youtube.com/watch?v=9hSake-OUXU
Quite a good video worth the watch.
An industry which the government has stated needs to be effectively wiped out using punitive measures from fuel taxation to imposed non productivety using unrealistic gross weights and dimensions.
As part of an agenda to shift as much freight as possible off the roads and deter as many road freight journeys as possible.
While employers make new inexperienced drivers unwelcome unless at the lowest levels doing the crappiest work.
Drivers do the job for the freedom of the open road not being lumbered with zb work to meet the government’s targets of minimising road tonne/miles.
Who’d have thought it.
Carryfast:
An industry which the government has stated needs to be effectively wiped out using punitive measures from fuel taxation to imposed non productivety using unrealistic gross weights and dimensions.
As part of an agenda to shift as much freight as possible off the roads and deter as many road freight journeys as possible.
While employers make new inexperienced drivers unwelcome unless at the lowest levels doing the crappiest work.
Drivers do the job for the freedom of the open road not being lumbered with zb work to meet the government’s targets of minimising road tonne/miles.
Who’d have thought it.
I don’t agree, this country would grind too a halt without road transport as our society is completely reliant on it from supermarket supply chains to click on buy it now, it’s all on the back of a lorry. There really is no alternative unless we start going backwards.
bigstraight6:
Carryfast:
An industry which the government has stated needs to be effectively wiped out using punitive measures from fuel taxation to imposed non productivety using unrealistic gross weights and dimensions.
As part of an agenda to shift as much freight as possible off the roads and deter as many road freight journeys as possible.
While employers make new inexperienced drivers unwelcome unless at the lowest levels doing the crappiest work.
Drivers do the job for the freedom of the open road not being lumbered with zb work to meet the government’s targets of minimising road tonne/miles.
Who’d have thought it.I don’t agree, this country would grind too a halt without road transport as our society is completely reliant on it from supermarket supply chains to click on buy it now, it’s all on the back of a lorry. There really is no alternative unless we start going backwards.
Yep an industry left with just the essential boring work left.
Everything else I’ve said is valid.
While anything half decent is laughably rationed with the ‘experience’ issue.
The truth is the government wants as many trucks off the road doing as little tonne/miles as possible.What’s in that for the driver.When it’s possible to find better jobs driving vans or even cars.
Carryfast:
An industry which the government has stated needs to be effectively wiped out using punitive measures from fuel taxation to imposed non productivety using unrealistic gross weights and dimensions.
As part of an agenda to shift as much freight as possible off the roads and deter as many road freight journeys as possible.
While employers make new inexperienced drivers unwelcome unless at the lowest levels doing the crappiest work.
Drivers do the job for the freedom of the open road not being lumbered with zb work to meet the government’s targets of minimising road tonne/miles.
Who’d have thought it.
I can’t help thinking that you’ve managed to miss the point of that video clip completely.
You seem to think that without fuel tax, that the same old bogeymen running the industry would actually pay drivers more or treat them better, rather than just swelling the profits of haulage firms or their employers.
Loss of drivers is more complicated than just pay, though yes if the pay is exceptional then people will put up with an awful lot of what they dislike, but, only until they have established themselves financially or until they become burned out because the top paying jobs usually involve serious graft, there are exceptions of course but top rates without anti social shifts or hard slog are rare indeed.
Lorry driving has changed drastically, it doesn’t attract the same type of people who it once might have, at one time lorry driving was a lifetime job choice for many but that is no longer the case, its now often just one of many different job paths people float into and after a while float out of again.
The old first choice lorry drivers now struggle to find job satisfaction, they are in a job they enjoy hoping against the odds that they’ll just be left alone to do the job they’ve done for ever without needing any bugger breathing down their necks, when along comes yet another manager off the logistics.com production line and like all thse smilar manager types has to fix what wasn’t broken in the first place, and there’s no faster way to get rid of good reliable staff than to make it blindingly obvious you have no respect for their competence and lifelong earned skills by heaping them in with the worse performing clown the company has on the books, micromanaged top the nth degree barely able to start a new weerk without some bloody suit having come up with several memos and yet more bullshine paperwork or electronic tat to fill in or operate due almost entirely to the antics of the fools they employed and assumed, like these poiunty shoes do, that everyo other driver employed must be of the same lack of competence, this method can destroy previously happy workplaces in record time.
The thread title says it all, we arn’t truck drivers in this country we are lorry drivers, there is a world of difference, if you want legion of flit in and out of the industry bods who can’t keep a job for more than 5 minutes then, industry, you are going the right way about it, it’s not just a loss for the good lorry drivers out there it’s a loss for the whole industry alienating the most experienced competent staff and replacing them with a constant stream of steering wheel operatives than have no more interest in their work or the industry than fly.
Yes pay is important of course it is, i make no secret that i’ve chased the money through most of my lorry driving life and have put up with all sorts to skill myself up in various sectors so could move up the scale onto the best paying outfits, but money isn’t the be all and end all, there has to be decent treatment and respect given, both ways, because whilst you can be a mercenary for a short time serving the highest bidder unless there’s job satisfaction and mutual respect to be had the the merc will always be on the lookout for the next upgrade, it’s a fine balancing act all round.
Rjan:
Carryfast:
An industry which the government has stated needs to be effectively wiped out using punitive measures from fuel taxation to imposed non productivety using unrealistic gross weights and dimensions.
As part of an agenda to shift as much freight as possible off the roads and deter as many road freight journeys as possible.
While employers make new inexperienced drivers unwelcome unless at the lowest levels doing the crappiest work.
Drivers do the job for the freedom of the open road not being lumbered with zb work to meet the government’s targets of minimising road tonne/miles.
Who’d have thought it.I can’t help thinking that you’ve managed to miss the point of that video clip completely.
You seem to think that without fuel tax, that the same old bogeymen running the industry would actually pay drivers more or treat them better, rather than just swelling the profits of haulage firms or their employers.
A more efficient more profitable more financially viable industry means more demand for drivers and more scope for better quality more interesting work.
As opposed to a policy of punitive restrictions placed on the activeties of the industry with the intention of minimising those activeties to the bare, boring essentials no more.
Often to the point where the reduction in miles means that emoloyers start looking to use ‘drivers’ on ‘other work’.Thereby defeating the object of bothering to enter the industry when as I’ve said much easier work driving cars for the retail motor industry and van work can be more attractive at that point.
Proved to me by working with younger people in that sector moaning about their wage at £9 per hour.
At which point I said why am I having to compete with younger people for car driving work when they should be driving trucks to earn their money, not bleedin cars.
The usual reply being driving trucks is a zb job.With the limited best quality work being reserved for a self entitled elite using the ‘experience’ word to enforce it.So why would they want to break their back hand balling stuff and drive a building deliveries truck or do loads of multi drop for a quid an hour more.At that point we agreed. 
Carryfast:
Rjan:
Carryfast:
An industry which the government has stated needs to be effectively wiped out using punitive measures from fuel taxation to imposed non productivety using unrealistic gross weights and dimensions.
As part of an agenda to shift as much freight as possible off the roads and deter as many road freight journeys as possible.
While employers make new inexperienced drivers unwelcome unless at the lowest levels doing the crappiest work.
Drivers do the job for the freedom of the open road not being lumbered with zb work to meet the government’s targets of minimising road tonne/miles.
Who’d have thought it.I can’t help thinking that you’ve managed to miss the point of that video clip completely.
You seem to think that without fuel tax, that the same old bogeymen running the industry would actually pay drivers more or treat them better, rather than just swelling the profits of haulage firms or their employers.
A more efficient more profitable more financially viable industry means more demand for drivers and more scope for better quality more interesting work.
As opposed to a policy of punitive restrictions placed on the activeties of the industry with the intention of minimising those activeties to the bare, boring essentials no more.
Often to the point where the reduction in miles means that emoloyers start looking to use ‘drivers’ on ‘other work’.Thereby defeating the object of bothering to enter the industry when as I’ve said much easier work driving cars for the retail motor industry and van work can be more attractive at that point.
Proved to me by working with younger people in that sector moaning about their wage at £9 per hour.
At which point I said why am I having to compete with younger people for car driving work when they should be driving trucks to earn their money, not bleedin cars.
The usual reply being driving trucks is a zb job.With the limited best quality work being reserved for a self entitled elite using the ‘experience’ word to enforce it.So why would they want to break their back hand balling stuff and drive a building deliveries truck or do loads of multi drop for a quid an hour more.At that point we agreed.
I think we’ve had this one before. Any given level of profit can always be increased by paying drivers less.
If bosses were getting diesel for free, Venezuela style, I have every confidence that they would appropriate the proceeds for themselves, or attempt to bid for more work by dropping their rates. The very last thing on their minds would be sharing the newfound surplus, with drivers who have already shown themselves willing to accept less.
And the idea that truck driving is a young man’s game, is a bizarre notion to say the least. Usually the bigger the vehicle the older the man in charge.
These “why drivers are leaving the industry” articles pop up regularly. I’m curious to know where all these drivers are going to get better pay and conditions when 99% of them don’t possess any other skills or qualifications outside of this industry.
The video author mentions stacking shelves for German supermarkets for 9 quid an hour. Well you crack on pal. I’ll stick to my cushy 12 hour parcel night trunk to Kingsbury for 14 quid an hour, 3 of those hours I’m fast asleep and the hardest part is winding the trailer legs.
I don’t think there’s any argument in saying that the pay and conditions are declining in real terms (factoring in inflation, living costs etc) but being a complete lazy arse I’m struggling to think of another job that I’d be content doing which has a similar low barrier to entry, left to my own devices, paid to sleep on the job, no physical effort, earning potential for a very comfy lifestyle and no manager breathing down my neck.
Yup^^^
Neighbour collared me as I was leaving for work,this morning.
Asked where I was going.
Told him…Hoddesdon…top side London…about 3 hours away.
3 hour to tip,then 3 hour back.
“Do you have to load the trailer”
Nope
“Do you have to unload the trailer”
Nope
“You ain’t got a job…ya lazy ■■■■■■■■
Getting a bit warm down here in the smoke.
Might have to take my jumper off 
DCPCFML:
These “why drivers are leaving the industry” articles pop up regularly. I’m curious to know where all these drivers are going to get better pay and conditions when 99% of them don’t possess any other skills or qualifications outside of this industry.
I dare say it’s not just about “skills”. You need to be responsible to a fair degree, of average intelligence at least, and content to be working alone for the majority of the time. You don’t really teach these aspects of character, and hauliers aren’t the only employers who find they can do with such characters.
The last person which I can recall explicitly throwing down the gauntlet on driving, was a mechanic who was already skilled and experienced, so he wasn’t going to have a problem returning to what he already knew.
The minimum age for holding a licence also implies that most people already have some other kind of training or work experience. And don’t quote me without confirming this, but I seem to remember that the average age of a new entrant into driving was in his 30s, so they have surely done something else in life before, and thus have skills outside the driving sector.
The video author mentions stacking shelves for German supermarkets for 9 quid an hour. Well you crack on pal. I’ll stick to my cushy 12 hour parcel night trunk to Kingsbury for 14 quid an hour, 3 of those hours I’m fast asleep and the hardest part is winding the trailer legs.
For many, the hardest part of a 12 hour night shift, is either being awake at night for 12 hours when their bodies would really prefer to be asleep, or being asleep in the day when their families would really prefer them to be awake.
It doesn’t really matter what work they’re doing on shift, whether it be just five minutes on the winding handle or a full twelve hours on a chain gang. The hardest work is just being awake at night and not in the day.
I don’t think there’s any argument in saying that the pay and conditions are declining in real terms (factoring in inflation, living costs etc) but being a complete lazy arse I’m struggling to think of another job that I’d be content doing which has a similar low barrier to entry, left to my own devices, paid to sleep on the job, no physical effort, earning potential for a very comfy lifestyle and no manager breathing down my neck.
And if that were the whole picture, I’d be struggling to think why employers even pay £14 an hour for it, rather than £8.
Rjan:
DCPCFML:
These “why drivers are leaving the industry” articles pop up regularly. I’m curious to know where all these drivers are going to get better pay and conditions when 99% of them don’t possess any other skills or qualifications outside of this industry.I dare say it’s not just about “skills”. You need to be responsible to a fair degree, of average intelligence at least, and content to be working alone for the majority of the time. You don’t really teach these aspects of character, and hauliers aren’t the only employers who find they can do with such characters.
The last person which I can recall explicitly throwing down the gauntlet on driving, was a mechanic who was already skilled and experienced, so he wasn’t going to have a problem returning to what he already knew.
The minimum age for holding a licence also implies that most people already have some other kind of training or work experience. And don’t quote me without confirming this, but I seem to remember that the average age of a new entrant into driving was in his 30s, so they have surely done something else in life before, and thus have skills outside the driving sector.
The video author mentions stacking shelves for German supermarkets for 9 quid an hour. Well you crack on pal. I’ll stick to my cushy 12 hour parcel night trunk to Kingsbury for 14 quid an hour, 3 of those hours I’m fast asleep and the hardest part is winding the trailer legs.
For many, the hardest part of a 12 hour night shift, is either being awake at night for 12 hours when their bodies would really prefer to be asleep, or being asleep in the day when their families would really prefer them to be awake.
It doesn’t really matter what work they’re doing on shift, whether it be just five minutes on the winding handle or a full twelve hours on a chain gang. The hardest work is just being awake at night and not in the day.
I don’t think there’s any argument in saying that the pay and conditions are declining in real terms (factoring in inflation, living costs etc) but being a complete lazy arse I’m struggling to think of another job that I’d be content doing which has a similar low barrier to entry, left to my own devices, paid to sleep on the job, no physical effort, earning potential for a very comfy lifestyle and no manager breathing down my neck.
And if that were the whole picture, I’d be struggling to think why employers even pay £14 an hour for it, rather than £8.
I dare say that while there will be some drivers who possess other skills whose earning potential is equal to, or greater than, their earnings as driver, I’d bet that these are in the minority.
Some people are happier working nights for a wide variety of reasons. “Experts” will tell you that they are no good for your body and will knock 20 years off your life but if you’re happier in yourself working the red-eye shifts rather than having to force yourself out of bed at 5am when your body still wants to sleep then who are they to judge? In my case it’s not actually a night shift but rather a ‘late’ shift, in that I start at 1pm, do 3 local collections then get down to the hub around 7pm, leave at 11pm and am done for around 1.30am which suits me as I’m getting about 50% daylight.
The way things are heading, the job may well only be paying £8 per hour in the future with all the idiots happy to work for peanuts 
. I don’t see this mass exodus of drivers from the industry happening as many predict. They don’t have the skillsets nor the nous to apply themselves elsewhere so what I predict will happen is the rates and overall conditions will continue to slowly decline in real terms, drivers will threaten to “hang their keys up” as they’ve always done, but quickly realise they don’t have any other means of earning a decent wedge so will continue to accept what is offered and nothing will change. The haulage companies know this hence why they all offer a £10-12 per hour carrot across the broad spectrum for weekdays and know that it won’t be long until some donkeys bite.
DCPCFML:
I dare say that while there will be some drivers who possess other skills whose earning potential is equal to, or greater than, their earnings as driver, I’d bet that these are in the minority.
Well that’s just common sense isn’t it? If you’ve got other skills that pay more, mechanicking say, then you’ll appear to the outside world to be a mechanic and not a driver, and be found in the workshop and not on the road.
Or if you are a driver foremost but you’ve had enough, you can still go and get another skill, and then move to that other thing.
This is why the statistics show that there are twice as many drivers licenced as actually working as drivers. It’s also why when they brought in that small legion of young drivers a few years ago, within 12 months they’d all left for better pastures, because if you’re good enough to be trained to drive a wagon responsibly, then you’re good enough to be trained for plenty else besides.
It’s why the employers are addicted primarily to very old timers, who have no other recent skills, consider themselves too old to retrain, have maybe paid their mortgages (so pay isn’t a big deal), and have either lost their marriages already or are in a marriage that works with the job (and perhaps many wives are past the point where they’d consider leaving, or past where they have young children and want a father who, if he isn’t bringing in a good wedge, then at least has some family time left in the evening).
Some people are happier working nights for a wide variety of reasons. “Experts” will tell you that they are no good for your body and will knock 20 years off your life but if you’re happier in yourself working the red-eye shifts rather than having to force yourself out of bed at 5am when your body still wants to sleep then who are they to judge? In my case it’s not actually a night shift but rather a ‘late’ shift, in that I start at 1pm, do 3 local collections then get down to the hub around 7pm, leave at 11pm and am done for around 1.30am which suits me as I’m getting about 50% daylight.
I agree that nights suit some fellas, although I’ve only seen a rare case of a fella who was happy to reconcile night work with family life and young children. But in any sort of skilled occupation, employers would give their eye teeth for permanent night workers who want little more than plain time. So if you’re the sort of person who really does function well on nights, you’re not going to say “I think I’ll drive a wagon”, you’re going to become a machine maintenance engineer on a night shift in a factory, or something like that.
The way things are heading, the job may well only be paying £8 per hour in the future with all the idiots happy to work for peanuts
I agree it’s not a mass exodus of established drivers. It’s simply a total failure of new supply or retention. The employers have to some degree become addicted to temporary foreign labour to bridge the gap, but I bet the one-two punch of Brexit and Covid is causing pain for some in that arena.
They don’t have the skillsets nor the nous to apply themselves elsewhere so what I predict will happen is the rates and overall conditions will continue to slowly decline in real terms, drivers will threaten to “hang their keys up” as they’ve always done, but quickly realise they don’t have any other means of earning a decent wedge so will continue to accept what is offered and nothing will change. The haulage companies know this hence why they all offer a £10-12 per hour carrot across the broad spectrum for weekdays and know that it won’t be long until some donkeys bite.
The washout will occur only over the long term. The employers themselves seem concerned enough about replacing retirees, so they clearly fear that a market correction is going to occur, not as people leave, but as people retire or die.
Rjan:
The washout will occur only over the long term. The employers themselves seem concerned enough about replacing retirees, so they clearly fear that a market correction is going to occur, not as people leave, but as people retire or die.
IMO I don’t think they fear it at all. If they did then they could solve it quite easily with two simple steps : 1. put the rates up to retain the current driver workforce and attract new ones. 2. don’t tender for contracts if you haven’t factored point 1 into your pricing.
They all like to make a song and dance in the media about the so-called “driver shortage” but this is all intentional in the hope that the government will take pity on them and subsidise the industry. Thankfully the government has seen straight through their cunning plan and told them to FRO. I’m unlikely to shed any tears when all these notoriously low-paying hauliers are forced to close down because they can no longer find any mugs to do max hours and 4 nights out for £500 a week.
DCPCFML:
Rjan:
The washout will occur only over the long term. The employers themselves seem concerned enough about replacing retirees, so they clearly fear that a market correction is going to occur, not as people leave, but as people retire or die.IMO I don’t think they fear it at all. If they did then they could solve it quite easily with two simple steps : 1. put the rates up to retain the current driver workforce and attract new ones. 2. don’t tender for contracts if you haven’t factored point 1 into your pricing.
I don’t think there is any practical inconsistency between individual employers refusing to put up rates, individual employers desiring to retain or gain work by undercutting the next employer, and the larger part of the industry as a whole fearing the day when the music stops and a sharp correction in wages suddenly forces many employers into either bankruptcy or into imposing the sharp corrections onto their clients in turn.
They all like to make a song and dance in the media about the so-called “driver shortage” but this is all intentional in the hope that the government will take pity on them and subsidise the industry. Thankfully the government has seen straight through their cunning plan and told them to FRO. I’m unlikely to shed any tears when all these notoriously low-paying hauliers are forced to close down because they can no longer find any mugs to do max hours and 4 nights out for £500 a week.
I agree. The haulage associations are the sturdy beggars of political lobbying.
Rjan:
Carryfast:
A more efficient more profitable more financially viable industry means more demand for drivers and more scope for better quality more interesting work.
As opposed to a policy of punitive restrictions placed on the activeties of the industry with the intention of minimising those activeties to the bare, boring essentials no more.
Often to the point where the reduction in miles means that emoloyers start looking to use ‘drivers’ on ‘other work’.Thereby defeating the object of bothering to enter the industry when as I’ve said much easier work driving cars for the retail motor industry and van work can be more attractive at that point.
Proved to me by working with younger people in that sector moaning about their wage at £9 per hour.
At which point I said why am I having to compete with younger people for car driving work when they should be driving trucks to earn their money, not bleedin cars.
The usual reply being driving trucks is a zb job.With the limited best quality work being reserved for a self entitled elite using the ‘experience’ word to enforce it.So why would they want to break their back hand balling stuff and drive a building deliveries truck or do loads of multi drop for a quid an hour more.At that point we agreed.I think we’ve had this one before. Any given level of profit can always be increased by paying drivers less.
If bosses were getting diesel for free, Venezuela style, I have every confidence that they would appropriate the proceeds for themselves, or attempt to bid for more work by dropping their rates. The very last thing on their minds would be sharing the newfound surplus, with drivers who have already shown themselves willing to accept less.
And the idea that truck driving is a young man’s game, is a bizarre notion to say the least. Usually the bigger the vehicle the older the man in charge.
You seem to have missed the fact that high fuel costs mean that it’s not worth doing the job at all.
Much better to minimise running time, park up the truck and put the driver to work on ‘other duties’ or don’t even bother to employ the driver to drive the parked truck at all.
So the lose lose situation of the customer just ain’t going to pay to move the stuff at silly fuel cost if they can possibly avoid it.
If they do then where do you think that the operator is going to find the room to make the rate attractive to actually get the work and give the driver a job.
The fact is road fuel duty is a tax on driver’s wages and/or jobs thereby increasing labour supply putting more downward pressure on wages.
The winners obviously being low wage expectation immigrant labour if not low fuel tax alternative options like rail or a air freight.
Resulting in a net loss of tax revenue caused by downward pressure on wages and thereby income tax if not the fuel tax doesn’t get paid regardless.
You also seem to have missed my comments regarding why driving trucks is unnattractive to young new drivers.
Zb work in large part caused by punitive restrictions which disincentivise distance work meaning less driving and more ‘other work’ usually labouring of one form or another.
Road fuel tax also being directly reflected in the driver’s wage potential.
In addition to the arbitrary face fits ‘experience’ issue.
Which as I said is why I’m having to compete for jobs with young drivers moaning about the wage to drive cars for the local garage.But who also rightly see driving trucks as being a mugs game for them so driving cars instead for not much less money is a no brainer.
^^^ re fuel prices; you do realise that most savvy operators have negotiated a fuel escalator with their customers don’t you?
the maoster:
^^^ re fuel prices; you do realise that most savvy operators have negotiated a fuel escalator with their customers don’t you?
The ‘escalator’ by definition only alleviates price increases not the base line cost which is the problem.Fuel costs form too much of a proportion of the over heads bill.
Minimising drivers’ wages and/or miles run are the only go to solutions to that problem.
Carryfast:
Rjan:
…You seem to have missed the fact that high fuel costs mean that it’s not worth doing the job at all.
Much better to minimise running time, park up the truck and put the driver to work on ‘other duties’ or don’t even bother to employ the driver to drive the parked truck at all.
So the lose lose situation of the customer just ain’t going to pay to move the stuff at silly fuel cost if they can possibly avoid it.
You seem to be approaching this from the assumption that haulage is one of those “nice to have” services for producers and manufacturers, but which they can do without when the cost of fuel is high.
In reality, farmers (say) are not going “well it’d be nice to get my crops to market, but if fuel is too much then I’ll just leave 'em all in the ground”, because that would mean bankruptcy. The consumer too is not saying “well I’ll eat if the fuel is priced right, otherwise I’ll starve”.
Haulage has costs certainly, but the cost of haulage fuel is only a small proportion of what goods cost, and plays very little part in decisions about production and consumption.
As I say, even totally free fuel would not appreciably change the equation. Consumers are not going to storm the shops because everyday items each cost a penny less than before. Producers are not going to turn their machines to full steam ahead because they’ve suddenly shaved a penny off the sale price.
If they do then where do you think that the operator is going to find the room to make the rate attractive to actually get the work and give the driver a job.
The fact is road fuel duty is a tax on driver’s wages and/or jobs thereby increasing labour supply putting more downward pressure on wages.
Utter rubbish. The “attractiveness” of rates or otherwise does not really determine whether goods get hauled or not. Merely who does it.
The winners obviously being low wage expectation immigrant labour if not low fuel tax alternative options like rail or a air freight.
Resulting in a net loss of tax revenue caused by downward pressure on wages and thereby income tax if not the fuel tax doesn’t get paid regardless.
The ravings of a madman. What makes you think the low-wage migrant, say, will expect any more in wages just because the fuel in the engine is cheaper? Why do you think the boss is going to employ you at higher wages just because the fuel is cheaper, when he could employ the migrant at existing rates and pocket the fuel saving for himself (or use the slack to put in cheaper bids for haulage work, undercutting any other employer that proposes to employ you at higher rates)?
You also seem to have missed my comments regarding why driving trucks is unnattractive to young new drivers.
Zb work in large part caused by punitive restrictions which disincentivise distance work meaning less driving and more ‘other work’ usually labouring of one form or another.
Again rubbish. There is no logical connection between these things.
Road fuel tax also being directly reflected in the driver’s wage potential.
In addition to the arbitrary face fits ‘experience’ issue.
Which as I said is why I’m having to compete for jobs with young drivers moaning about the wage to drive cars for the local garage.But who also rightly see driving trucks as being a mugs game for them so driving cars instead for not much less money is a no brainer.
You moan about competing with anyone, whilst peddling right-wing liberal fantasies about how tax cuts will unleash great jobs for everybody.