Lorry driver shortage will benefit UK in long term says Ros Atkins

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The comments come after Secretary of Transport Grant Shapps suggested the military could be rolled in as a short-term solution to the current shortage of HGV drivers. Andrew Opie, director of food & sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said in a statement that the country had just ten days left to assure a normal Christmas.

He said: “HGV drivers are the glue which holds our supply chains together.

“Without them, we are unable to move goods from farms to warehouses to shops.

“Currently, the UK faces a shortfall of around 90,000 HGV drivers and it is consumers who ultimately suffer the consequences.

“Unless new drivers are found in the next ten days, it is inevitable that we will see significant disruption in the run-up to Christmas.”

He said: “HGV drivers are the glue which holds our supply chains together.

“Without them, we are unable to move goods from farms to warehouses to shops.

“Currently, the UK faces a shortfall of around 90,000 HGV drivers and it is consumers who ultimately suffer the consequences.

“Unless new drivers are found in the next ten days, it is inevitable that we will see significant disruption in the run-up to Christmas.”

READ MORE: How Brazil’s president Bolsonaro weighed in on UK food shortage crisis

As an answer to professionals of the industry and the public, Grant Shapps said Brexit was not the source of the issue and proposed asking the military for help should be taken into consideration.

Asked whether army officers could move critical products, he told the BBC: “I will look at every possibility, every way of doing this.

“With regard to things like whether there’s a role for the military, obviously, if there is, if that actually helps we’ll bring them in.”

Another solution supported by transport professionals is the implementation of a quicker work visa in the UK for European drivers.

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“This would be a welcome commitment from the government after we’ve consistently said firms need to be able to hire drivers from overseas to plug gaps in the short term,” said Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy and public affairs at The Road Haulage Association.

“It won’t resolve the driver shortage on its own but is a step in the right direction.

“Much more needs to be done on training, apprenticeships, testing and welfare facilities for drivers.”

Leaving the European Union reportedly eliminated 20,000 European drivers according to the Road Haulage Association speaker.

The pandemic also slowed down 40,000 trucker training tests since early 2020 because of social distancing and cancellations.

In addition, the current local truck drivers are ageing.

“The average age of a truck driver in the UK is 57,” said Rod McKenzie.

“Every day this problem is just getting worse as more and more retire.”

The HGV driver shortages have several industries worried as the UK depends on many imports.

Earlier this week, BP announced the “temporary” closure of some of its petrol stations which caused panic for fuel and other goods.

The Office of National Statistics said a quarter of British people had reported gaps on supermarket shelves over the past two weeks, with one in six reporting difficulties in finding “essential” items.

Six in 10 people had noticed differences when food shopping, most commonly a lack of variety in the products available and a further four in 10 said they couldn’t find everything they wanted to buy.

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