What is causing the HGV driver shortage/fuel and food issues?

[FlatteredFool]

I feel like I've m

I don't know if this is an issue across the board, but as wages go up drivers can afford to work less. There's always agency work so there's the opportunity to work 2-3 days and bring in your share of the household income. That's what's going on in our house anyway. If conditions are bad, people look down on you and you're in a low cost of living area you're going to work as little as you can get away with! If you work hard you're not going to get promoted!

Plus IR35 coming in this year

@Beecham

There's a great thread on Twitter today by a lorry driver, describing his job. It sounds bloody awful and it's unsurprising no-one wants to do it. thread here

That's a really eye opening thread, thanks for sharing. My dad was a HGV driver, so I can confirm all of this is 100% accurate.

One thing this person didn't go into much detail about was the often extended periods away from your family. I remember my dad being away for weeks at a time, my mum was essentially a single mum for much of the year. There was no guarantee he would be home for birthdays and Christmas. It puts a huge strain on a family, for not very much reward.

The health impact can't be overlooked either. My dad has developed arthritis in his spine as a result of decades sat in a lorry cab. He can barely walk. When the problems first appeared he was offered no support from his employer, there was no health as safety impact assessments, no office role considered he was just turfed out of his job.

It's an awful, thankless job.

If Brexit never happened, does that mean we'd still have lorry drivers on rubbish pay with poor working conditions? Are people happy with that? Because it sounds to me like that's a disaster waiting to happen in the long run if Brexit had never happened. Like kicking the can further up the road...

It used to be a good job albeit difficult for family life. Pay stagnated and conditions deteriorated for what's a very responsible role.

Brexit in the main, not just because EU drivers have left, but because paperwork means time wasted at ports/eurotunnel so less work done.

I think the petrol driver shortage is a complete fallacy, it's one of the better paid areas of the industry and has historically been more difficult to go into, lots of HGV drivers posting screen shots of "no availability" on recruitment sites for fuel drivers.

HGV driver shortage is very real for a variety of reasons but has become the new buzz word to defend any mishap like Covid was, BP are manipulating this to get the visa changes to keep wages lower.

@Theflamingnerd
My dad was a lorry driver too until he had to give it up because of bad health
As a child I never saw my dad that much, he used to be up at 3 am and not be home for days
Respect for all the hgv drivers out there
Getting the recognition they deserve at last

BP did seem to make a large splash over a tiny proportion of petrol.forecourts closing. Not sure if that's on them or the media?

BP are manipulating this to get the visa changes to keep wages lower

This. Remember this when you're frothing at the mouth about Brexit. Yes Brexit made the problem worse but it's been a toxic industry for a long time, the infrastructure would've collapsed at some point, Brexit just sped up the process.

@insancerre

Bout time they got some recognition, I remember people sneering at us when I was younger because of my dad's occupation.

We are 100k drivers short

20k lost European drivers
40k begins on tests
Rest I think is a long standing issue due to not being an attractive job

Add to that people are idiots and rather than be sensible rush off like headless chickens

So it’s everything all at once

The Eu are making new rules to improve conditions for drivers across the bloc which partly explains shortages in the Eu.

I’m thinking the loss of just in time/roll on/roll of must be an underlying effect.

A HGV cannot travel from Germany to U.K. and back easily making multiple drops/collections on the way like they did pre-B.

Ive noticed a sharp lack of HGV EU ref plates on the roads near Dartford/Dover corridor.

What a shit show. Thank you for all the replies. This is going to take a long time to fix it at least make better. It sounds like the temporary visas are not going to make much of a dent.

@Theflamingnerd
That soon stopped when my dad started driving for Cadbury’s and a couple of boxes fell off the back of the lorry

People. While a person is smart, people are fucking stupid. And selfish. According to many fuel distributors there is no shortage except for the one caused by the idiots who have been told by the media that there is a shortage and are now panic buying all the fuel.

Toilet roll never stopped being manufactured and distributed throughout the pandemic, yet there were shortages because random fella Bob at No.7 had 8 pallets of loo rolls in his garage and Karen at No.30 had her spare room filled with them and is still trying to give them away nearly two years on.

Yes there is a shortage of drivers due to Brexit and many other factors, but the real issue is selfish members of the public.

It's a perfect storm, but the impact of Brexit can't be minimised if you look at the outcomes for the UK. There is a shortage of drivers in the EU, but because of the single market, they can be deployed more efficiently and aren't held up at borders for days. This is why the EU isn't seeing shortages in shops - I have relatives across the EU and their supermarket shelves are full.

And while it's true that the reliance on imported labour is a huge factor in this crisis, again this has been brought out into the open by Brexit. In short, Brexit is exposing all the policy flaws in managing the UK economy over the past decades and making their effects much worse.

Yes there is a shortage of drivers due to Brexit and many other factors, but the real issue is selfish members of the public.

For years we’ve been told by some quarters to look after our own, provide for ourselves, use our common sense.

Of course people are selfish. Why should they care about others when our govt has that attitude?