The exacerbation of the HGV driver shortage

In June this year, the Road Haulage Association (RHA) sent a direct letter to the PM asking for personal intervention to help resolve the significant and rapidly growing shortage of HGV drivers. Before the pandemic began, the RHA estimated a shortage in excess of 60,000 drivers. In response, UK road transport businesses employed 600,000 HGV drivers (including 60,000 from EU members states) to deal with the issue.?

Now, over a year later, this number has fallen even further, taking logistical processes and driver numbers to a crisis point. All over the UK, supply lines are failing and a solution is required urgently. But how did an HGV driver shortage develop and what are businesses and the government doing to resolve it?

When and why did the driver shortage happen?

It’s easy to point fingers when it comes to large issues such as this. Was it the ‘Pingdemic’? Economy issues? Wage disappointment? Ultimately, the exacerbation of the driver shortage has been more of a snowball effect.?

COVID-19 carries a large amount of blame for the driver shortage but the issue already existed long before lockdown. The HGV driver shortage has been worsening incrementally for years and has now become a wide-felt concern for many retailers and businesses.

The pandemic created a large backlog in HGV driver tests and has made it much more difficult to get enough new drivers behind the wheel. 72,000 candidates train to become HGV drivers on a normal year and 40,000 succeed. When vocational driving tests were stopped for most of 2020, 30,000 test slots were offered and only 15,000 drivers completed the training successfully.?

In response to the pandemic, many drivers returned to their home countries during extended periods of lockdown and restricted travel. This was combined with the uncertainty of Brexit and the general unknown about future rights to live and work in the UK. All of those that left are not expected to return. When the UK was part of the single market, drivers were able to come and go as they pleased but the additional border bureaucracy post-Brexit meant it became more difficult for many to drive in and out of the UK.?

Changes were also made to taxes and these make it more expensive for European drivers to work or be employed in the United Kingdom. The introduction of IR35 has resulted in agency labour withdrawing their services as low-profit margin logistics businesses (typically 2-3%) cannot sustain demands for ￡5-￡6 per hour rate increases.

Yet, before even Brexit, tax changes and the pandemic, an issue was always evident. HGV and LGV drivers are (on national average) in their mid-50s and ‘young people’ are not leaping at the opportunity to join the trade. Haulage and logistics aren’t traditionally seen as the industry of choice for people looking for a career, and the most commonly cited reasons were a perceived lack of career progression, boredom and the high costs of training. If more drivers are leaving the trade than joining… the maths is simple.

Who is affected by the LGV/HGV driver shortage?

Day by day, thousands of people are affected by the driver shortage and businesses face further stresses as a result. Even as this article is created, new companies will be hit by supply issues and be forced to anticipate new options. Food and hospitality giants such as Nandos (forced to close 45 restaurants after running short of chicken), McDonald’s (unable to receive a supply of milkshakes and bottled drinks) and many other food wholesalers are suffering. This has sparked fears that the demand could lead to a rise in food prices.

Supermarkets are also warning of long-term shelving shortages with the boss of Co-op Food stating “The shortages are at a worse level than at any time I have seen.”

Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director, said the UK HGV driver shortage was already causing 30-40 deliveries to its stores to be cancelled daily. Walker linked the issues to Brexit and called the crisis a “self-inflicted wound” that was likely to get worse. However, rather than an inevitable consequence of Brexit, he perceived it to be caused by the government's failure to appreciate the importance of HGV drivers and the work they do. Concerns have been echoed by all other supermarket chains, especially concerning the run-up to Christmas and the anticipated rush.?

This is an issue that directly impacts all industries. Construction. Food supply. Retail. Agriculture. Mining. Medical. If you can name it, there’s probably at least one business that is experiencing supply issues in that industry because of the HGV driver shortage. After all, “95% of everything we get in Britain comes on the back of a truck,” (Rod McKenzie, the director of policy at Road Haulage Association).

How is the HGV driver shortage fixed?

In the simplest way, the actual issue is very obvious: not enough drivers equals not enough trucks on the roads and this equals not enough transport for products that need to be delivered.?

Therefore, the resolution is more drivers. But how do you get more drivers? Many companies are offering incentives to attract drivers to their business to fix their personal supply lines but the director of policy at Road Haulage Association noted that this just pulls in talent from elsewhere (causing someone to lose out in the process) instead of attracting new talent.?

As the foreign workforce dwindles, hauliers and logistics companies need to concentrate on encouraging the UK’s younger demographic and new talent into the industry despite the negative perception that the trade often has. Industry bodies have been lobbying the government to create temporary visas for HGV drivers from EU countries as a short-term solution while domestic drivers are recruited and trained. However, businesses have been told to prioritise hiring UK-based workers rather than relying on labour from abroad to fix a shortage of lorry drivers.

Ways to encourage new trucker talent

• Better facilities – Safety, security, welfare. Every trucker should be entitled to a clean shower and toilets and should not have to accept poor quality restrooms because that’s all there is. Britain’s roadsides and services need to be reviewed to offer better facilities.?
• Wages – Being a truck driver is complex and they should be paid their worth. Increasing pay for jobs is a key way to make the job more appealing and also show drivers they deserve it for the work they do.?
• Job satisfaction – Not every company can afford to increase wages across the board but truck drivers should still be appreciated e.g. bonuses, gifts, involving them in parts of the business, respecting their input.?
• Encourage women – Only 1% of truck drivers are female. The trucker stereotype dies hard when it comes to gender but there is a lot that companies can do to show they want women as part of their workforce. Improving facilities (many haulier companies and roadsides might not even have facilities for women to use) can directly help this.?
• Proactive training programmes – When issues arise with sourcing and finding HGV drivers, companies can take the initiative to create proactive training programmes and working practices that will create more - while supporting the goals and demands of the business using skills already available to the business.?

Fixing issues is also about proactively being part of the solution and the operations team at STORM has taken 5+ drivers from 3.5-tonne vans to Class 2 through their own apprenticeship scheme. Apprentices will drive a van for several months before being trained by the operations manager and progressing through to earn their Class 2 licence and CPC.

How is STORM dealing with the driver shortage?

At STORM Building Products, we do everything we can to stay on top of stock levels to ensure we can supply our extensive product range when and where it’s needed. We follow the developing news about the crisis closely, build our business practices regularly and do all we can to show our drivers the respect they deserve.?

The HGV driver shortage will not be resolved overnight but if businesses continue to work together to achieve the same goals, changes can be made to get the supply chains back on track as the world continues to recover from the adversities of the last few years.?