Surely some of those unemployed hold a heavy goods licence. when my son was going to get his it was all over in a week,  lessons, test,  done. Maybe it’s not like that now, I don’t know. Unemployed.  jobs to be done,  might be bad pay, (although not long ago it was good money especially adding on the tax free night out allowance). Must be more than universal credit or what they all claim theses days. Sounds like the conversation between Bob Geldof and Mrs Thatcher... Its not as simple as that Mr Geldof.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.Â
When the eejits have filled their cars to capacity and buggered off and left them in their drive because they're working from home or retired anyway, they can't buy any more. This 'shortage' will be self - levelling. There's nowhere for most of us to store excess petrol.  Toilet roll and flour panickers probably still have more than they could ever use left over from the last time. A moderately sensible panicked person probably gets that you can't store fresh food for extended periods. So what's next? Beer? Wine? Bread?
I reckon there's quite a few losers who were so bored at home that queuing for petrol has added a frisson to their lives.
Suggestion: the Royals need to provide an event that these chaps could queue along the mall for or maybe Selfridges could have a sale or Apple introduce a slightly different phone. Then the rest of us could get on with our lives.
Costs less than a holiday. I still want to know where the 100,000 lorry drivers have gone, they weren’t all from the EU and those that were went home a long time ago.  Why are we so short now,  surely some of those in the dole can drive a lorry.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.Â
I wonder what folk would say if the media DIDN'T report on fuel shortages? " this is state censorship! We should have been told about this" Some folk just love to winge and blame everyone else and never look at their own actions.
But its not a fuel shortage, but HGV driver shortage. The media don't even report the real story as that doesn't align with their Brexit mentality and the fact that tens of thousands of EU drivers left.
Not tens of thousands at all. According to the Road Haulage Association, of the approx 35000 EU HGV drivers previously legally working in the UK, around 12500 have left and 24500 are still here. Even if all 12500 returned it would go nowhere towards alleviating the current driver shortage which is entirely caused by the RHA led by the nose by the big supermarkets (the blue one) over the past 30 years.  OH surrendered his HGV licence in 2017 at 57, after 30 years as both a driver and a haulage company owner and back to a driver again for the last 10 years so has seen the industry from both sides. He was tired. Tired of working 60+ hours a week for not much more than minimum wage. HGV drivers only get reasonable wages if they are prepared to work at least 20 hours of overtime every week. Tired of worrying about running out of hours before he got to a decent truck stop (few and far between). Tired of starting work at 4am to try and avoid the traffic to get to his first drop in time and not finishing until 7pm so e days. Tired of being away from home all week. Tired of being treated like s**t and being refused use of a toilet or even to fill a flask with hot water - this was pre COVID so no reason for it. Why would anyone want to go into this industry and be treated like this?
In his last job, 6 of the 10 class 1 drivers were from the EU and he took one of them (P) under his wing. P told him he had a wife and a young family back home who could claim certain UK benefits. P had been able to buy 2 houses at home since he had been working in the UK that he rented out and that as long as he went home for 3 weeks each year could reclaim all the tax he paid on his earnings in the UK. He drove a taxi at weekends breaking the drivers hours rules and hot bedded when he wasn't in the truck so had minimal living expenses to find. When the UK drivers tried to negotiate a pay rise they got no support from the EU drivers. The introduction of the drivers CPC irritated the hell out of many, many seasoned drivers, not least because you could just sit the same module 6 times to pass yet some still had to pay £600 for the privilege and in many cases lose a day's pay each time. They had 5 years to take it but a vast number simply decided not to do it and gave up at the end of the 5 years. This is why there is an HGV driver shortage in the UK and very little to do with Brexit.
Thank you for the explanation,  not at all like it used to be then. We would work out the route, know which truck stops to stop at every 4,5 hours. then sleep in the cab and pocket the night out money.  Home Friday afternoon back Sunday morning.Â
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.Â
@Lyn - an aging workforce of qualified drivers plus crap pay and crappier conditions which are not attractive to men or women with children, dependants, pets they need to get home for at predictable times, even for short haul drivers.  The hours restrictions mean the long haul drivers often have to sleep in their cabs in a lay-by with no loos, showers of food facilities. There are too few services and lorry parks where they can be safe and catered for.
Meanwhile, the DVLC has been very badly managed during Covid and there is a huge backlog of HGV licenses to issue and tests to be arranged altho th ebacklog won't go far to fill those 100,000 vacancies.  Employers have had 5 years since the Brexit vote to prepare, improve pay and conditions, train replacement drivers - but they haven't.
I think a lot of them are older, and they're sick to death of it. Plus, some companies are offering much higher wages, so they're jumping ship [understandably] to get a better income. No young people are interested in doing it - or very few, so when the current lot retire, or decide they're scunnered with the situation, there aren't enough new drivers coming through. Huge increase in demand of goods being delivered too.Â
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
when my son was going to get his it was all over in a week, Â lessons, test, Â done.
Maybe it’s not like that now, I don’t know.
Unemployed. Â jobs to be done, Â might be bad pay, (although not long ago it was good money especially adding on the tax free night out allowance). Must be more than universal credit or what they all claim theses days.Â
Sounds like the conversation between Bob Geldof and Mrs Thatcher...
Its not as simple as that Mr Geldof.
Toilet roll and flour panickers probably still have more than they could ever use left over from the last time. A moderately sensible panicked person probably gets that you can't store fresh food for extended periods.
So what's next? Beer? Wine? Bread?
I reckon there's quite a few losers who were so bored at home that queuing for petrol has added a frisson to their lives.
Suggestion:
the Royals need to provide an event that these chaps could queue along the mall for or maybe Selfridges could have a sale or Apple introduce a slightly different phone. Then the rest of us could get on with our lives.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Beer shortage, panic buy in here.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I still want to know where the 100,000 lorry drivers have gone, they weren’t all from the EU and those that were went home a long time ago.  Why are we so short now,  surely some of those in the dole can drive a lorry.
Not tens of thousands at all. According to the Road Haulage Association, of the approx 35000 EU HGV drivers previously legally working in the UK, around 12500 have left and 24500 are still here. Even if all 12500 returned it would go nowhere towards alleviating the current driver shortage which is entirely caused by the RHA led by the nose by the big supermarkets (the blue one) over the past 30 years.
 OH surrendered his HGV licence in 2017 at 57, after 30 years as both a driver and a haulage company owner and back to a driver again for the last 10 years so has seen the industry from both sides. He was tired. Tired of working 60+ hours a week for not much more than minimum wage. HGV drivers only get reasonable wages if they are prepared to work at least 20 hours of overtime every week. Tired of worrying about running out of hours before he got to a decent truck stop (few and far between). Tired of starting work at 4am to try and avoid the traffic to get to his first drop in time and not finishing until 7pm so e days. Tired of being away from home all week. Tired of being treated like s**t and being refused use of a toilet or even to fill a flask with hot water - this was pre COVID so no reason for it. Why would anyone want to go into this industry and be treated like this?
The introduction of the drivers CPC irritated the hell out of many, many seasoned drivers, not least because you could just sit the same module 6 times to pass yet some still had to pay £600 for the privilege and in many cases lose a day's pay each time. They had 5 years to take it but a vast number simply decided not to do it and gave up at the end of the 5 years. This is why there is an HGV driver shortage in the UK and very little to do with Brexit.
We would work out the route, know which truck stops to stop at every 4,5 hours.
then sleep in the cab and pocket the night out money. Â Home Friday afternoon back Sunday morning.Â
Meanwhile, the DVLC has been very badly managed during Covid and there is a huge backlog of HGV licenses to issue and tests to be arranged altho th ebacklog won't go far to fill those 100,000 vacancies.  Employers have had 5 years since the Brexit vote to prepare, improve pay and conditions, train replacement drivers - but they haven't.
Perfect storm.
Huge increase in demand of goods being delivered too.Â
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The young don’t seem to want to do any manual jobs these days.Â
Open up the canals again?Â