Farmers forced to hike food prices by 40 PERCENT

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Speaking to Radio 4’s Today Programme on Monday, farm haulage manager Rob Vickers explained how the price hikes have come about as a result of driver rates increasing in order to hold onto crucial truckers and attract new ones into the business. But he stressed the hikes will ultimately be felt by the average British consumer as food prices will soar as a result.

Mr Vickers said: “As you can see there are forty vehicles parked up, parked up because they have got no drivers because of a driver shortage in the UK.”

As a result, he explained how his company have now been forced to hike driver rates in order to keep drivers on board and attract new ones to the industry.

But he warned this cost will have to be shouldered by the company’s customer base through an increase in costs of their products in order to share out the economic hit incurred.

He explained how customers including the MoD as well as construction machinery manufacturers have now seen their rates soar so Mr Vickers’ company could afford to implement the changes.

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The haulage manager explained how the situation is so dire in Britain that price rises of “35-40 percent” are now being levied to customers to combat the various shortages which have also been compounded by the petrol crisis.

He stressed how customers are not happy to pay such a figure and therefore it is an “uphill battle” for farmers to keep up and stay in business.

But he warned how ultimately these cost increases are passed down to customers and hurt average Britons’ pockets who will see food prices soar as a result.

Mr Vickers noted: “It becomes a problem for the end-user rather than the person we are doing the work for.”

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He speculated how the chaotic driver shortage “could take months, it could take a year” to overcome in his industry as they battle spiralling costs to make ends meet.

According to the Road Haulage Association, there is now a shortage of more than 100,000 qualified drivers in the UK.

Many have speculated as to the reason for the shortages, with Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic, and working conditions being some of the most common suggestions.

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The shortages have also triggered a petrol panic in Britain as the lack of drivers delivering petrol saw a collapse in the supply chain, spurred on by panic buying Britons who stormed forecourts to fill up following the news.

Labour shortages as a result of the pandemic, Brexit, and a lack of foreign workers are also behind issues within Britain’s supply chains which have also sent food prices soaring as fears rise over empty shelves as Britain edges closer to Christmas.

To address shortages in the industry the Government has agreed to grant 5,000 temporary, three-month visas to lorry drivers.

It comes as the British Army began delivering fuel to forecourts up and down the country on Monday to cope with the driver drought.

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