HGV Crisis – Christmas Update

The HGV Crisis is still prevalent, even during the Christmas period. However, recent data and reports given by our affinity partner, Logistics UK, are saying the number of drivers leaving the profession has begun to ease. They’ve also highlighted that there’s now been a surge of trainees coming through into the industry and can be seen as a cause for optimism.

Figures of Improvement

So, what can we see that has improved within the industry? One key factor of improvement is the pay; which increased by 10% from the start of 2021 to October. This helped retain existing staff and worked in attracting new drivers to the sector with better wage offers. This does have it’s drawbacks however, with smaller fleet operators not able to compete with the higher demands of pay and suffering losses as a result.

Efforts made by the government, such as the Skills Bootcamps, have aided in the industry’s recruitment efforts. HGV driver tests have seen an increase of 25.6%; with more facilities being made available and funding put together.

There’s also a three-fold increase in applications of vocational provisional licenses.

What do the drivers say?

Despite the improvements, drivers insist the pay is not enough to compensate for the poor working conditions; as well as the attitudes toward their profession. Such examples given were:

• Abused on a regular basis
• No use of facilities
• Lack of hygiene for facilities

It’s evident that more work is needed to be done to win the driver’s approval, but it looks to be a step in the right direction. For the driver’s sake, let’s hope that further improvements in these areas are brought to the forefront of the government’s plans.