# Indusrty News - DRIVER SHORTAGE - RHA SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT



## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

There has been a lot of speculation in the media recently about the HGV driver shortage, the possibility of Christmas delay disasters, and post-Brexit supply chain disruption as a result. The RHA is therefore keen to set the record straight.

“The UK haulage industry is currently facing a shortage of between 45k and 50k HGV drivers and we as an industry need to face this challenge head-on”, said RHA chief executive Richard Burnett.

“And with a shortage of drivers across Europe, it’s vital that the sector does more to bring people into the industry.

“As part of its move to tackle this, the RHA has created, together with telematics provider Microlise, Road to Logistics – a national training programme developed to encourage new talent into the transport and logistics industry from all sections of society where individuals need help and support to regain self-confidence and independence. Road to Logistics will help companies to reduce the cost of recruiting new talent into their organisations.”

In addition the RHA, together with Close Brothers Asset Finance, has launched a scheme encouraging RHA members with less than 20 vehicles to apply for funding to recruit and train the next generation of HGV drivers. Close Brothers will help pay for 20 apprentices to learn their skills, meaning the signed up hauliers won’t have to bear the full cost of employing the apprentices until they are making a positive contribution to their business.

Richard Burnett continued: “Businesses are looking for improved funding and clarity on the licences that can be undertaken in the driver apprentice scheme. We need improved training schemes with greater flexibility over the access to the available funding especially for the smaller operator.

“The Brexit effect on the exchange rate has resulted in some Eastern European HGV drivers returning to their homelands. Operators have been reassuring drivers that there is a future working in the UK. With this, more certainty of residential rights, and an improved exchange rate, we are confident that the drift back home will reduce.”

Concluding, Richard Burnett said: “The road freight sector will continue to deliver the goods we all need, the supermarket shelves will not empty, but it’s vital for the good of the whole economy that we increase the availability of quality drivers.”


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

I don't know if it's just round this way but the roads here are chocker with learner lorries! I don't see how there can be a shortage of drivers round here at least.


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## minidaveo (Jun 27, 2017)

I can see in 10 years time all those hauliers will start using autonomous hgv’s what will happen to all those “new” young drivers! 

Being 30-50 around that time will suck


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## ffrs1444 (Jun 7, 2008)

good for me when i leave the army with every driving Licence going but couldn't stand driving for a living always a good back up.


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## ollienoclue (Jan 30, 2017)

They have secretly been short of drivers for a fair few years.

Not my bag I'm afraid, most of the big simple stuff will be autonomous within 15 years anyway.


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## mayhem85 (May 8, 2012)

As a hgv driver myself, my opinion is the road infrastructure in the UK is far from desirable. With all the legislations within driving for a living, drivers hours, working time directive, driver CPC etc hgv driving is far from a straightforward job. There doesn't appear to be enough services, truck stops or even laybys for the volume of vehicles on the road currently. Thurrock for example has closed most of its laybys on most of its roads. Companies are always pushing for more and more and in general hgv driving isn't a well paid job, it cost me 3k in order to get my licences and CPC driver card. The job suits some people more than others, nights away from families and friends, sleeping in your cab etc isn't exactly a high quality of living. There are so many restrictions within driving and the law that I'm sure people are put off by driving jobs, and the other fact that no-one likes being stuck in traffic, to a hgv driver traffic jams can be the difference between making it home at the end of your shift and not. Sorry to have a rant but there is so much more to driving a hgv than alot of people realise, then they wonder why we are short on drivers.Ironically I like my job but I've been fortunate in where I work.


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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

I always thought that this may be a job I wouldn't mind doing but in reality I would hate it. Driving to work is bad enough but doing all day with the standard of some drivers on the road would stress me out. With these new electric lorries that follow each other I think drivers will be required less and less. What's going to happen to mechanics when most cars are electric.


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## davies20 (Feb 22, 2009)

As an ex HGV driver, I was 22 when I passed my class 2, then proceeded to do my class 1 (artic) a year later.

So I'd fall in to this 'next generation's driver. As previously mentioned on here, I took a £12,000 pay decrease to get out of the industry. Bare in mind that's after the 2.2k I paid to get my licence!

The job is simply horrendous, stupidly long days, full of stress on the road not knowing what the next idiot was going to do! Wait around ages to get loaded, then wait around to get unloaded. All this on top of being up stupidly early, purely to beat the traffic, home late & tired all the time!

I really miss driving my class 1, I loved the challenge of reversing her into places I knew would be tricky, but every other part of the job outweighs that. 

I'm not defending all HGV drivers, some really are morons of the highest degree, in my current job I still deal with HGV drivers often and some boil my blood. But I ask if your reading this, please respect the HGV driver more - do a day in their shoes & you would understand how tricky the job is. 

Thanks for reading!


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

minidaveo said:


> I can see in 10 years time all those hauliers will start using autonomous hgv's what will happen to all those "new" young drivers!
> 
> Being 30-50 around that time will suck


A mate of mine is a professor in autonomous robotics and one of the world's leading experts on it. Met up with a few weeks back for a few beers when he was back in the UK and interestingly he said that he doesn't reckon we will see fully autonomous vehicles in our lifetime (he's 50). Was very interesting talking to him.

He admits that road vehicles aren't his area, but he's been on development demos and all sorts and reckons it is still a long way off.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Shiny said:


> A mate of mine is a professor in autonomous robotics and one of the world's leading experts on it. Met up with a few weeks back for a few beers when he was back in the UK and interestingly he said that he doesn't reckon we will see fully autonomous vehicles in our lifetime (he's 50). Was very interesting talking to him.
> 
> He admits that road vehicles aren't his area, but he's been on development demos and all sorts and reckons it is still a long way off.


They promised me flying cars when I was a kid, I'm 48 next week and I'm still waiting. In fact in 30 yrs of driving not a great deal has changed!!


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## C-220 (Feb 28, 2014)

If the RHA and FTA were really concerned about filling the driver shortage then they would have made the industry put their hands in their pockets years ago to create training and recruitment which doesn't hit the driver in the pocket straight away. 
They bring out the same winge all the time but don't actually do anything. What young kid can afford £2500 grand for his HGV at age 18? 
There's nothing but barriers and cost in the way and hauliers don't want to pay either as well as insurance companies wanting 25 yr+ old drivers. Again the youngsters have no chance and go take a job else where and start earning straight away. 
As said above conditions on the road are terrible and the reward is dire. 
The most hauliers could wish for is being allowed to run roadtrains with one driver and three trailers which would help them a lot. The Government funded study into platoon trucks (three separate trucks linked by electronics and one driver) is a waste of money as you could do the same job safer and cheaper with only one driver and a road-train combination.


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## mayhem85 (May 8, 2012)

Autonomous vehicles will only be effective if all other vehicles are autonomous. Artificial intelligence cars? The government's need to sort a whole host of problems that we have in this country before they worry about autonomous vehicles, improving and increasing the police force would be on my priority list way ahead of alot of things. I've grown to distrust all the political parties but I understand there is a need for rules and regulations, I wished we actually corrected issues rather than move a few figures around so things look better on paper. Sorry guys, rant over


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

mayhem85 said:


> Autonomous vehicles will only be effective if all other vehicles are autonomous. Artificial intelligence cars? The government's need to sort a whole host of problems that we have in this country before they worry about autonomous vehicles, improving and increasing the police force would be on my priority list way ahead of alot of things. I've grown to distrust all the political parties but I understand there is a need for rules and regulations, I wished we actually corrected issues rather than move a few figures around so things look better on paper. Sorry guys, rant over


I had to giggle with an element of disbelief when Hammond announced driverless cars would be on the road within 5 years at the last budget, which was a few days after my mate told me "not in his lifetime"!

My mate reckons the only it can be currently done is if all roads are fitted with sensors etc which can communicate with the cars, which just isn't feasible. The current technology is far too unreliable where human life is concerned, with a prime example being the Tesla that mistook a white lorry for sky and the driver died. At a demo recently (i think he said in Germany) on a closed basic oval track the vehicle started speeding up in error and required human intervention.

My mate is the Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Chile, currently researching autonomous robots for the mining industry and space debris tracking for Nasa using radar and finite set statistics or something or another.

I know which one i trust out of him and Hammond! :lol:


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## ollienoclue (Jan 30, 2017)

The rate of change is such that even industry experts cannot predict accurately how or when things will happen.

The internet and modern communications have hugely accelerated the rate of human innovation world wide.

If a computer can fly an aircraft then a truck is hardly going to be that hard.

You need only see the Tesla self driving software in action on youtube to realise that the future is just around the corner.

It won't be as effective or as fast as a human driver, at least not initially, but it doesn't suffer from driver hours and won't be impossible to recruit.

Some of the long distance journeys in the Sates for example, are thousands of miles long. Automated vehicle fuelling systems already exist. A human driver would take days to complete that journey. An automated truck would drive day and night.

You only need to see some of the current technology in the mining and manufacturing industries to realise that at least half the required innovations are already there.

Truck detects any kind of issue- it will slow down and stop and alert 24/7 controller and security services, heck, they could even drive the thing by remote if necessary or else dispatch a mechanic to go fix it. Already possible with some agricultural kit, you can monitor it in real time from your office.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

ollienoclue said:


> You only need to see some of the current technology in the mining...to realise that at least half the required innovations are already there.


That's what my mate does, although he admits himself he is still using the algorithm he wrote for his PHD way back in the early 90's :lol:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin_Adams


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