Making the news today....

[Mark J]

16 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Shortage of drivers isn’t ‘new’ news and it isn’t Brexit news either. From 2015 in the Brexit loving Guardian:

 

Lorry driver shortage 'could put Christmas deliveries at risk' | Road transport | The Guardian

WWW.GOOGLE.CO.UK

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Shortfall of 45,000-50,000 drivers may also harm the UK’s economic recovery, according to the Road Haulage...

 

 

It’s just not new news and it’s just not Brexit news. Access to cheap Labour was a sticking plaster which allowed companies to ignore their own sustainability and resilience issues (in pursuit of profit) rather than properly train an organic workforce. 

Do you think that the 'Pingdemic' is being used to compensate for the lack of HGV drivers for the reasons mentioned above, or is that a bit too tin-foil hatland?

[Johnsond]

1 hour ago, Mark J said:

I agree it would be better to train up people here. They lowered age in 2009 so there's been plenty of time to invest if they wanted to.
I'm not sure what we're supposed to do in the interim though, 76,000 is a lot of drivers to train.
 

From last December: 

Please Wait... | Cloudflare

THELOADSTAR.COM

 

Short term bottom line mentality Mark and no long term vision 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️Sad but a feature of successive governments for years 

[devon TWiG]

funny how there is now a petition on "safety" for drivers about increased hours ...in the early stages of the pandemic they were effectively scrapped ( temporarily ) and before that the speed on single carriageways was increased from 40 -50 mph but no "out cry " then !!   I drive a lorry a couple of days a week nowadays and although the hourly rate is poor it is easy to do 10 -11 hours a day which gives a similar income to tree work for little effort !!  sat down staring out the window listening to the radio , also many places I deliver too must be awful places to work ( big distribution centres , builders merchants   etc ) and they are minimum wage and a 40 hr week ....there are loads of shit jobs out there but that's life !!

[devon TWiG]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

 

They just can't find the quality of staff, and the exodus has been rapid. Previously, drivers have been on the £12-13/hr mark, and suddenly they are getting hoovered up by the supermarkets paying £20.

 

Additionally, training forestry lorry drivers isn't a quick task. They have to reach a fairly decent level of competency before letting them loose in the woods with a timber crane.

 

I don't think that this country really has labour force with the work ethic for 44t haulage. We have terrible, overcrowded roads and low wages. Why would anyone do it? I did look into HGV driving in Sweden out of curiosity and their salary is much higher for experienced drivers, as well as the job being far easier for most of the year. 

supermarkets are NOT paying £20 per hour , some agency workers might get that for Sundays or nights !!

[trigger_andy]

2 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

Well the driver who left the sawmill to take that job did very well then. This was information from the company's haulage manager.

£20 an hour while still a joke is a wage you could just about live a semi-comfortable existence on. It’s little wonder there is such a huge shortage of people willing to to go through the training required (and potentially pay for themselves) when they can earn the same stocking shelves, have to fork out nothing on training and get home each night of the week. 

[eggsarascal]

1 hour ago, devon TWiG said:

supermarkets are NOT paying £20 per hour , some agency workers might get that for Sundays or nights !!

Our kid is getting £17/hour on nights in the Midlands 

[devon TWiG]

4 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

£20 an hour while still a joke is a wage you could just about live a semi-comfortable existence on. It’s little wonder there is such a huge shortage of people willing to to go through the training required (and potentially pay for themselves) when they can earn the same stocking shelves, have to fork out nothing on training and get home each night of the week. 

????  I doubt very few in  the Arb industry make £20 an hour  ( employed , or SE after expenses etc ), and you seem to imply shelf stackers do !!, the training to drive a lorry is cheaper and quicker to do than  arb certs .   I gather you work in the oil industry but do you have any comprehension of the real world ??  £20 an hour is £40k per annum for a 40 hour week and the national average is about £25 k !!

[trigger_andy]

Just now, devon TWiG said:

????  I doubt very few in  the Arb industry make £20 an hour  ( employed , or SE after expenses etc ), and you seem to imply shelf stackers do !!, the training to drive a lorry is cheaper and quicker to do than  arb certs .   I gather you work in the oil industry but do you have any comprehension of the real world ??  £20 an hour is £40k per annum for a 40 hour week and the national average is about £25 k !!

Sorry, I was jumping around a bit there. I meant the average wage of £10 an hour as a Lorry Driver, it’s just not worth it. 
 

But I think it should be £20 an hour all things considered. In my mind it’s a job with at least twice the skills required, significantly more risk and responsibilities for the driver and those around him on the road and the long lonely days away from his/her family. So yes, he/she should be paid double the wage of a shelf stacker. 

There is certainly easy enough ways to make £50k a year. My brothers just moved up from London, was a Manager of a successful building firm. £55k a year but wanted to come back to Scotland. He’s been back since March and started up as what you could call an odd-job man till he gets his Building firm up and running. Works 3-4 days a week including quoting for work. Booked 2-3 months in advance and is making more than he made in London. We knocked out Slab laying job in 2.5 days. £2250 with £250 in materials (slabs already on-site) If he’s not making £400 a day profit out of the job he turns it down and is still booked out for months. We’ve got a job lined up when we get back. Should be 3 days max, £2k profit for both of us all going well. 
 

Why folk scratch a living knocking their pan in on the breadline I’ll never know. 

 

[Mark J]

2 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

Sorry, I was jumping around a bit there. I meant the average wage of £10 an hour as a Lorry Driver, it’s just not worth it. 
 

But I think it should be £20 an hour all things considered. In my mind it’s a job with at least twice the skills required, significantly more risk and responsibilities for the driver and those around him on the road and the long lonely days away from his/her family. So yes, he/she should be paid double the wage of a shelf stacker. 

There is certainly easy enough ways to make £50k a year. My brothers just moved up from London, was a Manager of a successful building firm. £55k a year but wanted to come back to Scotland. He’s been back since March and started up as what you could call an odd-job man till he gets his Building firm up and running. Works 3-4 days a week including quoting for work. Booked 2-3 months in advance and is making more than he made in London. We knocked out Slab laying job in 2.5 days. £2250 with £250 in materials (slabs already on-site) If he’s not making £400 a day profit out of the job he turns it down and is still booked out for months. We’ve got a job lined up when we get back. Should be 3 days max, £2k profit for both of us all going well. 
 

Why folk scratch a living knocking their pan in on the breadline I’ll never know. 

 

'£600 a day is barely going to get lads through the gate': What the 'insane' demand for brickies and materials means for Manchester's building boom - Manchester Evening News

WWW.MANCHESTEREVENINGNEWS.CO.UK

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The city centre is set for another slew of new residential towers, office revamps and venues, but the construction...

Your brother might want to stockpile materials if he hasn't already done so.

[trigger_andy]

7 hours ago, Mark J said:

'£600 a day is barely going to get lads through the gate': What the 'insane' demand for brickies and materials means for Manchester's building boom - Manchester Evening News

WWW.MANCHESTEREVENINGNEWS.CO.UK

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The city centre is set for another slew of new residential towers, office revamps and venues, but the construction...

Your brother might want to stockpile materials if he hasn't already done so.

Cement is limited to 2 bags a visit, if they’ve got it. Somethings it’s just quick drying left. Bill bags of ballast is virtually never in. 
 

Thankfully he can just rattle off fencing materials on my mill as he bought 50t of Larch when I did. We’ve had builders come down 30-40 miles to buy larch and don’t bat an eyelid at the price he’s asking. 
 

But it seems like it’s just getting worse.