Find businesses to buy / Haulage
Buy a haulage business in the UK
Haulage is the largest licensed market here after waste, and the one most often missed: thousands of operators hold a goods vehicle operator licence and appear on no broker listing anywhere.
- 47,949companies on the Traffic Commissioners register
- 36%trade from premises traceable to HM Land Registry
- 26employees on average
- 21years trading on average
- 41%have a charge outstanding
- 14publish a bed count
Figures read from the register data as at 20 August 2026.
What the Traffic Commissioners registration means
A goods vehicle operator licence authorises a specific number of vehicles from a named operating centre. It is granted to an operator who has proved financial standing, professional competence and a suitable base, and it is not transferable: a buyer applies for their own.
Why buyers look here
The licence itself is a barrier to entry, which is what makes an existing operator worth buying rather than starting. Vehicle authorisation is a hard measure of size that most sectors do not publish, so you can compare operators before speaking to any of them.
What to check
- The licence does not transfer on a change of ownership. Plan the application before completion, not after.
- Authorised vehicles are a ceiling, not a fleet: an operator may run fewer than they are allowed.
- The operating centre is a specific address and planning constraints attach to it.
- Two in five carry outstanding charges, commonly vehicle finance.
How to search
Choose Haulage on the search screen and narrow by town, how long the business has traded, how ownership is held, and whether the premises are traceable. Searching is free and shows the shape of each company without naming it. A report on one company costs from £4.90.
Related sectors
SME44 is an intelligence platform, not an adviser, and nothing here is for sale. Public registers contain errors and delays, and our matching of one register to another can too. Verify anything important against the source register before acting. Nothing here is legal, financial, tax or investment advice.