HGV driver shortage ‘We need a new generation of hauliers’
IT is a cold and grey morning when we visit the truck stop in Avonmouth. Minutes away from the M5, it is just after 9am and there is a pretty constant flow of lorries pulling in and out of the site. They are popping into the coffee shop, washing their trucks or filling up.
Leigh Davies is one of those getting fuel on this drizzly autumn morning.
The 35-year-old has worked as a lorry driver for six years and delivers animal feed all over the country.
Living in Llantrisant, a town just north of Cardiff, Mr Davies comes to Avonmouth up to twice a day to load his lorry – during our visit, he is on his way to West Wales.
Describing himself as a relatively new driver, Mr Davies said his father is also a trucker and they both work for the same small company.
“The job can be hard, being away from home, but if you enjoy it, it is a good job,” he continued. “I enjoy it, it is part of my life. You meet different people when you are out and about.”
Mr Davies said that he is away four nights a week, leaving the house at around 4.30am on Monday and not arriving back home until Friday afternoon.
He has two young children, he added, and admits that it is hard – for both him and for his children – so they FaceTime every night.
In those four nights he is away from home, he sleeps in his cabin, Mr Davies said, where he has a bed, a fridge freezer, a microwave and a television.
He shows us inside his homely cabin which, from the large Welsh flag to the purple dream catcher, is filled with personal touches.
Mr Davies tells us he often works 70 hours a week and that the long hours and pay are probably why the job isn’t appealing to more people, leading to the current HGV driver shortage.
In recent days, lorry drivers have frequently been on the news. It started with the fuel crisis and there are now reports that the driver shortage – estimated at 100,000 – could hit supplies of everything from food to toys in the run-up to Christmas.
To tackle the shortage, the Government announced earlier this week that emergency three-month visas will be issued for 5,000 foreign HGV drivers. However, business groups have said that the plans, which will also allow 5,500 poultry workers allowed to take up employment in the UK until Christmas Eve, are “insufficient”.
In Bristol alone, hundreds of lorry driver jobs are being advertised, with some haulage firms paying up to £55,000 plus benefits and
bonuses for drivers distributing food, fuel and deliveries across the UK.
Even a trainee HGV driver with no experience could earn £24,000 a year, quickly rising to over £30k once qualified.
Keith Goodman, who has been a lorry driver for 36 years and is also a union rep for GMB, said several factors are causing the driver shortage – including Brexit and coronavirus.
The Portishead resident said that some older truckers who may be vulnerable have chosen to retire early because of the pandemic, while Brexit caused some European drivers to go back home.
Training costs are also a barrier, continued the 57-year-old, with people having to spend thousands of pounds to get an HGV licence, adding that is why a lot of companies are now running apprenticeship schemes where drivers get trained on the job and the companies pay for the training.
The trucker, who works 45 hours a week and also operates out of Avonmouth, said: “The industry itself has been underpaid and is not attractive for younger drivers.
“In my opinion, driver salaries need to rise. Do not just look at the headline figure of £50k, which looks impressive.
“That will be an awful lot of hours, not just normal hours, which is why basic salaries need to rise.
“For me, I am looking at the hourly rate – how many hours am I doing for that [to reach a salary of £50k].”
Drivers aren’t on bad money,
said Mr Davies , but a lot of driving jobs don’t have brilliant pay either, adding he doesn’t know anyone earning £50,000 a year.
Mr Davies, who works for a family business, said he made sure he got fuel at Avonmouth after getting stuck in Norfolk for 13 hours the other day, as he couldn’t anywhere to fill up and was forced to wait for the next delivery.
“Without the lorries, nothing is getting anywhere,” he said. “Maybe this will be a bit of an eye-opener.
“My teacher once told me that I would never learn anything by looking out the window, but I now get to look out the window and I earn more than she does.”
Dale Willcox, from Tetbury in Gloucestershire, is another lorry driver who has stopped to fill up after loading at the docks.
He is on his way to Newbury in Berkshire. Mr Willcox has been a lorry driver for 28 years. These days, he travels all over the UK delivering aggregates in bulk, such as sand or gravel.
Sometimes he is away three or four days, the driver added, but he tries to be home as much as he can.
“The long hours and the pay put people off,” he added. “I get up at 4am to leave the house for 5am and I get back around 5pm. It is 12-hour days, six days a week. In order to attract people, they need to be cutting the hours.
“I have never heard of anyone earning £50,000.”
Mr Willcox said most drivers tend to earn around £26,000 to £28,000, but can get to up to £35,000 by working nights and weekends.
In his opinion, there is a problem with retention, with some people not staying in the profession for long.
The lack of facilities is also an issue, he said, adding there aren’t many places like the truck stop at Avonmouth which cater for lorry drivers.
Mr Willcox – whose father was a lorry driver – said that, unless people know someone working in transport, this was probably not the sort of profession people would go into.
Owning his own vehicle, the 48-year-old likes the fact he gets to be his own boss.
“I like the fact you get to see the country and meet new people,” he continued. “I do not think I could work in a factory.
“It has changed a lot over the years and there is not as much camaraderie as there used to be, but there is still a good community.
“It is a lonely job though and it is not very good for family life either.”
Tony Guy is another driver who has stopped at the truck stop in Avonmouth before going to Llanelli.
Mr Guy, from Cardiff, came to the docks to drop off some cars and is now heading to the town in West Wales to collect some more vehicles.
“I quite enjoy the job,” said the 57-year-old. “I like being my own boss, not having someone looking over my shoulder all the time. The money is not bad either, it is OK.
“I am at home every night these days, but didn’t use to be. Before the pandemic, I used to be away three nights a week.”
Mr Guy said he is now working for a different company, with his previous employer going bust as a result of the pandemic.
Mr Guy said that, in order to be earning around the £50,000 a year being reported in the media, drivers need to work “every hour that God sends them”.
“There is a lot of drivers doing 60 hours a week,” Mr Guy continued. “The issue is the youngsters are not coming through, you have a lot of older drivers.” The driver said that another factor putting people off is the initial investment to get a HGV licence, costing as much as £4,000.
Just before we leave, we speak again with Mr Davies.
“My partner gets worried about me being away from home, but I enjoy it personally,” he continued. “I like getting around, the independence and seeing new places.
“I am a farm boy so I enjoy going to the farms and I also get to talk to the farmers. If I was doing general haulage, it would be different I think. There are not many youngsters coming into it – we really need a new generation of drivers.”