Not enough lorries for our needs

There are more HGVs on the road than before Covid-19, but the driver shortage is still causing supply chain issues

THERE are now more HGVs on the roads than there were before the pandemic and traffic is almost back to normal - but that doesn’t mean the UK driver shortage has ended. The latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures show that in August and this month, up to and including September 6, there have been more HGVs on the roads than there were before lockdown restrictions were first introduced last March.

The DfT measures traffic on the roads as a percentage of what it was on the equivalent weekday during the baseline week, the first week of February 2020.

On August 22, for example, a Sunday, haulage traffic was up to 129% of what it was before the pandemic.

Haulage traffic has been generally lower on weekdays - but still higher than the baseline - with numbers down to 105% on the following day, Monday, August 23, and at 101% on the previous Friday, August 20.

Soon after the start of the pandemic, the number of lorries on the roads slumped to as low as 25%, but since February of this year, HGV numbers have been consistently higher than in the baseline week.

That is despite a shortage of lorry drivers, blamed on a combination of Covid-19, Brexit, and other factors.

According to a Road Haulage Association survey of its members, there is a shortage of more than 100,000 drivers in the UK, out of a pre-pandemic total of about 600,000.

It has caused some Wetherspoons pubs to run out of certain brands of beer, McDonalds to stop sales of milkshakes, and Nando’s to temporarily close 50 sites.

Duncan Buchanan, director of policy for the Road Haulage Association, said while haulage traffic is higher than it was in the month before the pandemic, it should be much higher still - as demand normally increases during the summer and in the build up to Christmas.

He said: “What we can infer from these figures is there has been an increase in weekend driving and a stability in weekday working.

“That does not surprise me. Extra lorry journeys at the weekends are a reflection of longer working hours.

“What we are seeing is a fairly stable situation because the economy is working.

“We would expect there to be more lorry movements in August than in February anyway. “But what we are seeing is an inability to step up to meet the demand - if you go to a supermarket you might not be able to find broccoli.

“We are now in the stocking up period, but stocking up is not happening to the extent it should have been.

“We are probably not going to run out of Brussels sprouts, but some things might not be available.

“We are not going to starve, but these supply line problems and the driver shortage is very real.”

Meanwhile, throughout August and September, the number of cars on the road during the working week has hovered at between 88% and 98% of what would normally be expected before the pandemic; while weekend traffic has been higher, at between 102% and 111%.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said: "As we move out of the pandemic, we would expect to see road traffic levels start to return to normal.

“Our Safer Travel guidance is helping people to return confidently to all forms of transport. In addition, our £338m Summer of Cycling and Walking aims to build on unprecedented levels of cycling, encouraging people to travel in a greener, healthier way.”