7 September 2026 · 4 min read

Introducing Hitched Up: the UK marketplace for spare lorry capacity

Every day, thousands of lorries cross the UK with empty decks. A low loader drops an excavator in Bristol and drives back to Leeds carrying nothing. A flatbed delivers to Glasgow and returns south with fresh air. Government freight statistics have put empty running at roughly three in every ten HGV miles for years — fuel burned, driver hours spent, and nothing earned.

At the same time, someone twenty minutes from that empty lorry's route is ringing around for a quote to move a mini digger, a car, or four pallets — and paying dedicated-transport prices for a journey a haulier was already making. Hitched Up exists to connect those two people.

What Hitched Up does

Hitched Up is a two-sided marketplace. Hauliers post journeys they're already making — route, date, and exactly what spare capacity they have left, down to deck length, payload and loading equipment. Customers post what needs moving: plant and machinery, vehicles, agricultural kit, containers, general freight.

Our matching engine then does the part that used to take a dozen phone calls. It looks for loads that sit inside a corridor around the haulier's route — 10, 25 or 50 miles either side, the haulier's choice — heading the same direction, and checks the physical fit: weight, dimensions, ramps, winch, crane reach, even rear overhang rules. You only ever see matches that can actually be carried.

How a booking works

• A customer finds a matching journey and sends a request — requesting is free, with no card details up front.
• The haulier has 12 hours to accept or decline.
• On acceptance, the customer pays to confirm. The money is held by the platform — the haulier is paid when the job is completed, not before.
• Contact details are only shared once payment has gone through, so both sides are committed before anyone's number changes hands.

Fair on both sides of the cab door

Hauliers set their own price per mile and get paid for every chargeable mile — including the detour miles a pickup adds, not just the loaded leg. Customers pay a transparent 5% booking fee; hauliers pay 2.5%. No subscriptions, no listing fees, no hidden charges.

Trust, built in from day one

• Payments are held securely until the job is confirmed delivered.
• Hauliers can verify insurance, operator licence and company details, shown as badges on every profile.
• We flag it before booking if an item's declared value looks higher than a haulier's goods-in-transit cover.
• Both sides review each other after every completed job, released simultaneously so reviews stay honest.

Where we're headed

Hitched Up is live now across the UK. Every empty mile filled is cheaper transport for someone, better margin for a haulier, and one less wasted journey on the road. If you run lorries with space to spare, or you've got something that needs moving — welcome aboard.