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Driver shortages could result in empty shelves


A major shortage in the number of skilled truck and van drivers looks set to threaten supplies to su- permarkets this summer. Many companies with- in the logistics industry have joined with the Road Haulage Association (RHA) to send a letter to gov- ernment, asking for help with the driver shortage. “It is our collective view that there has never been a more challenging time for this industry and we urge you to take these decisive steps, to ensure that we can continue to maintain the UK’s inte- grated and finely balanced supply chains,” said RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett. The RHA predicts that there is currently a shortage of at least 60,000 drivers in the UK road transport industry. This has been caused by a num- ber of factors. The pandemic has seen many over- seas drivers returning to their country of origin, the majority of whom have not returned. The average age of an HGV driver in the UK


is 55, with less than 1% under the age of 25. Pro- longed layoffs have resulted in much of this ag- ing workforce retiring early, or finding employ- ment in less demanding sectors. During a typical year, 72,000 people train to become HGV drivers, of which 40,000 will succeed in joining the industry. With vocational driving tests shut down through much of last year, only 15,000 drivers passed their test, a drop of 25,000 over the previous year. With the introduction of IR35 tax rules, that were designed to tax disguised self-employment at a rate similar to full employment, a large pro- portion of agency labour has been withdrawn, as


low profit margin logistics businesses were una- ble to sustain demands for major wage increases. As the problem cannot be solved in the short-


term, simply by training more drivers, the industry is asking for the introduction of a temporary work visa for overseas HGV drivers and for this occupa- tion to be added to the Home Office Shortage Oc- cupation list. Longer term, the RHA is calling for a taskforce to be established, to help drive change in recruitment and training of domestic drivers. The RHA would also like to see the re-estab- lishment of the DEFRA Food Resilience Industry Forum, which was recently disbanded, that helped to ensure the nation’s supply integrity through- out the pandemic.


Conversion specialist expands to meet demand


'Delayed van renewals' increasing risk of breakdowns The pandemic has seen many overseas


Conversion specialist TGS Automo- tive is expanding its Bristol opera- tion to meet growing demand from public and private sector customers. The move follows a contract to con- vert 500 Renault Master vans for the Department of Health and So- cial Care. Supplied by Lease Plan, the vans have been turned into mo- bile Covid-19 testing units. Founded in 1973, the planned expansion will double the compa- ny’s workforce and treble its work- space capacity. “We completed the contract for health service vehicles in an unprec- edented three months, demonstrat- ing our capacity to fulfil large-scale public and private sector contracts on time and to the customer’s satis- faction,” said director, Glenn Smith.


drivers returning to their country of origin


Fleet software company FleetCheck is warning that extend- ed replacement cycles could lead to an increase in major component failures for van customers. The firm says that new vehicle shortages are forcing some companies to hold on to ageing vans into fifth and even sixth years of opera- tion, risking expensive mechanical breakdowns. “Quite a lot of fleets delayed van renewals around the start of the pandemic and are finding that new models can’t be sourced in suitable timescales now,” said Peter Golding, FleetCheck managing director. “It’s not uncommon for vans to break the 100,000-mile mark during their operational life, but we are seeing num- bers running well beyond that point and it is a develop- ment resulting in mechanical failures that fleets don’t of- ten experience. “There are a number of practices that fleets can employ, but the simplest and most effective is to ensure that vehi- cles that are most likely to suffer failures, something that the technology can help to identify, are used in the lowest stress applications.”


4 VANUSER • JULY 2021


www.shutterstock.com/ Luca Santilli


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