Making the news today....

[Big J]

1 minute ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

No. 
 

It’s an attempt to place the entire ‘blame’ for a long standing, multi faceted shortfall entirely upon the Brexit banner. 
 

It has no more credibility than a message on the side of a bus but there will be some that cling to it as a confirmation bias. 

 

I disagree, for the most part. 

 

The problem has always been there, but has been masked by having access to a European labour force. The problem is that we don't have the staff in the UK. Brexit has exposed this.

[trigger_andy]

7 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

 but there will be some that cling to it as a confirmation bias. 

You know that term has been 'canceled' by those here that struggle to understand it, right?  

[trigger_andy]

5 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

I disagree, for the most part. 

 

The problem has always been there, but has been masked by having access to a European labour force. The problem is that we don't have the staff in the UK. Brexit has exposed this.

Sometimes its better to expose a fundamental flaw than to ignore it and continue to kick the can down the road. Brexit is akin to pulling the plaster off quickly. It was badly needed for a number of reasons and this is just another one to add to the list. Perhaps now the UK will be forced to train out youth and the continued fall into stagnation will be halted? 

[doobin]

If it hadn't been for the sudden influx of cheap European labour, lorry drivers wages would be much more likely to still reflect the responsibility they undertake.

 

Who'd have thought it? You suddenly allow in to live and work tens of thousands of people for whom £50 a day is a kings ramsome, enough to buy a house back home after working here for two years, driving a lorry like they do back home. Furthermore, you also allow European firms an exemption to do a few jobs in Britain whilst they are over here delivering, all the while whilst running under much more lax Polish lorry standards with belly tanks full of half price diesel purchased back home.

 

And you wonder why the **************** lorry drivers are paid so little? All you who blame Brexit for the current driver shortage are so blind you can't see the wood for the trees. The seeds of this shortage were sown by adopting freedom of movement. wihtout taking into account the vastly differing standards in countries who shoudl never have been thrust together under one banner ipn the first place. How ironic that Brexit should be the thing that causes a shortage again.

 

 

No temporary UK visas for EU lorry drivers, urges Unite | Workpermit.com

WORKPERMIT.COM

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Trade union, Unite, has urged the UK government not to issue temporary UK visas to EU lorry drivers. Full story, here.

 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

7 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

I disagree, for the most part. 

 

The problem has always been there, but has been masked by having access to a European labour force. The problem is that we don't have the staff in the UK. Brexit has exposed this.

UK is not short of ‘bodies’, it is short of bodies willing to work. 
 

Forget cheap EU labour, that’s gone - and good riddance. As you say, that just masked the problem and the problem is the economically inactive within the UK. 
 

A combination of making economic inactivity less ‘attractive’ and employment ‘necessary’ has the potential to set the record straight. 
 

Yes, there may be bumps along the way, and yes Remainers will doubtless continue to moan, but Brexit is the catalyst for starting on the right path rather than maintaining a self evidently damaging one. 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

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. 

[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

---

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 !!