Redwood says shortage of HGV drivers ‘isn’t a Brexit issue’

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Over recent weeks, pro-European Union supporters have jumped at the chance to claim the shortage of HGV drivers as being proof they were correct in their views that Brexit would be a disaster for Britain. But the latest report from Facts4EU has revealed this is simply not true – in fact, the ongoing problem stretches throughout Europe. The International Road Transport Union (IRU), which is the voice of more than 3.5 million companies operating mobility and logistics services in over 100 countries, warned in June of expected truck driver shortages across several countries.

The body said: “Truck driver shortages are expected to increase in 2021 by over a quarter on 2020 levels in almost all of the 23 countries surveyed in IRU’s recent global survey of road transport firms.

“Gaps are set to increase at a much higher rate in some countries, including by 150 percent in Spain, 175 percent in Mexico and 192 percent in Turkey.

“Almost 40 percent of road transport operators surveyed cite skills gaps as the number one cause of driver shortages, in markets as diverse as the Czech Republic, Norway and Romania to Russia, Ukraine and Mexico.

“As we look beyond the pandemic, many operators will find it impossible to find drivers to meet future customer demand.”

Facts4EU added that back in 2018 when Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU were only in their early stages, the British International Freight Association (BIFA), which has some 1,500 members, reported a shortage of drivers in Europe.

BIFA cited the European Road Freight Transport report 2018, showing that in just six countries – the UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden and Norway – the shortage of drivers totalled 127,500.

The report said: “The UK led the way with a shortage of 52,000 drivers, but was closely followed by Germany at 45,000 vacancies – with predictions that this could increase by a staggering 28,000 each year.

“France had a shortage of 20,000 drivers, while road freight associations in Sweden, Denmark and Norway reported shortages of 5,000, 2,500 and 3,000, respectively.”

Facts4EU added: “And this was all in 2018, well ahead of Brexit. Since then, further industry intelligence reports have shown the driver shortages in the major EU countries to have risen dramatically.

“Some of the latest studies show shortages of over 400,000 drivers in the EU27.”

In July 2021, the (UK) Road Haulage Association conducted a survey about driver shortages, with the top reason provided being “drivers retiring” (58.54 percent) – a problem the industry had suffered with for several years.

The RHA also highlighted the problems caused by HMRC’s new tax treatment of self-employed drivers, under what are called ‘IR35’ rules. This has caused drivers to leave the industry.

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But Remainer doom-mongering has been firmly destroyed in relation to Brexit causing a shortage of drivers as according to the RHA, only 60,000 out of 600,000 HGV drivers came from the EU – but many of these returned home because of Covid, and not Brexit.

Facts4EU also highlighted that thanks to Covid, “there is a huge backlog of HGV drivers waiting to take their courses and tests”.

Since the start of the pandemic, the number of drivers taking their test has plummeted by 42,658 to just 27,630. 

The research also found the shortage of drivers is not confined to the UK but actually worldwide, including major EU member states such as France and Germany.

Additionally, in the first three months of this year, Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) tests plunged by 98 percent (48 in 2021) compared to the same period 12 months earlier (2,018).

During that most recent quarter, 43 drivers passed their test, making an average of just 14 new drivers per month – and some of these will have been bus and coach drivers.

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