Leisure and Entertainment We Wouldn’t Have Without HGVs

Becoming an HGV driver is your route to an excellent career path. Great career prospects and good job security will all ensure you quickly earn back what you’ve spent on driver training. Especially right now, given the fact that we’re facing a massive shortfall of HGV drivers here in the UK alone.

When we think of HGVs, most people envisage lorries transporting retail goods, usually for a major supermarket chain. However, there are many business sectors that wouldn’t survive without HGVs. This includes the leisure and entertainment industries. Without HGVs, these industries couldn’t support the level of events that take place across the nation. We may have had to put festivals and racing events on hold for a while, but the UK’s vaccination rollout has paved the path to such events opening up again. With that, logistics operations are scrambling to get supply chains up and running, to ensure events are a success. Whether you’re going to a showcase event such as Goodwood or a music festival such as Latitude or Wireless, without HGVs none of these events could be as big as they are, or even take place at all.

Here’s our run down of some of the leisure and entertainment events we wouldn’t have without HGVs:

Carnivals

We’ve all heard of Notting Hill Carnival, but carnivals are far from a modern invention. In fact, they can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and were originally a Christian celebration that marked Epiphany. They involved feasting and celebrations, before the fasting associated with Lent. While it has its roots in religion, the carnival has evolved over time and in some cultures is rooted in paganism, in others it symbolises renewal. The majority now celebrate culture – the Notting Hill carnival, for example, celebrates Caribbean culture.

In smaller communities in the UK, carnival has become a summer event. A community celebration designed to bring everybody together and celebrate the best businesses, schools and initiatives rooted in the community. As well as marching bands, all carnivals include displays known as ‘floats’. These elaborately decorated sets will follow a theme, and also include people. This is where HGVs come in. Floats are usually built onto the back of flatbed lorries, or curtain side trucks. They can also be towed by tractor units.

Funfairs

Every summer, on the outskirts of towns across the nation, you’ll see a funfair. With attractions including dodgems, Helter Skelters, carousels and the big wheel, funfairs hold fond childhood memories for many. However, with these big rides, comes big logistics. If you look behind the attractions, you’ll see how they’ve got there. Caravans for the staff sit alongside a plethora of vans and lorries. Yes, the House of Horrors and the Ghost Train have to be transported somehow.

Without HGVs these fairs would remain static, indeed just as amusement parks are today. With HGVs, the entertainment can be brought to the masses. No matter how rural your home might be. Indeed, the popularity of funfairs is seen in the stats. The industry generates £100 million every year, and employs over 25,000 workers across the UK.

Christmas markets

You no longer need to travel to Strasbourg or Vienna to experience a Christmas market. They’re springing up all over the country, and their popularity seems to just keep growing. Bath and Winchester Cathedral have fabulous Christmas markets. With Bavarian style wooden huts, ice rinks, plenty of mulled wine and hot chocolate, these events definitely help bring the Christmas spirit to the masses. However, every event, from Hyde Park’s mammoth Winter Wonderland to even the smallest Christmas market requires co-ordinated logistics support. Helping transport materials for construction as well as goods to the event, HGVs are vital to the process.

Summer festivals

We’ve seen a boom in music and food festivals in recent years. Some such as Latitude, Wireless and Reading Festival are purely about the music, and aimed at an adult audience. But many have become family friendly. They’ve become themed, with events such as the Big Feastival and Covent Garden’s Summer Festival combining music with food experiences. There’s also CarFest, created by DJ Chris Evans for Children in Need, which adds yet another dimension, celebrating the motor industry.

Currently, more than 240 music festivals are scheduled to take place across the UK. The beauty of a music festival is that it brings people together, typically in a rural location. It’s not usually a permanent fixture, but built for the annual event. So it doesn’t just spring up overnight, but involves complex logistics. Sound stages, tents, toilet facilities, lighting rigs, arena seating, to name but a few will need to be transported to the site and erected. Simply put, without HGVs these festivals couldn’t take place. This means that as an HGV driver you could be involved in some pretty cool events, and not just trundling along the M4 making supermarket deliveries.

Motor racing

Motor sport events take place across a season, and are held at circuits around the country. This means cars, equipment and teams need to be transported from one race to another. In the case of international events such as Formula One, this means 23 races, held in 21 countries and across five continents! So it’s no surprise that the logistics around motor racing relies heavily on transport by HGVs.

Circuses

Last, but certainly not least, we have the circus. Last featured in the blockbuster, The Greatest Showman, we saw the humble beginnings of the circus. Today’s circus has come a long way from the curiosities, live acts and stuffed animals of PT Barnum. Today’s jugglers, acrobats and tightrope walkers still fill us with awe, but thanks to the work of animal rights groups such as PETA, we no longer see exotic animals such as elephants and lions at circuses in the UK.

One thing that all circuses tend to have in common though? The characteristic big top tent, tiered seating and a wealth of equipment required by the performing artists. How is this transported? Yes, you’ve got it, by a lorry. Or rather, a set of lorries. Usually liveried, their arrival in a town creates a buzz, helping those all-important ticket sales.

These are just a few of the leisure and entertainment activities we wouldn’t have without HGVs. You can see that many sectors depend on HGVs for their survival, not just industries such as food, retail and construction. HGVs play a vital role in our health and wellbeing, by making these events possible, up and down the country.

If you’re interested in training to be an HGV driver then get in touch today, on 01276 537400. Our highly experienced team can help guide you through the process of gaining your HGV licence, from booking your medical to passing your full Driver CPC. Our expert driver training supports you every step of the way and we’re dedicated to helping you pass, first time. Whether you need a Category C1 licence to be a paramedic or a Category C+E licence to drive fully articulated lorries, we can help you achieve your career goals.