Written by a Polish lorry driver now living here.... 20 reasons why there is shortage of drivers in the UK – orynski.eu
A well written and impartial article from someone with no axe to grind in the slightest. I await his article on the shortage of drivers in Poland, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain etc with relish.
Ah so it would emphasise my point that it’s a Europe/World wide problem…..At last we’re getting somewhere
But it’s not having the same impact in Europe as it is here, there aren’t queues at petrol stations or empty shelves in supermarkets. Why’s that? Genuine question, I have no doubt that the driver shortage is beyond our shores, though I suspect it might be worse here because the pay and conditions for drivers seem worse.
So the queues at petrol stations aren’t due to panic buying ? It’s down to a shortage of drivers then…really ?? And I will state hand on my heart, and on my kids lives, I’ve not seen any empty shelves of food when I’ve needed it…I’ve not gone hungry and I’ve had massive choice in what I buy. What I have seen, through my friend who recently trained to be an HGV driver, is an increase in wages of up to 40%. This in my opinion is well deserved for the ****ty, hard job that they do and for years wages in the sector have been brought down through the exploitation of cheap foreign labour. It’s how they operate, always have done, always will.
The queues at the petrol stations are due to excess buying which is due to lack of drivers to deliver petrol to the forecourts. People are scared of running out of gas, because delivery to retailers is uncertain at best. It’s a gross overreaction perhaps, but the root cause is the HGV issue. ‘Not going hungry’ is a pretty low bar. I’ve been in a variety of supermarkets where they have signs on the shelves apologising for the absence of some goods in their range. You haven’t, it seems. In an alleged first world country in the 21st Century having the sort of choice I had say, six months ago, would seem a pretty basic ask. I’m happy that truck drivers have had a pay rise, as Nines wrote earlier on this thread they have had a ****ty deal, and a worse one in this country than in some others. Sadly I don’t think better pay will solve this crisis in the short term. yes, sort of interesting but I honestly think the role of foreign drivers has been overplayed. It’s said that 20,000 have left the U.K., or (I’m not quite sure) decided not to drive in the U.K. But our shortage is 100,000. An ageing driver workforce which is retiring early (average age is well into the fifties apparently), and lack of new entrants to what is widely regarded as a **** job seem to be more important. Foreign drivers and the COVID related collapse of testing for licences last year obviously contribute but I think the issue is structural and long term, and better pay and conditions are the only long term answer. I don’t care if it’s British and/or foreign drivers who benefit from these improvements. Of course the costs will be passed on to consumers, which will hit the poorest hardest, so we might all need to top up universal credit as well. All this **** is joined up.
I always took you for someone who didn’t believe the hype and was happy to look more in depth than the shocking headlines and tittle tattle on social media……seems I misjudged you. You carry on mate.
to be fair, it shows how fragile the system is without enough delivery drivers. Petrol has run out and isn't being replenished fast enough if people make a run on it
Indeed. But the fact remains, if there weren’t the twats panic buying….there would be enough tanker drivers
