Britain's HGV Driver Shortage.

That just reiterates the issue we have where there aren’t physically enough U.K. nationals to do all the jobs, so we still need immigration.

Those celebrating that someone can earn more as an HGV drive just entirely misses the point that they then leave a shortage of bus drivers (in this case).

Dumbest post of the day.
 
Dumbest post of the day.
Lol, thanks for that. I can see why your opinion is so highly valued 😂

Why do you think it’s the dumbest post, especially in such a vast sea of dumb posts by yourself?

If we had enough people to go around, we wouldn’t have a shortage of bus drivers because they’ve moved to driving HGVs.

Why do you think it’s an “interesting footnote”?
 
Last edited:
Lol, thanks for that. I can see why your opinion is so highly valued 😂

Why do you think it’s the dumbest post, especially in such a vast sea of dumb posts by yourself?

If we had enough people to go around, we wouldn’t have a shortage of bus drivers because they’ve moved to driving HGVs.

Why do you think it’s an “interesting footnote”?
Of course the answer to none of the recent 8 million migrants wanting to drive buses is to import more migrants......

It's this kind of dumb thinking that got us here in the first place.
 
Of course the answer to none of the recent 8 million migrants wanting to drive buses is to import more migrants......

It's this kind of dumb thinking that got us here in the first place.
Ok, rather than simply continuing to throw childish names at me, what is your solution, for bus drivers, right now, if not immigration for those already qualified? (Which is literally what the NHS is already doing)

We clearly don’t have U.K. nationals willing/able to do the role, so what’s your answer, oh wise one?
 
Ok, rather than simply continuing to throw childish names at me, what is your solution, for bus drivers, right now, if not immigration for those already qualified? (Which is literally what the NHS is already doing)

We clearly don’t have U.K. nationals willing/able to do the role, so what’s your answer, oh wise one?
Bring in better pay and conditions to make the role more attractive.
It also would be more efficient to have fewer companies or even a nationalised bus company - at the moment there are often several companies oversubscribing popular routes whilst leaving less popular routes very underserved.
Deregulation benefited a few but hasn't really served the travelling public well at all imho.
 
Bring in better pay and conditions to make the role more attractive.
It also would be more efficient to have fewer companies or even a nationalised bus company - at the moment there are often several companies oversubscribing popular routes whilst leaving less popular routes very underserved.
Deregulation benefited a few but hasn't really served the travelling public well at all imho.
Fair suggestions, assuming people actually want to do the bus driver roles at all, and in the right places around the country.

With regards to nationalisation, I’m not sure it’s something that would be politically appealing to the traditional Conservative attitude towards a free market economy, although it’s not something that should be ruled out entirely (assuming the Government could actually run a service better than those they already do!)
 
Ok, rather than simply continuing to throw childish names at me, what is your solution, for bus drivers, right now, if not immigration for those already qualified? (Which is literally what the NHS is already doing)

We clearly don’t have U.K. nationals willing/able to do the role, so what’s your answer, oh wise one?
Yes, I apologise, I'm doing the same thing I accuse others of.

The answer is in the article, the bus drivers can get better pay driving HGVs, give better pay and conditions.

In general, we have an oversupply of people doing unproductive jobs, we don't need a Starbucks on every street corner, that needs to change. Need to take a leaf out of Denmarks book to see how it's done.
 
Yes, I apologise, I'm doing the same thing I accuse others of.

The answer is in the article, the bus drivers can get better pay driving HGVs, give better pay and conditions.

In general, we have an oversupply of people doing unproductive jobs, we don't need a Starbucks on every street corner, that needs to change. Need to take a leaf out of Denmarks book to see how it's done.
Thanks, I appreciate the apology.

Paying higher wages to bus drivers means either higher fares (leading to less people using the services), or if possible, reduced profits for the companies running the services, which could then lead to them failing completely, and redundancies.

Essentially, it’s anything but a simple problem, which won’t be solved by just throwing money at it.
 
With Arla Foods now advising there could well be a shortage of milk products in Britains supermarkets in the coming weeks due to the current shortage of HGV drivers, it would seem that matters are fast spiralling down in the UK's road transport industry. Britain's major distributors have created employment conditions so poor for drivers in road haulage and distribution that many have left the industry and very few come forward to replace them.

I was an HGV driver from the mid-1960s until the mid-1980s. In the nineteen sixties it was my dream job and something I had always wanted to do since my teenage years. At that time heavy goods driving was a profession that many spent their entire adult life carrying out. With no mobile phones or vehicle tracking drivers once they departed their depots were left to manage the vehicle and any problems with deliveries or delays, the driver had to sort out on his own.

Drivers were respected and felt they were appreciated by their employers who allowed them to book into bed and breakfast accommodation at night where there was good toilet and washing facilities etc

However, all that changed when agency working to become legal in the 1970s. Road transport companies and Distributors soon used those agencies to provide them with drivers who were on very much reduced conditions. Drivers were also told to sleep in the vehicle cabs where, obviously, there are no toilet or washing facilities.

Throughout the 1990s as the agency hold on driver employment increased many experienced British HGV drivers left the industry creating a shortage. The agencies seen the solution to that problem by encouraging Polish drivers to work in Britain and paying them even less than the British drivers. However, those Polish drivers soon realised they were being shafted and as conditions improved in their home country they returned, again leaving a shortage of drivers

The agencies then seen the answer to that problem as encouraging Romanian drivers to come and work in Britain and again paying less than British drivers still in the industry. However, those Romanian drivers soon realised they were being shafted and many soon left Britain, ironically with many going to work in Poland.

Brexit, among other things, now means that European Drivers no longer wish to come to Britain even as part of a scheduled truck journey and that has created the very serious situation in Britains road transport industry that now may well impact us all.

What I find now so disgusting is that the major hauliers, supermarket companies and manufacturers among others are asking the government to step in to help them, when they have abdicated their responsibilities for such essential workers to their businesses to outside agencies for many years with no regard whatsoever to what was going on within those agencies.

In my view the government should tell those such as Arla, Tesco, Shell and others, "you created this problem, you sort it out, and with your own money.
I passed my class one in the late 80’s and used my licence off and on right up until the 2008 crash. By around 2006 the writing was already on the wall as every former tractor driver from Eastern Europe turned up to share in the spoils. What was once a relatively well paid skilled profession turned into a laboring job, with a couple of pounds more an hour if you held a HGV licence. As foreign companies also flooded in, home grown trucking companies couldn’t compete with their cheap rates and what’s left now is a shadow of what once was.

The other thing that killed the industry was the EU’s interference with Working Time Directives. Sure, we all cheated a bit. I’d do my five nights and on Sunday afternoon do a trunk at premium rates with the large supermarkets and sign the piece of paper that said I hadn’t gone over my hours. That’s all gone now. In its place is the stress of impossible time deliveries, three drops and two collections per shift, struggling to find a spot to take a 45 minute break and a wage that is so low it’s barely above that of a fork lift truck driver!

I’m retired now and have let my licence lapse, but I could renew it and still do a trunk up to Scotland, have a night out and pick up something on my way back. Yet that’s not what is wanted now and in its place we have a more, more, more work ethic that replicates itself across the whole economy. Welcome to the gig-economy and neither Brexit nor Covid has anything to do with that. From poorly paid NHS staff to the recent train driver’s dispute, it will only get worse and I’m glad I’m now away from it all.
 
I passed my class one in the late 80’s and used my licence off and on right up until the 2008 crash. By around 2006 the writing was already on the wall as every former tractor driver from Eastern Europe turned up to share in the spoils. What was once a relatively well paid skilled profession turned into a laboring job, with a couple of pounds more an hour if you held a HGV licence. As foreign companies also flooded in, home grown trucking companies couldn’t compete with their cheap rates and what’s left now is a shadow of what once was.

The other thing that killed the industry was the EU’s interference with Working Time Directives. Sure, we all cheated a bit. I’d do my five nights and on Sunday afternoon do a trunk at premium rates with the large supermarkets and sign the piece of paper that said I hadn’t gone over my hours. That’s all gone now. In its place is the stress of impossible time deliveries, three drops and two collections per shift, struggling to find a spot to take a 45 minute break and a wage that is so low it’s barely above that of a fork lift truck driver!

I’m retired now and have let my licence lapse, but I could renew it and still do a trunk up to Scotland, have a night out and pick up something on my way back. Yet that’s not what is wanted now and in its place we have a more, more, more work ethic that replicates itself across the whole economy. Welcome to the gig-economy and neither Brexit nor Covid has anything to do with that. From poorly paid NHS staff to the recent train driver’s dispute, it will only get worse and I’m glad I’m now away from it all.
Well, that's an interesting perspective, but it's a shame you had to re-register to express it.

I'm sure someone far more knowledgeable than myself will come along to either validate or refute the points you raise.
 
The gig economy - zero hours contracts and self employment has nothing to do with the current cost of living crisis. Blame Putin, COVID and Brexit for that one. Everyone wants 10% pay rises this year, but nobody wants to pay for them. Every working person will need to accept a lower standard of living - unless they are lucky enough to have a large enough financial buffer to absorb the rises. For the lowest paid who were already massively struggling, this is an untenable situation, and many will resort increasingly to government benefits to survive, increasing the tax burden on the better paid.

I work in the transport industry for one of the largest global companies. Drivers are significantly better paid than warehouse workers, particularly after the squeeze last year, which saw pay shoot up. The challenge now for transport companies is that the back office and management teams want their pay rises as well, and there's sufficient demand and lack of suitable employment candidates that many will get them. The situation is the same in warehousing, where vacancies are still around 15%. Expect to see more price rises, as transport costs increase, although lower fuel costs will counter this to small extent.

The driving job has changed massively in the past few years. Driver monitoring and app utilisation is now common place. The days of it simply being a drive from A to B, scrawl a signature across the delivery note and trundle back to the yard are fast becoming history. IR35 is ending self employment for many drivers, which they don't like, as many were avoiding tax, but more importantly were not paying into pensions or full NI contributions. Drivers are expected to use apps and digital ways of working. Vehicles, tacho rules and scheme accreditations are all adding to the complexity and a new breed of tech savvy, better educated drivers is becoming the expected norm.

The industry is now much more settled than it was a year ago, as volumes have dropped and more drivers have now completed their training. Firms will want to sweat their assets as far as possible, and drivers do bear the brunt, as they are at the sharp end.

Our bosses are suggesting that as a responsible business employing about 180 000 staff in the UK, they should limit pay rises to help curb inflation. The response from the staff is that as consumers, we won't be able to afford the goods we handle, so revenue will fall!

Quite how we recover from the crisis is the million dollar question and realistically, there's no easy fix IMHO.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom