Next time you are driving around in circles looking for a city centre parking spot, spare a thought for the nation’s van drivers who seem to spend half their working life looking for somewhere to park their vehicle.
According to research from Vanarama, the average van driver will spend two minutes trying to find a parking spot, and while that might not sound like a long time, when you add up the fact they will also have to find a spot up to 50 times a day it is clearly a problem.
Data revealed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in 2019 showed that one in ten workers in the UK used a van as part of their job, which equates to around 3.2m people.
And while most drivers spend 1-2 minutes looking for a spot, worryingly 16 per cent of those polled said they typically spend more than 20 minutes looking for a place to leave their van.
Vanarama’s research also pointed out that the nation’s most popular vans are usually too long for the average parking space, which is clearly compounding the issue of finding a space for the fleet of van drivers. The same report also suggested that the cost to the UK economy of waiting for parking spots to become available could as much as £76.2 billion a year.
A Vanarama spokesperson said: “Our research has made it clear; the UK simply needs more parking spaces and in addition, spaces that are purposely made for commercial vehicles to make busy areas more accessible – without being fined!
“Commercial van drivers are the backbone of the country with many small businesses relying on them to transport goods or complete jobs, along with delivering packages. It's about time we made things a little easier for them.”