Pubs face ‘terrifying’ price rises as staff shortage bites

PUBS and restaurants are facing “terrifying” price rises because of a chronic shortage of workers, industry leaders have said.

Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, told MPS that inflation in the hospitality sector was running at up to 18 per cent as businesses face soaring wage, energy and commodity costs.

Haulage bosses said it could take a year to recover from the national lorry driver shortage.

Mr Wright told the business, energy and industrial strategy committee: “In hospitality, which is a precursor of retail, inflation is running between 14per cent and 18per cent. That is terrifying.

“I remember inflation going to 27per cent under the Callaghan government in 1977 and I remember a lady going around Sainsbury’s with stickers twice in the same hour to change the prices. We cannot go back to that.”

Rising prices would be passed on to consumers, Mr Wright added.

“If the Prime Minister is, as I know he is, serious about levelling up, inflation is a bigger scourge than almost anything because it discriminates against the poor,” he said.

The most recent figures show prices across all sectors rose by an average of 3.2per cent over the past 12 months. Inflation is expected to exceed 4per cent by the end of the year and remain high well into 2022.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has previously warned of a shortage of 100,000 drivers and said the issue had not improved despite efforts from the Government.

Duncan Buchanan, director of policy at the RHA, told the committee: “Things are very challenged at the moment.

“There are widespread shortages of lorry drivers, which are leading to delays and frustrated trips. Things are not visibly getting better at this stage.”

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed driver numbers had fallen by 53,000 in four years, largely owing to retiring drivers not being replaced fast enough. They showed 29 per cent of people reported difficulty in finding food or medicines in the past month, compared with 14pc in August.

The Government has allowed temporary visas for EU lorry drivers in an attempt to address the shortage.