Should The Government Ease The Lorry Driver Crisis By ….

[ichkeria]

… by a temporary visa system for foreign drivers?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58673567

I thought a certain Swift character known for his travels might have beaten me to this one ;-)

At least this way you get a link

[ToraToraTora]

they need to look at various methods, in the short term we need drivers so great if we can get them from abroad. They could also use the army drivers. What worries me though is how dependant we seem to be on road haulage. Time to start reviving the use of rail for goods transport I think so we aren't so vulnerable to driver shortages.

[ToraToraTora]

^^^^ for those in the know there is a chink of an open goal there, lets see who spots it!

[Redhelen72]

Something needs to be done - NI is too reliant on goods coming via road and ferry.

[bobbinwales]

Seem's worth a try, it has been suggested before and must be been considered. But of course there are shortages of drivers across Europe so may be theres still be nowhere near enough togo round??

[tamborine]

Bus drivers are HGV. Our local bus runs every 2-3 hours & usually empty. BRinging in EU drivers lowers the income of homegrown drivers

[ichkeria]

Grant Shapps doesn’t want to undercut British wages, while Kwasi Kwarteng wants existing drivers to be paid more.
I don’t see how either of those options helps: why not bring in foreign drivers … and pay them more?
There are shortages all over Europe so they may have to

[Hopkirk]

Bus drivers are not HGV qualified. They hold category D.
To drive lorries you need to pass a category C test, and for articulated ones you need C+E.

[Peter Pedant]

erm I know everyone thinks I am foo
.... but
pay them a bit more and they will start driving innit?
( adam smiff or Marks ( you know of Marx and Spencer) )

[Peter Pedant]

Harold WIlson, or Maxwell, or Trump
( crook anyway)
said you cant buck the markets ....

[Khandro]

The trouble is ........... they all drive on the wrong side of the road

[naomi24]

Transport goods by train by all means - but you still need lorries to deliver them to their final destination. Was that the 'chink', TTT?

[youngmafbog]

Not sure a temporary visa for foreign drivers would help much. They didnt just leave because of Brexit despite what people saybut because pay and conditions became equal in their own countries as they benefitted from EU investment. Alongside this in the UK they were hit with IR35 that drastically reduced their pay, so who wants to work abroad for less money?

And lets not forget the tardiness of testers getting back to work. While many occupation fought through COVIS the examiners all stopped. Yes, they are in close proximity but so are many other key workers.

It boils down to needing a multi pronged approach, problem here is this liberal left Government are not up to it and neither is the buffon leading it.

[ichkeria]

The point is regardless of how we got here the labour market is reduced here.
Johnson was questioned about labour shortages recently by leading businessmen and his dismissive response was: “have you thought of paying more?”.
Pretty much along the lines of Shapps and Kwarteng as referred to above

[gulliver1]

11.37" in the short term we need drivers, so great if we can get them from abroad"
You mean like begging to the EUSSR to loan the UK some of their surplus HGV drivers .,,,,,, Shooting oneself in the foot comes into mind,,,,,SPMSL

[dannyk13]

Gulliver, the EU does not have any surplus drivers,The shortage is widespread over Europe.

[dannyk13]

https://www.bifa.org/news/articles/2018/dec/truck-driver-shortage-crisis-now-spreading-across-the-whole-of-europe

[Hopkirk]

It makes me laugh that these big employers are now moaning about shortages.

They have known there was an aging workforce, nearing retirement. They stopped training their own new recruit. Instead they relied on bringing in foreign drivers, and used that to suppress the wages paid.

There was little incentive therefore for young British people to pay their way through training, as the rewards when you got there were being eroded.

It's not just in the driving workforce. Other industries too have slashed training budgets, and suppressed wage increases by importing foreign workers.

The British workers on their wages buying less and less could see this happening. Is it any wonder they voted for Brexit?

[Hopkirk]

The government knows this, and knows that they will appear to be going back on Brexit if they turn round now and let foreign workers back in.

[sunny-dave]

https://tinyurl.com/r5phu8bj

[ToraToraTora]

naomi: "Transport goods by train by all means - but you still need lorries to deliver them to their final destination. Was that the 'chink', TTT? " - no, not the chink. It will cut the miles driven dramatically, many smaller trucks/vans etc can be used. Go back a few years and rail freight was the norm.