HGV driver slams Boris Johnson's 'insolence' over shortage plans

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Boris Johnson’s plan to reverse a chronic shortage of lorry drivers in the UK by adding European workers onto a new skilled worker visa has been branded “insolent” by one Polish driver. Tomasz Orynski has branded Britain’s job markets as “unattractive” for European HGV licence holders and told BBC Radio 5 Live all of his fellow drivers from Poland had already left the UK for jobs in the EU.

Mr Orynski, who is based in Glasgow told BBC 5Live: “The British job market is no longer as attractive.”

He continued: “Of my Polish friends who are driving lorries in Britain, I am the last one who is still here.

“To think that migrants are like a tap which you can open and close when needed is just insolence.”

Mr Orynski added: “Why would I come to England and piss in a bottle on the M25 when I have a stable job in Poland.”

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It comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was left scrambling for words on Sky News after being challenged over the Government’s skilled worker visas scheme amid a critical shortage in HGV drivers.

Sky News Presenter Kay Burley pressed the minister on the fact that ballerinas are eligible for the short-term visa while lorry drivers are not.

She labeled the policy “absurd” amid a concern from US food suppliers that supply chain pressures might see empty shelves in stores this Christmas.

Ms Burley told the Transport Secretary: “These short-term visas, this specialist skilled worker visas ballerinas are on the list and HGV drivers are not.”

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