A Paragon Software Systems survey of fleet managers in the UK suggests that the driver shortage is the biggest challenge facing UK road transport in 2018.

Among those surveyed, 46.4% of respondents said that the lack of drivers and other skilled workers across the haulage and delivery industry was the biggest barrier to success. Last year the annual survey found this to be 36.8%.

The next biggest issue after the driver shortage facing the industry was transport costs which sat at 13.4%, with congestion following up at 7.2%. Urban transport restriction was found to be an issue among 6.2% of respondents.

The most significant planning pressures were identified as the need to compare planned routes against actual performance (46.4 per cent), and demand for more accurate time windows (45.4 per cent)

William Salter, managing director of Paragon Software Systems said: “The road transport sector continues to face considerable challenges around resource management and service delivery. The findings of our customer survey highlight the importance of using routing and scheduling software to help manage all available drivers and vehicles at an individual resource level. This means that logistics operations can mitigate the impact of driver and skills shortages, as well as meet the increasing expectations of customers.”