums. This is because many forces do not investigate cases that are labelled ‘theft from vehicle’.  Thieves are aware of this and know they can often get away with their crime.

Ian McCarron, says, “HGV drivers continue to be treated like second-class citizens, despite being the backbone of the UK distribution system.  We have already allowed huge distribution centres to be built and seen a huge boom in demand for home deliveries but have failed to recognise that associated lorry parking facilities are also required. The latest news about new Amazon facilities is great news, on the one hand, but the Government needs to step up and recognise this will inevitably mean more HGVs looking for safe and secure parking facilities overnight and when needing to stop for breaks.

Fellow director, Paul Coates, adds,  “Lorry drivers know that, if they have not arrived at a motorway services or truck stop by 5pm, there will be no room at the inn. The more distribution centres that are built, the worse the problems are going to get, as there is simply no provision being made for HGV facilities.  This will either create more issues for local residents, or lead to an increase in non-compliance with driving hours, which creates major risks, due to driver fatigue.”

Lorry drivers are not allowed to drive for more than 9 hours per day (on two days a week they can drive for a maximum of 10 hours per day).  After driving for 4.5 hours, they must take a break of at least 45 minutes, which can be split into 15 minutes and then 30 minutes.

Despite these strict hours’ limits, public inquiries into drivers’ hours infringements are already on the rise.  The Traffic Commissioners made this point in their annual review last year, highlighting cases of drivers using each other’s card to avoid resting, altering tacho records and driving without tachograph cards. [3]

“We need the Government to plan ahead and make provision for HGV parking now, before these new centres are built,” says Coates. “It’s time for HGV drivers’ needs to become a top priority and be considered within planning decisions. Alongside this, HGV drivers need to be better protected when it comes to criminal activity.”

More information about McCarron Coates can be found at www.mccarroncoates.com

[1] https://logistics.org.uk/media/press-releases/2024/october/additional-lorry-parking-is-welcomed-but-more-need

[2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6454ab292f62220013a6a572/national-survey-of-lorry-parking-2022-part-one.pdf

[3] https://www.commercialmotor.com/news/article/tcs-warn-about-increasing-drivers-hours-offences

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Editors notes

McCarron Coates is an award-winning insurance broker, based in Morley, Leeds, which is a specialist in fleet transport insurance and other niche areas such as roofing, scaffolding and woodworking insurance. It also supplies many other types of commercial insurance policies and risk management services, to clients nationwide and is highly respected as an industry thought-leader, within its individual spheres of influence.