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HGV Driver shortage
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By *pic OP Man
over a year ago
Petworth |
There is a huge HGV driver shortage, many large companies and supermarkets offering incentives to staff to pass their test and become drivers, fewer people being able to take test in last year due to Pandemic, lots of Eastern European drivers returning home.....it's all created a shortage.
HGV drivers do a great job working in all types of industries from food deliveries to construction to clearing our waste.
Big thumbs up for all the HGV drivers out there  |
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I read over 80,000 HGV licence holders in the UK who don't drive commercially, me included. Begs the question is the problem just a lack of qualified drivers or the lifestyle, pay, T&Cs compared to other career paths. I got my C+E in the Forces and considering my career options coming out haulage did not look an attractive option. We may need to look at more attractive and sustainable plan than just a token handshake payments to get people back in. Either that or watch the government sneak a system to make easy moment and Visa's for foreign truckers under the radar.
But you dam right, big respect to our truckers. I know a few. It's a hard job and we all need them. Let's hope they are better valued in the future. And if Tesco truckers go on strike I for one will be supporting them. I'm sure the Govenment/media will villainse them. Turn the working class against it's self as always. But nows the time for them to do it when there's not a scab army of agency truckers to derail it. |
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It is more about the lifestyle
1 motorists do not allow us room to move.
2 nowhere to park overnight, what there is fills very quickly.
3 A lack of good food, north of Perth there is nothing at night.
4 Endless roadwork & poor signage for diversions.
5 Very long hours, 13 hour shift are the norm & away from family life.
6 pay is a factor, but only a part of the overall problem |
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"Tesco are offering £1000 incentive to delivery drivers after a 3 month initial period if they stay. DPD are offering £1500
It’s a van drivers job market at present "
Tesco used to pay their drivers good pay, then companies like Stobart said they could do it for a half or a third of what Tesco were paying their drivers. Tesco then offered drivers lower pay and different contacts to avoid paying overtime etc. Not paying off now is it. |
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"There is a huge HGV driver shortage, many large companies and supermarkets offering incentives to staff to pass their test and become drivers, fewer people being able to take test in last year due to Pandemic, lots of Eastern European drivers returning home.....it's all created a shortage.
HGV drivers do a great job working in all types of industries from food deliveries to construction to clearing our waste.
Big thumbs up for all the HGV drivers out there "
Thank you,it's nice to be appreciated |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Work for sainsbury as a driver and its mostly pay and conditions. Not really about drivers going home to the Eastern block. Lots of drivers have had their pay cut by 400 pounds a month in recent times. Absolute joke. Those that do drive are not valued by their companies etc. No. Incentive to get up and drive long hours. Something needs to change and change quickly. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I worked in the industry for 21 years until 2014
The problem was already starting then
Degradation of pay
Degradation of terms
Zero hours contracts
Digital tachographs
Restrictive limits on hours worked
Unsociable hours
A reliance on agency / contract labour
More attractive money in other trades
Lack of affordable or subsidised training
Insurance restrictions on age and experience
Building warehouses in areas of low population
Look at the South Midlands, absolutely flooded with distribution centres with little workforce to support the expansion
The flood of EU drivers was already heavily supporting the industry then
Without that workforce and with older drivers retiring or re-training in more numbers than new blood was coming into the industry, a perfect storm was already brewing
Brexit, hyper capitalism and a national lock down just tipped the scales... |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Tesco are offering £1000 incentive to delivery drivers after a 3 month initial period if they stay. DPD are offering £1500
It’s a van drivers job market at present
Tesco used to pay their drivers good pay, then companies like Stobart said they could do it for a half or a third of what Tesco were paying their drivers. Tesco then offered drivers lower pay and different contacts to avoid paying overtime etc. Not paying off now is it."
The RDC at Middlewich used to have some of the best pay & conditions in the area
They insisted agency labour were paid the same as their permanent staff
I remember paying warehouse staff £13-£14 / hour back in the early noughties
Then Stobart happened... |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I read over 80,000 HGV licence holders in the UK who don't drive commercially, me included. Begs the question is the problem just a lack of qualified drivers or the lifestyle, pay, T&Cs compared to other career paths. I got my C+E in the Forces and considering my career options coming out haulage did not look an attractive option. We may need to look at more attractive and sustainable plan than just a token handshake payments to get people back in. Either that or watch the government sneak a system to make easy moment and Visa's for foreign truckers under the radar.
But you dam right, big respect to our truckers. I know a few. It's a hard job and we all need them. Let's hope they are better valued in the future. And if Tesco truckers go on strike I for one will be supporting them. I'm sure the Govenment/media will villainse them. Turn the working class against it's self as always. But nows the time for them to do it when there's not a scab army of agency truckers to derail it."
They'd have my support too |
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By *ty31Man
over a year ago
NW London |
"Of course Brexit has contributed to the loss of some great European workers who have returned home"
It's more to do with economies in some Eastern European countries improving/recovering significantly.
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Enjoy your watch then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hSake-OUXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vEY2EpSthY
lets talk about extending hours driving
we drive to work we can drive 1 hr just to get to the wagon then 9hrs driving or longer then calculate your waiting time to unload
Ive had 3hrs waiting time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGLMaG35qOE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr_GoWNNZEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58qtQ2Z86o
I like my driving but I know its deadly if your not wide awake.
Would you want a tired driver behind a wheel that drives a deadly missle. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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The train should be able to take some strain but Network Fail wont give freight trains good paths.
Theoraticly you could load on to a train in Scotland and be in Cornwall inside 12hrs but Notwork Fail wouldnt give a train that path.
Yes you need hgv for the final parts but work together things can happen.
Shame there isnt the points to unload. |
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"The train should be able to take some strain but Network Fail wont give freight trains good paths.
Theoraticly you could load on to a train in Scotland and be in Cornwall inside 12hrs but Notwork Fail wouldnt give a train that path.
Yes you need hgv for the final parts but work together things can happen.
Shame there isnt the points to unload. "
It doesn't matter if it's a 5 minute journey or a 5hour journey while drivers are treated like 2and class citizens there's always going to be a shortage |
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"The train should be able to take some strain but Network Fail wont give freight trains good paths.
Theoraticly you could load on to a train in Scotland and be in Cornwall inside 12hrs but Notwork Fail wouldnt give a train that path.
Yes you need hgv for the final parts but work together things can happen.
Shame there isnt the points to unload. "
not actually correct most of the network is there its just expensive if you want to send freight all because it was sold off.
all caused by this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH9zGMkihYA |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I hated it. Got my c plus e in forces too. I was tramping Got messed about, wagon was crap, not many places to ztay the night, dodgy characters hanging around at night smelly, and missing 2nd gear, moved from hauling goods to a class 2 tipper job, a little better but had enough |
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"I hated it. Got my c plus e in forces too. I was tramping Got messed about, wagon was crap, not many places to ztay the night, dodgy characters hanging around at night smelly, and missing 2nd gear, moved from hauling goods to a class 2 tipper job, a little better but had enough "
You dont know the half mate, your better off out of it, I retire in 5 years and it cant come quick enough |
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The problem with the pay side of things, could be a cause for concern.
Drivers wages go up, which is a good thing. Then the cost of what is being moved goes up, so we have to pay more for it. If it is food or essential items, that could be a bad thing for those on low incomes, or tight budgets. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Were not valued, treated like shit people should remember EVERYTHING you own, have or bought came on a wagon at one point or another "
I appreciate what you do.  |
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"The problem with the pay side of things, could be a cause for concern.
Drivers wages go up, which is a good thing. Then the cost of what is being moved goes up, so we have to pay more for it. If it is food or essential items, that could be a bad thing for those on low incomes, or tight budgets."
The pay is the least of my worries getting robbed on a nightly basis if their not cutting my curtains or emptying my diesel tank the scum are trying my cab doors it's not safe tramping anymore my mate was attacked with an axe 2 weeks ago in goole and people wonder why theres a shortage of drivers, you don't know if you're going to get home safely to your family on a weekend |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I got my C+E in the Forces and considering my career options coming out haulage did not look an attractive option."
Ditto, got my C, D and E with Marines and when I left tried using all 3 commercially and it was such a disappointing ball ache I went totally left field and retained in heathcare.
Just shows how little the Torys think of people who want to work for a honest wage rather than live off Daddy's estate. |
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By *ty31Man
over a year ago
NW London |
"I got my C+E in the Forces and considering my career options coming out haulage did not look an attractive option.
Ditto, got my C, D and E with Marines and when I left tried using all 3 commercially and it was such a disappointing ball ache I went totally left field and retained in heathcare.
Just shows how little the Torys think of people who want to work for a honest wage rather than live off Daddy's estate."
It's not just Boris, Cameron and Co. Successive governments have shown a bias towards white collar workers (lawyers, finance etc) whereas if your a blue collar worker you're pretty much expendable (unless your sector has a very strong union- such as RMT) |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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just to put some balance to this, i know lots of truckies, most have crap jobs, and i wouldnt do it, but if you get lucky, like one guy i know, got a job driving a fuel tanker, gets paid a fortune, never has to sleep in the cab etc, he loves it, so there are still some good jobs in the industry, just hard to find |
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"just to put some balance to this, i know lots of truckies, most have crap jobs, and i wouldnt do it, but if you get lucky, like one guy i know, got a job driving a fuel tanker, gets paid a fortune, never has to sleep in the cab etc, he loves it, so there are still some good jobs in the industry, just hard to find"
Totally agree with you, I drove for BP Oil in the late ninties & early naughties & it was fantastic. The bosses cared about the drivers & it was a great life |
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"Grant Shapps,the transport secretary, has the answer. Drivers can work longer hours!!!
After you,Grant. (Ya tw*t)."
Well that's sorted
A load of even more,knackered drivers ,driving fuck off lorries up and down the country.
What could possibly go wrong? |
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