betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
I've worked in and around the transport industry for about 30 years.
In all that time I can't remember a time when there hasn't been a shortage of drivers-I would describe a "shortage" as having to hire anyone who applied, rather than being able to select from a list of suitable candidates.
In all that time none of the businesses I have worked for -from small family owned operations to multi national Companies-have done anything to address the situation. Even the big companies that do in-house driver training for warehouse staff etc. put so many conditions on providing training that very few staff feel encouraged to sign up. One company even reduced it's driver training Dept by 60% despite having to use agency drivers on a daily basis.
I know of other Companies (Eg Morrisons, CWS group) that have either contracted out their transport operations to specialist haulage firms or stopped employing drivers "on payroll" and went down the "agency drivers only" route.
I would say that, until the last few months, only drivers who could not hold down (or didn't want) a full time job worked for driver agencies as there is zero job security. Driving for the big transport Companies is also mainly for those who can't get a job elsewhere as they tend to push drivers to the limit of their legal hours every week.
In my opinion the whole way the transport industry/supply chain is organised could be done a lot better. It is perfectly possible to legally drive from for example Carlisle to Cornwall in a day, most transport Companies have several Depots throughout the Country, 90% of roads are virtually deserted between 8pm and 6pm yet we still see huge numbers of HGV's spending nights out, travelling by day, driving past Company depots rather than doing trailer swaps, delivering into Distribution hubs during "normal working hours" etc. etc.
In all that time I can't remember a time when there hasn't been a shortage of drivers-I would describe a "shortage" as having to hire anyone who applied, rather than being able to select from a list of suitable candidates.
In all that time none of the businesses I have worked for -from small family owned operations to multi national Companies-have done anything to address the situation. Even the big companies that do in-house driver training for warehouse staff etc. put so many conditions on providing training that very few staff feel encouraged to sign up. One company even reduced it's driver training Dept by 60% despite having to use agency drivers on a daily basis.
I know of other Companies (Eg Morrisons, CWS group) that have either contracted out their transport operations to specialist haulage firms or stopped employing drivers "on payroll" and went down the "agency drivers only" route.
I would say that, until the last few months, only drivers who could not hold down (or didn't want) a full time job worked for driver agencies as there is zero job security. Driving for the big transport Companies is also mainly for those who can't get a job elsewhere as they tend to push drivers to the limit of their legal hours every week.
In my opinion the whole way the transport industry/supply chain is organised could be done a lot better. It is perfectly possible to legally drive from for example Carlisle to Cornwall in a day, most transport Companies have several Depots throughout the Country, 90% of roads are virtually deserted between 8pm and 6pm yet we still see huge numbers of HGV's spending nights out, travelling by day, driving past Company depots rather than doing trailer swaps, delivering into Distribution hubs during "normal working hours" etc. etc.