The Datum Report

Occupation 8211 · Process, plant and machine operatives

Heavy and large goods vehicle drivers

Half of full-time heavy and large goods vehicle drivers in the UK earn more than £39,905 a year, and half earn less.

HGV and LGV drivers collect, transport and deliver goods in rigid vehicles over 7.5 tonnes, articulated lorries and lorries pulling trailers.

How people enter it

No formal academic entry qualifications are required. The HGV/LGV test incorporates a medical examination, theory test and assessed road driving. HGV/LGV drivers of vehicles of 3.5 tonnes and over require a Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence). The minimum age for HGV/LGV driving after obtaining the qualification is 18 years. NVQs/SVQs, other vocational courses and apprenticeships relevant to this occupation are available at various levels.

What the work involves

• checks tyres, brakes, lights, oil, water and fuel levels and general condition of the vehicle
• drives vehicle from depot to loading/unloading point
• agrees delivery schedule and route with transport management
• assists with loading/unloading and ensures that load is evenly distributed and safely secured
• drives vehicle to destination in accordance with schedule
• maintains records of journey times, mileage and hours worked
• undertakes minor repairs and notifies supervisor of any mechanical faults

Also called

Haulage contractor · LGV/HGV driver · Lorry driver · Owner (HGV/LGV) · Tanker driver

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for heavy and large goods vehicle drivers, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 11 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Bus and coach drivers · Delivery drivers and couriers · Driving instructors · Road transport drivers n.e.c. · Taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs