EU truckers: Iceland boss warns of ‘2nd poor Xmas’
THE boss of Iceland has issued an early warning on Christmas stocks - urging UK Government to act to ensure there isn’t a “2nd c**p Xmas”.
The UK’s supermarkets and other stores have been hit by a delivery crisis due to a shortage of drivers - with some shelves left empty.
Logistics UK, which represents freight firms, and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) say that while Brexit and Covid-19 caused lorry drivers to leave the UK, a temporary visa could lure them back.
But the UK Government rejected the case for providing temporary visas for EU truck drivers.
They said: “The British people repeatedly voted to end free movement and take back control of our immigration system and employers should invest in our domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad.”
However Richard Walker, the managing director of Flintshirebased Iceland Foods, warned that any increase in home-grown drivers would take time and that a temporary solution was needed – particularly with Christmas four months away.
He said: “HGV driver shortages should be replaced with UK workers – but this will take time. Temporarily adding EU drivers to the exempt list as ‘skilled workers’ is the answer. Nobody wants a second c**p Xmas.”
Logistics UK said the pandemic halted driver training and testing for more than 12 months, while an estimated 25,000 EU drivers returned home during the crisis and following the end of the transition period.
A Government spokesman said: “We recently announced a package of measures to help tackle the HGV driver shortage, including plans to streamline the process for new drivers to gain their HGV licence and to increase the number of tests able to be conducted.”
They have also temporarily relaxed rules on HGV drivers’ working hours so that they can make slightly longer journeys.