There are now more than four million vans on UK roads, a record high according to Motorparc data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

There are more vans on UK roads than ever before, according to the SMMT (image courtesy of SMMT)

The number of vans on our roads has risen by 4.3% over the last year, an increase the SMMT believes is linked to rising business confidence and rapid growth in online shopping.  Here’s a few surprising facts about the UK’s vans:

• If you parked all the vans in the UK end-to-end, they would stretch 28 times the length of the A1.
• The combined payload volume of all the vans in the UK adds up to 26.2 million cubic metres – the equivalent of 10,483 Olympic swimming pools.
• More than half (57.0%) of the vans on the road are white, with silver (11.4%) in second place and blue (9.0%) third.

Demand for new vans in the UK is now at record levels: registrations grew 1.2% in the first quarter of 2016, following a bumper 2015 which saw more than 370,000 units registered. Vans now cover around 45 billion miles across the UK each year. This makes it important that the van parc is kept modern and is well maintained in order to minimise its carbon footprint.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said:

“Commercial vehicles have never been more important to the British economy, transporting vital goods and services using the latest low emission technology. The CV Show will demonstrate the huge progress that the whole industry continues to make, with a wealth of new products on display from manufacturers, suppliers, aftermarket companies and service providers.”

According to the SMMT, the commercial vehicle sector contributes £11bn annually to the UK economy. CVs cover 61 billion miles each year in the UK, with vans account 45 billion of these – an all-time high. Almost 3,000 tonnes of goods are moved by road every minute – three times more than by water and rail combined.