Hire Uk Workers To Drive Lorries, Minister Tells Firms

[Roobaba]

Hire UK workers to drive lorries, minister tells firms
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58364308

Oh do I have to come back here and point out the inevitable consequences of B'exit.. yes I suppose I must.. education of the masses and all that I feel driven to point out FACTS!!
...although in this case maybe driven is the wrong word.. maybe not.. drivers in short supply ;O)

[emmie]

already covered by Gulliver on another thread, see that and NJ response.

[emmie]

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1763538.html

[naomi24]

//Hire UK workers to drive lorries//

Looks like we going to have to. They’re in short supply in Europe too …

https://www.bifa.org/news/articles/2018/dec/truck-driver-shortage-crisis-now-spreading-across-the-whole-of-europe

//Oh do I have to come back here and point out the inevitable consequences of B'exit.. yes I suppose I must.. education of the masses and all that I feel driven to point out FACTS!!//

No you don’t - because it’s nonsense. Before attempting to educate the masses with your anti-Brexit bilge, you’d be wise to educate yourself.

[Khandro]

You can't drive a lorry without an HGV licence & at the moment there's a backlog of 30,000 tests due to covid.

[ToraToraTora]

nowt to do with brexit, it's the pingdemic, pay more get drivers, market forces, end of!

[THECORBYLOON]

Is there a "pingdemic" in Germany where they have similar shortages of HGV drivers?

[Peter Pedant]

// Before attempting to educate the masses with your Brexit bilge, you’d be wise to educate yourself.//

and er will the writer take her own advice I wonder?
this is AB after all....

[naomi24]

PP, If you have a problem with my post to the OP, why not expand on it and attempt to add something constructive to this discussion instead of just your usual insulting twaddle. Or is your problem just with me personally?

[Gromit]

It is rather a stupid thing to say.
Foreign lorry drivers are in their own countries, so of course any recruiting will have to be in the UK.

About 30,000 UK drivers have left the profession because of poor pay and conditions. So there are plenty of UK drivers with an HGV license, but do not want to do the job.

Instead of ministers blathering nonsense, the Government should be offering financial incentives to returning drivers. Top up their meagre wages with a restart bonus.

[douglas9401]

Kwasi by name, quasi by nature.

Just another politician with no clue what to do about anything.

[AuntPG]

The average salary for an HGV driver in the UK is around £31K -I would not call this being low paid. Night drivers can earn in excess of £17 per hour. UK is renowned for not wanting to do certain jobs, regardless of the pay. Even unskilled jobs can't be filled - Farmers are crying out for fruit and veg pickers yet there are fit young men on street corners on the dole, they don't want to work.

[AuntPG]

https://www.totaljobs.com/salary-checker/average-hgv-salary

[naomi24]

//Foreign lorry drivers are in their own countries//

And there are shortages there too.

[douglas9401]

Same as it ever was.

[AuntPG]

Douglas I don't agree. Years ago people stood on street corners looking for causal work. Farmers came into town with a trailer to pick day workers up. Good luck on that one now, Benefits are far too high to get out of bed and do a days work for some folks these days.

[gulliver1]

09.53, "nowt to do with brexit"..... Still wearing Blinkers at your age.

[youngmafbog]

//It is rather a stupid thing to say.//

Not if you look at it in the right context.

Firms, rather than pay the going rate or train UK staff, want the Government to have visa for HGV drivers. That is wrong of course since the drivers are needed in their own countries that trained them and also it drives down wages in the UK.

//Instead of ministers blathering nonsense, the Government should be offering financial incentives to returning drivers. Top up their meagre wages with a restart bonus.//

Well just the sort of post I'd expect from a commie. No, the Government should not pay any incentive, the companies that have not paid correctly should pay it not taxpayers. As some are doing now.

[AuntPG]

^^^^^^ seriously? do you not think £31k a year is a good wage for an HGV driver?

[Togo]

Was talking to the Tesco delivery driver this morning. Ex lorry driver. He tells me that he wouldn't go back to wagon driving for a gold clock. Tells me that Tesco have offered all its delivery drivers a course to gain HGV qualification. Tesco will pay all the tuition fees and test fees, all the accommodation and travel costs to the training centres and a signing on fee if the trainee becomes an HGV driver for them. Tesco cannot fill the places. The ex HGV drivers, he tells me, are glad to be out of the game with the motorway hours at a standstill, the bus and bike lanes in cities, the security issues when carting valuables etc. and the general antisocial attitudes of the general population towards them. More have quit since the roads have again become chocca block following the (what they saw) tremendous ease of doing the job when the rest of us were in lock down. Throw into the mix the eco loons making life hard, illegal immigrants on the continental trips, and being away from home as well. Would you do it? As usual the wilfully ill informed are trying to use the trend to light fires under the wrong wood pile. Home deliveries due to the massive increases in internet purchasing has also mopped up thousands of drivers who would otherwise be behind the wheel of a lorry, without the hassle. I blame the Glow Bulls ...so there.

[davebro]

Strikes me that many pro drivers will have turned to daily delivery work rather than long distance with the proliferation of home deliveries due to covid & on line shopping. May not be as well paid but at least they get home each night.