Truck driver shortage.

Drivers

One of my neighbours is a former HGV driver who does not drive anymore.

He was somewhat evasive when I enquired why he did not.

However, I gather the reasons are to do with quality of life.

I wonder if there are many qualified to do the job, but choosing to pursue other career options. Perhaps they could be tempted back if some attention paid to the quality of life of truckers.

70000 registered hgv drivers not driving hgv's for a living.

"Truck driver shortage."

But you wouldn't think it, the number of trucks driving about in this country of ours, nose to tail, all day, every day!
But the new rules on cabotaging and cross trading have dropped a spanner in the works. And it's all to do with brexit!

A bloke who works in a distribution warehouse for a big supermarket chain was telling me about three weeks ago, that the problem with Brexit, is that drivers are not getting return loads, for when they go back across the channel, so it is knocking their money down, plus they have all the hassle of the customs control now.

did,nt you vote for brexit 1stroke ? .

Whupsy

Yes, but these are just 'teething trubbles' and it's all mixed up with the pandemic too, but because money is involved, they will find a way to solve it, and Britain doesn't want customs checks and all that crap, and the EU does want all those 'unnecessary' checks and hassle, so as to put off any more countries leaving the EU

I wonder who will win

"and Britain doesn't want customs checks and all that crap, and the EU does want all those 'unnecessary' checks and hassle,"

If that's true, why have they made all the new rules?

HGV Drivers recipe for Divorce When I worked Nights drivers would come into the factory for loads in the early hours of Monday and they would say they would be back home in 7-10 days time. This was national drivers not continental drivers who would be criss crossing the country plus Wales And Scotland.

Tonker

Which rules are those ?

PeterP

I think the problem applies to all drivers, British and EU

"Tonker
Which rules are those ?"

Restrictive rules on cabotaging and cross country transporting.

Wots cabbages got too doo with it

HI I would just like to add my comment's on shortage of HGV driver's ,please do not blame everything on BREXIT one of which i know for a fact is that my son-in-law is a HGV for HOMEBARGAINS and has been for well over 10 years now ,recently he had to have a medical and at the same time his HGV licence needed to be replaced . You would think that it is a straight forward thing he sent his old off and has to wait along with between 6 -12 others at his works, Now here's the crux he along with his colleagues have not got their new licence's back yet and are not allowed to drive until they get the new ones , because of the recent strike /co-vid problems these driver's are still waiting ,and in the mean-time the firm has told them they can't be paid unless they use up their hoilday's which my son-in-law is having to do because he has a wife and 3 children , so how's about that for BRITISH Bureaucracy 12 drivers stuck can't deliver goods because those idle git's down Swansea can't send the new one's out any quicker ,this has been going on now for at 5 weeks and counting ,to add though i think the firm is being a bit tight .SO it's not always brexit is it ??? GB.

I would like to reply to ( TONKER ) I have to agree with him ,about all this unnecessary paper work that the EU is demanding it's just pure jealousy on their part ,as i have said many.many time's why can't we do exactly the same before we joined the EU in 1973 ?????Before that date we traded with all of europe and all over but all that stopped on JAN 1ST 1973 for me it just shows what a set of bastards they are ,and i will not apologise for the "B" word ......GB

GB. it's not only the EU, it's the UK government too.

It's very technical. You can't just go to another country and run a business, or work for payment.
A European driver can't bring a load across to the UK, drop it, pick up another load and take it to another point in the UK,repeating this for, maybe, two weeks, sleeping in his cab, before returning to Europe with a cross country load.

That would be 'operating in the UK without licence'.

By the way, if your son in law works for Home Bargains, I'm friendly with his boss.
I'll put a good word in next time I see him! (it might get Grand National 2022 before I do!)

There is a lack of drivers because the wages are crap, class 2 pays less than £10 an hour and these days a lot of firms wont pay time and half for overtime so realistically you can earn more working in a warehouse with a few hours overtime a week and regular shift hours. I drive an artic and never know from one day to the next how long my shift will be, to be honest, i dont mind it but a lot of new drivers coming into the game dont realise how demanding the job can be and get disillusioned and go back to working in a warehouse or wherever.
Also there usually about 30,000 new drivers every year coming into the industry, but this has not been happening due to there being no driving tests because of covid.
Also the wages have been stagnant for some time now and a lot of the foreigners have realised they can now make as much or more in their own country.
Dont fall for the hype..ITS NOTHING TO DO WITH BREXIT!!!

At the moment, there's nowhere near as many foriegn drivers coming over and operating here.
I do the tunnel and ferries pretty often and have noticed a distinct reduction.
However, I think that's not a bad thing.
Over in Europe, they have an excellent rail system. Much is transported by rail to distribution centres then moved shorter distances using smaller vehicles.
There's 5 or 6 half a mile long freight trains go through the tunnel every day.

They're way ahead of us.

Red tape has found its way in all trades, building site workers need CSCS to work , bouncers need ' doormans ticket, taxi drivers need tickets,
Its all a way of clever dicks becoming providers for courses, the worker pays the clever dicks wage to tell the worker how to do his job, Its called

Middle management , desk jockeys, pushing pens and creating their own ' made up ' job that pays more than the worker makes,,
Educated people don't want to work so, they blood suck the workers and force prices up,,
If the pandemic has taught us anything its that,
the key workers are the most important,
tradesmen, drivers, shop assistants, nurses, doctors, delivery and warehouse people, We can live without, sport, hospitality , cinema , stage and concerts,
The workers are the number one most important people,
Power to the workers

I have seen lots of ads today for HGV 1 and most are EIGHTEEN pounds an hour and upwards.

@ broady, most of those will be agency and although some drivers may like agency work, the majority want the security of direct employment. I have seen some adverts that quote similar amounts but when you go into it that rate doesnt really exist. I have noticed there are more direct jobs on offer at the moment and the rate is increasing but i saw one today offering 23900 for a class 1 driver, now that is really taking the proverbial.
Also bear this in mind, the usual MINIMUM working week for a hgv driver will be at least 50 hours, with lots doing 60 or more usually paid at the flat rate for the job no time and half or even worse,,,salaried, like i said new drivers think its easy money but when some of them see the reality they leave the industry.
And in my opinion agencies are part of the problem, if agency is paying £18 per hour they will be getting about £25 per hour, where if the company would just pay a decent direct wage they would have no problem getting drivers

is these the new laws johnson promised ? . well you got wot you wanted 1stroke , how does it feel .

All the EU laws rules and regulations, which applied to us over the years, and there are literally thousands of them, have been carried over into UK law, the idea being that the UK will over time, replace those rules and regulations and laws which we don't like, but being careful to as much as possible keep aligned with EU regulations, which could affect trade between the UK and EU

It is complicated Whupsy, because it has never been done before, so yoo are obviously going to have teething troubles, and then again when there is a problem, is it a Brexit teething trouble, or a pandemic trouble, or a bit of both.

do you think you were conned by johnson & his cohorts ? .

Whupsy

I don't know, and it is going to be awhile before I will make that judgement, because everything is jumbled up with the pandemic, but in any case with something as large as Brexit, which has brung, and is bringing such deep and a fundamental change to our country, in the way we do things, it may be five years before that judgement can be made.

Thaknows, Yes , agencies are another middle management swiss, putting them selves between the demander and supplier, they provide no PPE, training or welfare, they are leeches of the highest order and stealing money from the person doing the work and the person needing the work doing , they are modern unmasked robbers, ( well they probably have a mask on now due to covid) ,
vermin,,,

Plus they cant take there HGV test either.

Have yoo ever watched 'Jurrassic Park' when the mathematician says "nature will always find a way" ?

Well with Brexit "money will always find a way'

The lorry drivers will find a way to deliver their loads, and Tonker will find a way to his house in Spain

My son-in-law still waiting for those idle gits down Swansea to send him and his colleagues their new licences back i mean after all they are sat in an office with air -conditioning not really hard graft is it ???? GB

Apparently, GB, they're all working from home, and there the problem lies.
I rang them up regarding a V5 document I waited two months for, and it sounded like a playgroup tea party was going on in the background!

In 2018 I was told I would be waiting six weeks for my v5 document, and that was about right too, it was a while before it came through