(28 Sep 2021, 12:33 pm)Adrian wrote I don't know why we keep referring to it as a 'so called driver shortage'? It's abundantly clear that a labour shortage exists, the same as it does in other low-paid/poor conditions sectors such as hospitality and the social care sector.

As for allowing EU migrants back to work; if I was one, I don't think I'd want to come back after years of being treated like second-class citizens in the UK.

We've made our own bed, as they say.

I say 'so called', as it's been rumbling on for a number of years now.  The RHA aren't shy in throwing around figures to support their cause.  There's no shortage of HGV license holders, just people actually using them to earn a living.  Granted, pockets exist in certain parts of the country, and at certain times of the year.  But nowhere near as the likes of the RHA would have us believe.

Haulage firms very rarely train their own drivers from scratch.  Newly qualified drivers struggle to find substantive work.  If there was a real shortage, these two factors alone are within the industry's gift to resolve.