The motorway is full by 3 pm. Not full of traffic. Full of lorries with nowhere safe to park. That was the message to MPs on 11 March, when the Transport Committee returned to HGV and coach driver facilities nearly four years after its 2022 report warned that driver rest facilities were often poor and that more parking capacity was needed.
Witnesses said some sites have improved, but the core problem remains. Britain’s truck drivers are legally required to take rest breaks, yet on key freight corridors there are still too few safe, decent places to stop. On routes such as the M1, M6 and M20, parking can run out by mid-afternoon. What follows is familiar to many drivers: lay-bys, slip roads and industrial estates, often with no toilets, no showers and limited security.
In Kent, around Liverpool and elsewhere, witnesses suggested that the pattern has changed little. Unite’s Adrian Jones told MPs: “It’s exactly the same situation.”
A legal break without a proper place to stop
One of the clearest messages from the hearing was the gap between regulation and reality. Drivers are legally required to stop and rest, but witnesses said the network still does not provide enough places for them to do so properly. Jones summed up the contradiction in stark terms, saying the state requires drivers to take a break but does not provide the facilities they need to take it.
This was presented not simply as a welfare issue, but as a road safety issue.
Transport Focus told MPs that fewer than four in ten drivers say they can rest well when security feels poor. By contrast, nine in ten drivers who feel their vehicle is secure say they can sleep properly. The link between safe parking and proper rest was one of the strongest points in the session.
Basic facilities still out of reach
What drivers want, witnesses suggested, is not complicated: toilets, showers, food and security.
Yet the hearing heard that these basics are still not consistently available. One example raised in the session described visiting drivers at a major retailer being directed away from the main canteen and into a side room with plastic chairs and a vending machine.
Another witness said one of the biggest improvements to a driver’s day can be as simple as someone learning their name instead of just calling them “driver”.
Taken together, those examples pointed to a wider issue: this is not only about infrastructure, but also about how drivers are treated.
The UK still compares badly with Europe
Witnesses also drew an unfavourable comparison with parts of continental Europe. France, Spain and Italy were cited as examples of countries where service areas are delivered more consistently through concession-style systems. MPs heard that in France, even smaller stopping places often provide the basics at regular intervals.
Logistics UK’s Maddi Solloway-Price told the committee that drivers on the continent feel more respected than they do in Britain. That comparison matters because it suggests the problem is not whether better provision is possible, but whether it is being prioritised.
A recruitment problem hiding in plain sight
The condition of driver facilities was also linked directly to recruitment and retention. The sector needs 40,000 new drivers a year over the next five years, according to the Road Haulage Association. Women still make up only around 2% of drivers, and witnesses said poor lighting, weak security and inadequate facilities remain part of the reason.
Jones captured the point in a line likely to resonate well beyond Westminster: “It’s not a good advert for a job, is it?”
That message ran through much of the session. If the industry wants to attract more women, younger drivers and new entrants generally, it cannot ignore the quality of the working environment at the point where drivers stop.
The hearing suggested there is little disagreement about the nature of the problem.
Parliament identified it in 2022. Industry bodies have raised it repeatedly. Witnesses pointed to known bottlenecks, known shortages and known planning obstacles. The question is no longer whether the problem exists, but why it has still not been resolved.
Road Haulage Association policy director Declan Pang put it plainly:
“We don’t need another survey.”
