We’ve spoken before about how Christmas highlights the shortage of HGV drivers with the rise in deliveries at this time of the year. And while we may focus on the idea of that being Christmas presents not arriving on time, the bigger picture is in fact in relation to all those other traditional Christmas goodies.
Because Christmas just isn’t Christmas without all those trimmings and treats we surround ourselves with each year – all of which need the help of a robust HGV haulage industry to get to our homes in time for the holidays.
Don’t believe us?
Well, let’s take a look at the amount of Christmas cheer that needs to be delivered across our roads to make for a Merry Christmas and generally happy holiday. Because year on year the industry plays its part in ensuring delivery of:
8 Million Christmas Trees
That’s right. In the UK each year millions of of Christmas trees make the journey from forests, farms and nurseries to our living rooms and porches, with lorries loaded high in alpine spruce from mid-November onwards.
10 Million Turkeys
Not one for the vegetarians among us this, but the fact still remains that each year we purchase and consume a huge amount of turkey, all of which need transporting from farm to the butchers, supermarkets and grocers on our high streets and towns. A reason why Bernard Matthews group have a fleet of almost three dozen refrigerated HGVs especially to help with the deliveries at this time of year.
9875 Tonnes of Sprouts
Whilst many of you may think this a lot of hot air(!) the fact is that sprouts are a huge part of many a Christmas dinner and the massive increase in demand means shelves and grocery sections need to be kept in good supply in the build up to Christmas Day.
25 Million Christmas Puddings
Another commodity unique to the season, the Christmas pudding continues to be a major part of traditional Christmas celebrations and dining. And that means they need to be stocked high along with the mince pies throughout December as demand remains quite remarkably high.
35 Million Bottles of Wine
It’s fair to say, at Christmas we tend to overindulge a touch as a nation. And nothing says overindulgence more than 35 million bottles of wine.
82 Million Bottles of Baileys
Expect perhaps this.
Although, to be entirely fair, this is the annual consumption – not just for Christmas. But, really, who drinks Baileys and other times of the year?
5.5 million items ordered on Amazon on Black Friday
With this amount of ordering on just 1 day of the Christmas shopping period, it just highlights the extraordinary demand placed upon drivers for the delivery of presents and Christmas related articles at this time of the year.
10 Million Parcel Deliveries Made in the Lead up to Christmas
We want our parcels to arrive in good time to wrap and put under the tree. Add these to all that food, wine and foliage we want as well – it’s quite a task to keep up isn’t it?
Especially when you’re 60,000 drivers too few
At least Santa gets the rest of the year off!