What really caused the HGV driver shortage?

AFTER leaving the Army in 1972, I took a general haulage job that would probably scare today’s lorry drivers to death. You would live in your cab for at least two weeks and sleep there, too (this was before sleeper cabs). Yet even on the pittance I earned then, European drivers worked for less, so they got the jobs. When you hear transport bosses whining about a shortage of HGV drivers, you know who to blame.

JOHN BOWYER, Lincoln. WHERE are these transport companies advertising for employees? I am a newly qualified driver and held a Class 2 licence for three years, yet I didn’t come close to a viable start. I put it down to Brexit, then Covid, but now I have no idea. I search constantly on websites and all I see is agency after agency, no companies direct. If there are 100,000 vacancies, companies should be hiring themselves.

PAUL SAUNDERS, Birmingham.

THE HGV driver shortage has little to do with Brexit. The explanation is that years ago, companies would employ and train their drivers, who became valued staff. Now they want people who have paid for their own training and tests, hiring them on short-term contracts for low wages, to boost their profits and shareholders’ dividends. The companies and drivers have no loyalty to each other.

PETER BELCHER, Barton-le-Clay, Beds.

WE’LL be lucky if half the European lorry drivers’ permits are taken up. With vacancies over much of Europe, drivers have no need to travel so far from home. Keir Starmer seems unable to grasp this fact, demanding 100,000 permits for non-existent drivers. Presumably the widespread shortage of drivers in the U.S. is also due to Brexit!

MARTIN SHARP, London SE2.