Derby Telegraph

Ocado calls on Government to add HGV drivers to skilled shortage list

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OCADO has become the latest supermarke­t to call on the Government to add HGV drivers to the skilled shortage list to fill the vacancies hitting supply chains across the country.

The online grocer’s finance chief Niall McBride was asked if he agreed with Morrison’s chief executive David Potts, who called for the change, and replied: “I do, yes.”

Ocado chairman and co-founder

Tim Steiner added: “Making it easier is the right answer… it’s important to be able to get more people through the process.

“If you could get more people through the process by increasing the number of testers, you could run twice the amount of tests then that could be an alternativ­e solution.

“What is clear is that there is a shortage and it seems to have been significan­tly exacerbate­d by the lack of testing that went on while testing facilities were closed or restricted during the Covid period.

“We wouldn’t want the shortage to be addressed by putting unqualifie­d or dangerous drivers on the road, but we do need as a country to address the shortage.”

The Government previously considered adding HGV drivers to its list of skilled workers to fill the gaps, but the idea was scrapped.

Ministers said they would instead change licensing rules to make it easier to qualify and to increase the number of hours drivers could work.

The call from Ocado comes as bosses revealed they expect to pay up to £5 million this year in bonuses, increased pay levels and recruitmen­t for drivers and workers.

They will face a further £10 million hit this year due to a fire at the company’s warehouse in Erith, south-east London, in the summer which led to around 300,000 customer orders worth £35 million being cancelled.

Sales fell 10.6% to £517.5 million in the 13 weeks to August 29, in part due to the fire but also because of strong comparison­s last year at the height of the pandemic.

Despite the falls, Ocado said it signed up 64,000 new customers during the period.

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