The Government were warned in June of this year that there was an overall shortage of drivers usually taking the H.G.V. course to the tune of 25,000
5,000 extra visas being offered to tempt foreign lorry drivers over but so far only 27 have been applied for.
Apparently the top 4 reasons given for why H.G.V. positions have dwindled are:-
1/ Drivers retiring
2/ Leaving the industry to move to other jobs
3/ Leaving because of pay and conditions
4/ Covid
It is alleged....
The government were warned that there was a shortage of H.G.V. drivers as far back as 2015. This was mainly due to the fact the industry wasn't very attractive to younger drivers, sleeping in your cabs, not an overly brilliant wage, unsociable hours, further reductions in T's & C's fewer and fewer cafe's and rest stops along routes. The industry tried to convince the government to make lorry driving more appealing and acceptable to attract drivers but they were ignored to a man.
All this created a big shortage and now it appears that even the "Eddie Stobart" fleet was bought out a while back so you could possibly expect a dilution of their T's & C's.
So it appears again the government is trying to blame Covid, they may have got away with this excuse of blaming Covid on everything 12 months ago, but it's wearing pretty thin now.
