Trucking: Britain's Road-Transport Magazine for Drivers and Operators
Trucking is a British magazine for the road haulage industry, published by Kelsey Media from Yalding in Kent. It serves everyone who works with trucks for a living — drivers, owner-drivers, operators and managers — with a mixture of industry news, features, commentary and, above all, truck road tests. It describes itself as Britain's best road-transport magazine, and its publisher presents it as read by all levels of the trucking industry.
What sets Trucking apart from a conventional trade journal is who writes it. Many of its writers and photographers are professional truck drivers themselves, so the magazine is produced substantially by people who do the job its readers do. That gives it a strong strand of reader involvement, a popular letters page, and a tone that mixes serious business coverage — legislation, driver training, insurance, profitable practice — with what its publisher calls a perspective on the lighter side of the road haulage industry.
Overview
Trucking is published 13 times a year, once every four weeks, and is available in print and in digital format, in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Recent subscription listings have put its cover price at £4.99 an issue, with annual subscriptions covering all 13 issues. Its content spans the whole business of running and driving trucks: new truck launches and road tests, business and legislation news, technical information and advice, training and Driver CPC coverage, insurance advice, operator success stories, interviews with truck manufacturers and drivers, and practical tips on maintenance and on becoming a truck driver.
The magazine's official website, truckingmag.co.uk, extends the title online, while its companion within the same stable, Truckstop News, is a free newspaper for truckers distributed at truck stops and other outlets. Together the two titles — both acquired by Kelsey at the same time — cover the industry from the boardroom to the cab.
History and the Move to Kelsey
The best-documented chapter in Trucking's history is its change of ownership in 2012. Until then the magazine was published by Future Publishing, the Bath-based group best known for technology and special-interest titles. In May 2012 Future announced the sale of Trucking and Truckstop News to Kelsey Publishing, for a consideration of up to £1.1 million — £1 million in cash on completion, with a further £100,000 deferred and dependent on the brands' financial performance over the following twelve months.
Future described Trucking at the time as Britain's leading road-transport magazine, appealing to all levels of the industry with its unique mix of news, features, commentary and truck road tests, and noted that many of its writers and photographers were professional truck drivers. Future's chief executive, Mark Wood, explained that the two titles were successful and popular but no longer core to a business focusing increasingly on digital and global growth, and that Kelsey was an ideal new home for them. For Kelsey — already one of the UK's foremost publishers of specialist magazines, with transport and motoring titles in its portfolio — the acquisition was a natural fit, and managing director Steve Wright said the titles would flourish within the company's portfolio of transport magazines.
Publisher and Ownership
Trucking's publisher is Kelsey Media, also known as Kelsey Publishing, based at The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, near Maidstone in Kent. Kelsey is a specialist consumer publisher whose long-standing motto might be summed up as magazines produced for enthusiasts by enthusiasts; its brands across motoring, transport, agriculture and other enthusiast fields include titles such as Classic Car Buyer and a wide range of classic and specialist vehicle magazines. Within that portfolio, Trucking sits in the transport and machinery group, alongside Truckstop News and other commercial-vehicle titles.
Kelsey's presence in the commercial vehicle world has continued to grow around the magazine. In May 2023 Kelsey acquired Professional Recovery Magazine and its associated event, the Tow Show, from Partnership Publishing, a deal the company explicitly linked to its strong presence in the commercial vehicle space with Trucking magazine and its website. The editor of Professional Recovery, Paul Gregory, remained in post, and the recovery brand joined Kelsey's stable of trucking and automotive titles. Trucking is also sold and promoted through Kelsey's own subscription shop, alongside the publisher's other transport magazines.
Editorial Content and Sections
Road tests are the magazine's signature content: independent, hands-on assessments of new trucks and rigs, written for readers who may be choosing vehicles or who simply want to know how the latest machinery performs. Around them sits a full trade-magazine mix. News coverage follows the haulage industry and its operators; features explore profitable business practices and operator success stories; and expert contributors offer guidance on the regulatory and commercial realities of the job, from Driver CPC training to insurance.
The publisher's own description of the title lists specially built trucks, reviews of rigs and tips on becoming a truck driver among its subjects, along with interviews with manufacturers and drivers, advice on hauling freight and striking photography of rigs on the road. Reader involvement is a formal part of the formula, with free legal advice, training information and a popular letters page through which drivers themselves shape the conversation. Alongside the serious material, the magazine deliberately keeps a place for the lighter side of haulage life — the humour and camaraderie of the road — which its driver-writers are well placed to supply.
Audience and Readership
Trucking is read, its publisher says, by all levels of the trucking industry. That spans the professional driver in the cab, the owner-driver running a single vehicle, and the operators and managers responsible for fleets, compliance and costs. Its writers and photographers being working drivers gives it credibility across that range: advice on training, insurance and maintenance carries the weight of first-hand experience, while its business features and operator stories speak to those running companies. Advertising and subscription offers are structured for delivery throughout the UK and worldwide, reflecting a readership centred on British haulage but not confined to it.
Print and Digital Editions
Trucking appears 13 times a year in print, delivered to subscribers' doors and sold as single issues through Kelsey's shop, where recent listings have priced a single issue at £4.99 and a 13-issue annual subscription at a saving on the combined cover prices. Multi-year subscriptions and introductory offers have also been promoted. The magazine is, in its publisher's words, now available in print and in digital format, with digital issues sold through third-party magazine apps and platforms, allowing drivers to read on the road as well as at home. Its website, truckingmag.co.uk, carries news and content from the brand and has also hosted material for stablemates such as Professional Recovery following its acquisition by Kelsey.
Contributors and Editorial Character
Trucking's contributors are described by Kelsey as experienced industry professionals offering independent, unbiased and informative editorial. The distinctive feature of the team remains the one Future highlighted when it sold the title: many of the writers and photographers are professional truck drivers. That practitioner base shapes everything from the road tests — assessed by people who drive for a living — to the photography of rigs on the road and the practical maintenance and freight-hauling tips. It is this driver-first character, as much as any single section, that defines the magazine's identity within British transport publishing.
Place in the Industry
Road haulage keeps Britain's supply chains moving, yet it is an industry whose workforce is dispersed, mobile and rarely gathered in one place. A magazine written by drivers, published every four weeks and read across all levels of the business performs a connective role: sharing practice on compliance and training, recording operator experience, testing the vehicles the industry depends on and giving drivers a letters page of their own. Trucking's description by its publisher as the trucking bible every trucker needs to read is marketing language, but it captures the role the title aspires to fill.
Recent Developments
Under Kelsey, Trucking has remained on its 13-issue cycle, with current issues sold through the Kelsey shop in print and available digitally, and cover prices rising over time from £4.25 in earlier listings to £4.99. The 2023 acquisition of Professional Recovery Magazine and the Tow Show strengthened the group of commercial-vehicle brands around it, and Kelsey cited Trucking magazine and its website as the foundation of its presence in that space. More than a decade after the £1.1 million deal that brought it from Future to Yalding, Trucking continues as Kelsey's flagship road-transport title — still mixing news, road tests and driver-written features for the people who keep Britain's freight on the road.
