We’re out of stock and out of time: Industry leaders warn over empty shelves
Restaurateurs warn of Christmas crisis as lorry driver shortage forces staff to travel hundreds of miles to pick up goods themselves
Hotel and restaurant staff are travelling hundreds of miles to pick up produce as Britain’s lorry driver shortage leaves supplies stranded in warehouses, industry leaders say.
A crippling shortage of qualified HGV drivers has left wholesalers and suppliers unable to get goods to shops.
The UK Government has formed a National Economic Recovery Taskforce, led by Michael Gove, to tackle the issue. It will co-ordinate departments responsible for the food chain and is expected to run along similar lines to the no-deal Brexit preparations.
The committee is expected to push through changes to the HGV licensing system that can cost applicants more than £250 and requires refresher courses for drivers returning to the industry. The government has also abandoned tests for caravan drivers to free up more spaces for HGV drivers.
But industry leaders say the measures are not enough to solve the problem by Christmas. David Cochrane, chief executive of Hospitality Industry Trust Scotland, which supports those working in leisure travel and tourism, said some managers are travelling long distances for stock.
He said: “It’s patchy across Scotland and everyone is being impacted in one shape or form. Scotland and tourism has been extremely busy with people taking staycations and getting the stock to run hotels, restaurants, travel and tourism has been a huge task.
“It’s not uncommon for people to travel long distances to wholesalers for essential stock. This is the most challenging time I have seen in living memory.”
Andrew Malcolm, chief executive of Linwood-based logistics giant the Malcolm Group, said the measures were too little, too late – and questioned the safety of plans to streamline HGV driver tests. “The recent government reaction to the crisis has not been properly thought through,” he said. “There is an awful lot to do and there will be no difference in the situation between now and Christmas.
“For a start, there are not sufficient appointments in Scotland for our drivers to sit their theory test so we have been sending them down south for this.
“Plans to streamline HGV tests also raise health and safety concerns because they are rushing things through. It is one thing passing a test but becoming an operational driver is another.”
Trade leaders wrote to the UK Government last month asking for more urgency in dealing with the issue. They called for temporary
visas for EU drivers to fill the gap, but this looks unlikely to happen.
Other business chiefs echo concerns that shortages will get worse before they get better. Items such as tinned and frozen food, milk, and some varieties of fruit are already vanishing from supermarket shelves.
Colin Smith, chief executive of the Scottish Wholesale Association, believes the new measures don’t go far enough. He said the UK was now short of more than 90,000 truck drivers
– and pointed out that 25,000 EU HGV drivers who were based
here but went home after Brexit have not returned. He said: “There is no quick fix for this. Some of our members are now having to use their own vehicles to travel to England to pick up supplies because it is the only way they can get the goods they need on time.”
Martin Reid, the Road Haulage Association’s policy director for Scotland, said Boris Johnson needed to introduce temporary visas for EU drivers – but he feared this would be too late to meet the Christmas rush.
He said: “In the longer term, we need to make the job more attractive to younger people. When the pandemic started, lorry drivers were hailed as heroes and essential workers but now they are back to being treated as second-class citizens. Pay and working conditions need to be significantly improved.”
Due to the supply crisis, McDonald’s has run out of milkshakes, Nandos and KFC have struggled to stock enough chicken and the Co-op says it faces the worst food shortages in memory.
Scotland’s biggest toy importer, H Grossman, has told The Sunday Post it had to cancel some lines because of huge shipping cost increases due to Covid-enforced port closures in China and a global container shortage – and warned price increases were inevitable.
John Lewis said on Friday it had been forced to buy extra container ship space – costing 10-15 times more than normal – for festive merchandise and head off shortages.
The Scottish Retail Consortium, whose members include Tesco, Iceland, McDonald’s and KFC, said things were likely to worsen. Ewan MacDonald-Russell, the organisa
tion’s head of policy, said: “Without swift action retailers will struggle
to provide their usual offering over the next few months. Government needs to pull the appropriate levers, including relaxing the short-term visa rules for HGV drivers from the EU. The longer there is a delay the more difficult things will become.”
Andrew McRae, Scotland policy chair for the Federation of Small Businesses, urged consumers to be understanding. He said: “It wouldn’t hurt in the run-up to Christmas to get orders in early to local businesses. And, for people finding it hard to get products delivered from big businesses, we’d ask them to check out the local suppliers on their doorsteps.”