European lorry drivers ‘will not want to come to
UK’, warn haulage chiefs
Emergency visa plan will not resolve Britain’s road
transport crisis, says industry as majority blame Brexit in poll
Jon Henley,
Michael Savage and James Tapper
Sat 25 Sep
2021 22.30 BST
The
government’s emergency programme to issue temporary visas to thousands of lorry
drivers is far too little to resolve Britain’s supply-chain crisis and is
unlikely to attract them to the UK, haulage chiefs have warned.
Downing
Street on Saturday night confirmed hastily compiled plans to add 5,000 HGV
drivers and 5,500 poultry workers to a visa scheme until Christmas, to help the
food and fuel industries with shortages.
However,
even as the plans were formally announced, Marco Digioia, the head of the
European Road Haulers Association which represents more than 200,000 trucking
companies across the continent, told the Observer that “much more would be
needed” than a temporary relaxation of immigration rules. “There is a driver
shortage across Europe,” he said. “I am not sure how many would want to go to
the UK.”
Andrew
Opie, from the British Retail Consortium, said the 5,000 limit would “do little
to alleviate the current shortfall”.
The
criticisms emerged as the supply-chain crisis spread:
Ambulance and care workers have been affected
by queues for petrol, following reports that some forecourts have not received
expected petrol deliveries.
There were warnings that as many as one in
five deliveries may not be reaching major supermarket chains on time or at all.
Polling suggested that a majority of voters,
including 52% of Leave voters, believed Brexit was partly to blame for the
crisis.
Digioia
said European driver salaries were generally higher than in Britain; new EU
rules had improved working conditions; and billions of euros had been offered
to fund parking areas and support companies.
“The UK
doesn’t have access to any of that,” he said. “Tempting European drivers back
to the UK when they also have to face the reality of customs and border checks,
all the uncertainties of Brexit … We have to be realistic.”
Higher
salaries, and perhaps tax incentives, might help in the short term, he said,
but “a lot of money is being thrown at this whole problem in Europe right now.
There’s a level playing field, and none of the Brexit-related hassle”.
The
government said on Saturday night that it planned to train up to 4,000 people
as HGV drivers, with the help of military examiners to speed up the process;
and letters are being dispatched to recently retired drivers in an attempt to
coax them back into the job.
Senior
industry figures said that there would now be a battle between British
companies to hire drivers, with companies less able to pay finding themselves
short of workers. Sources said that there were already major companies under
threat.
There were
also warnings on Saturday night that an impending shortage of the short-term
workers needed to cope with the autumn demand for food pickers and packagers
will intensify the crisis.
Two thirds
(67%) of voters believe the government has handled the crisis badly, according
to a new Opinium poll for the Observer. Even a majority of Conservative voters
(59%) thought that the government had responded badly. The majority (68%) said
Brexit was partly to blame, including 88% of Remain voters and 52% of Leave
voters.
As well as
the shortfall in deliveries to supermarkets, the acute difficulties that have
faced the hospitality sector are expected to widen.
Ian Wright,
chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said that there could be as
many as four million people who were available to companies at the beginning of
last year but are no longer in the potential labour force. He warned of another
pinch point in just a few weeks, when agency staff would be needed to deal with
the autumn and Christmas peak in demand.
“I’m
absolutely certain that when we get to the end of September and when we start
to look at the crucial role of agency workers in the Christmas rush, there
won’t be enough available,” he said.
“The
government needs to come to a pretty speedy resolution on lorry drivers. The
question then is, if you call them, will they come?
“I think
the only way we will find that out is by doing so. But you then get into what
is a pretty obvious contest about which industry, which company, who can pay
most. One in five orders for hospitality from suppliers do not make it. My
guess is that several of the supermarkets are in a comparable position which is
why there are shortages on the shelves,” said Wright.
There were
also reports of ambulances and hospital staff being affected by petrol queues,
after some petrol retailers said fuel deliveries were unable to reach some
forecourts. South Central Ambulance Trust said that on Friday, its staff had
“joined the queues with others to refuel which on some occasions has taken
time”.
Matt
McDonnell, the chief executive of Medicare EMS, which has a fleet of
ambulances, said that several crews had struggled to get fuel on Saturday.
“This morning, we’ve had a crew driving round for over an hour,” he said. “They
found a garage that had a sign up saying ‘access to emergency vehicles only’.
But our crew were rationed to just 30 litres of fuel.”
A crew
member on an emergency shift in the east of England on Friday posted an angry
message on Facebook. Jennifer Ward wrote: “Imagine having to go to 5 DIFFERENT
petrol stations to get diesel for your AMBULANCE.” There were also reports that
workers at a care firm in Kent had not been able to get to people’s homes
because of lack of petrol. There are serious warnings about the impact that
higher prices, rising energy bills and the incoming cut to universal credit
will have on the low-paid. A typical low-income family with children could see
their income fall by more than £20 a week over the next six months as a result
of the “triple whammy”, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.
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