//…you said they sit for 12 hours a day in their cab which is wrong.//
Yes it is. Many of them spend far longer than that because they live in them for five days a week. But I’ll not quibble. What I will quibble with is this:
//I really don't think that an average weeks pay of nearly £700 would put anyone off applying for the job if they like it.//
The average annual pay for an HGV driver is £32,500:
https://www.totaljobs.com/salary-checker/average-hgv-drivers-salary
That is £625pw, so not what I would call “nearly £700.” I would also quibble with this:
//The real reason we are short of HGV drivers is they have all been sent back to Romania/Poland/pick your European Country because of Brexit,…//
Nobody has been “sent back” anywhere. In fact as I pointed out on another thread, over 6m people from the EU have applied to stay here, less than 2% of them have had their applications refused and I doubt any of them have been “sent back” either.
As you say, the “pool” of HGV drivers (across Europe) is diminishing. This has nothing to do with Brexit and has everything to do with the pay and conditions of the job, As both Togo and Douglas have pointed out, it is not an attractive occupation for more reasons than one. Low pay is clearly an issue. It is not difficult to earn £30k in a number of semi-skilled jobs. Many in the construction industry earn that and there are tales in the Press today of some plumbers raking in £150k. Yes, this is obviously exceptional, but it is not difficult for a good plumber to earn £50k.
It is totally unsurprising to me that so many lorry drivers are deciding they’ve had enough. We could discuss at length why that might be but what I do take issue with is that it is predominantly Brexit that has caused the problem. It may be a small contributory factor but since the same problems exist in mainland European countries it cannot be a significant factor. UK hauliers have had over four years to address any problems that might be caused by Brexit and it seems to me they have singularly failed to do so.
//How unique, train, hire, and employ our own people.//
It’ll never catch on.