Delivery pods to hit road

Staff poached for HGV jobs

DRIVERLESS delivery pods could be introduced to Britain’s roads within two years.

Hardware chain Wilko’s £3million investment will revolutionise online shopping.

The battery-powered autonomous vehicles will deliver directly to customers within a sixmile radius of stores.

The pod will contain around six lockers which customers will access using a smartphone when it arrives.

Streetdrone, which is developing the vehicles, said they could be deployed by 2023.

BIN men and women are being headhunted by desperate HGV firms for driving jobs – while out on their rounds, officials say.

The refuse workers are being poached to fill a shortage of more than 100,000 lorry drivers in the UK, with pay starting at around £50,000.

But waste officials say bin and recycling staff are being recruited in mid-round, which could disrupt collections.

Tony Wilkinson, from the North Somerset Environment Company, said he lost five employees in the past two weeks.

Councillor Mike Soloman, of North Somerset Council, said: “This situation will not be resolved quickly without government intervention, which is why we are also lobbying our MPS and ministers to fix things.”

The national shortage of HGV drivers has been caused by EU workers quitting Britain following Brexit. There have also been delays to driver training and testing.