A health and wellbeing event for commercial drivers at Warwick Services has highlighted concerns around the health, sleep and working conditions of the professional-driver workforce.
The event, organised by Project EDWARD as part of the inaugural Driver Health Week, provided free health checks and advice to drivers at Welcome Break Warwick Services Southbound.
D4 Drivers, Warwickshire Police, the Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Welcome Break and Loughborough University were involved in the initiative.
Drivers were offered information and support covering fatigue, sleep, nutrition, mental health and occupational health. Thirty-four professional drivers also completed an anonymous survey about their health and health behaviours.
The survey was overseen by Professor Stacy Clemes of Loughborough University.
Participants reported an average of 16 years’ professional driving experience, working shifts of 11.5 hours and spending around 7.5 hours driving during each shift.
The survey also identified a number of health concerns.
Half of respondents were living with obesity, while 88% were either overweight or living with obesity. Of the 25 drivers who opted to have their blood pressure checked by an on-site clinician, half recorded high blood pressure.
Sleep and physical activity were also highlighted as areas of concern. Drivers reported an average of 6.5 hours of sleep during each 24-hour period on workdays, with half reporting fewer than seven hours.
Half of those surveyed said their weight had increased since becoming a professional driver, while 56% reported spending more time sitting and 47% said their activity levels had decreased.
Professor Stacy Clemes, Professor of Active Living and Public Health at Loughborough University, said the findings were consistent with data from other research involving professional drivers.
“The survey findings from those we spoke to on the day are very similar to what we are seeing in our other datasets in terms of the high proportion of professional drivers living with obesity and with high blood pressure,” she said.
“We urgently need to address the poor health profiles of our essential driver workforce and improve working conditions. Offering health checks at truck stops, as we did here, I feel is a positive start to promoting driver health and wellbeing.”
Dr Grant Charlesworth-Jones of D4 Drivers said drivers were keen to discuss their experiences once they realised that the event was focused on their wellbeing.
“This event will now serve as the template for more pop-up driver health events in 2027,” he said.
Philip Seccombe, Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner and Joint National Lead for Roads Policing and Transport for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said supporting driver wellbeing was also relevant to road safety.
“Long shifts, time away from home, limited opportunities for exercise and the need to remain alert behind the wheel can all create real challenges for health and wellbeing,” he said.
“By bringing health checks and practical advice to Warwick Services, this partnership has demonstrated a simple but important principle: supporting driver wellbeing is part of supporting road safety.”
The findings from the Warwick event were subsequently shared at Loughborough University’s Driver Health Day, which brought together representatives from government, industry, academia and the transport sector to discuss ways of improving support for commercial drivers.
Project EDWARD and its partners say the Warwick event will be used as a model for further pop-up driver-health initiatives during 2027.
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