More than 2,000 UK road haulage companies entered insolvency between 2021 and 2025, almost double the total recorded in the previous five-year period, according to parliamentary data. The figures show 2,051 insolvencies in 2021–2025, up from 1,068 in 2016–2020 in the SIC 49410 category, freight transport by road.
Put another way, the UK lost road haulage firms at an average of almost eight insolvencies a week over those five years.
Here is the annual breakdown provided by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on 3 February 2026:
| Calendar Year | 49410 – Freight transport by road |
| 2016 | 146 |
| 2017 [note 1] | 195 |
| 2018 [note 1] | 247 |
| 2019 | 285 |
| 2020 | 195 |
| 2021 | 265 |
| 2022 | 411 |
| 2023 | 503 |
| 2024 | 471 |
| 2025 | 401 |
Note 1:…