hay all, sure there must already be a thread on here about this, but cant find it. am woundering if leaving the EU will create a shortage of driver soon ? or if it wont really affect anything. woundering if anyone where thay work has hurd from there employer if this is so. thanks
Even if it does it’s irrelevant, as the government will simply declare lorry driving as a skills shortage and import drivers from non-EU countries.
To answer your question more directly, it has been noted by many that a lot of Polish drivers went back to Poland during 2019, and net migration from the EU also fell that year. So there may well be less drivers now than this time last year. Personally, I’m expecting a dip of some degree in available drivers as a result of Brexit than no effect at all.
Leaving the EU isn’t going to make a scrap of difference, it’s the same big business owned party in charge that took us into the EEC under false pretences (lies) all those years ago, the same party who actually accelerated the huge numbers of immigrants Nu Labour allowed in from 1997 onwards, it serves big business and itself, the working class are a necessary evil in their eyes, just as we are in the eyes of the current Labour party.
There will be no shortage of drivers allowed to happen, transport is the backbone of feeding and servicing the nation, it is one of the most vital industries we have, ‘they’ will never allow the industry to run short of drivers, nor will they allow the industry to regain the real brotherhood it once enjoyed, its in their interests to divide the industry’s workforce for if it became a united team of workers it would be the most powerful group of the working class ever known in this country and able to demand wages and conditions at least equal to the train drivers, they will never allow that to happen.
We will see drivers recruited from further afield and from ever poorer countries in order to keep labour supply demand and cost in their favour and to ensure the significant and natural cultural differences will help such a potentially powerful workforce from gaining unity.
Multiculturalism in other words, which wasn’t anything at all to do with diversity at all, it was to divide and rule the nation to easily rule over, the future repercussions of their great folly are yet to be seen, it isn’t going to be pretty.
Well said Juddian.
In the unlikely case of a driver shortage they would rather let car/van drivers drive trucks with no need for a HGV license than allow wages to go up 
Or they’ll dump even more taxpayer money to fund training for the life long unemployed/those who have no interest in driving anyway like ‘Warehouse to wheels’ etc. In the event of a shortage you want to be running/working for a HGV driver training company, not a logistics one
jrt:
hay all, sure there must already be a thread on here about this, but cant find it. am woundering if leaving the EU will create a shortage of driver soon ? or if it wont really affect anything. woundering if anyone where thay work has hurd from there employer if this is so. thanks
No. RHA and FTA were trying a year or so ago to get the govt to pay dolies to do their HGV licence because of driver shortage. Govt asked DVLA how many licence holders there were and the response was “more than plenty and if they can’t find drivers they need to look elsewhere for the reason why”, a polite way of saying that if you can’t find drivers it’s because your pay and/or company is crap to work for.
Conor:
jrt:
hay all, sure there must already be a thread on here about this, but cant find it. am woundering if leaving the EU will create a shortage of driver soon ? or if it wont really affect anything. woundering if anyone where thay work has hurd from there employer if this is so. thanksNo. RHA and FTA were trying a year or so ago to get the govt to pay dolies to do their HGV licence because of driver shortage. Govt asked DVLA how many licence holders there were and the response was “more than plenty and if they can’t find drivers they need to look elsewhere for the reason why”, a polite way of saying that if you can’t find drivers it’s because your pay and/or company is crap to work for.
To be fair, DVLA stats are a false economy , I am a class 1 licence holder and not been in the UK since 2011… my licence is counted as an non driving holder …how many more are like me thousand upon thousand . no government are going to pay “train driver wages” … they train for @12 months not 16 odd hours and test … most people on the dole get told, we will pay for a licence … but some idiot will expect 15 hour days and hour going to be treated like crap … oh away from home all week for about 70 quid more than you get on the dole or disability etc … sadly no matter how governments dress it up with DCPC … driving is always going to be a non skilled job and wages reflect it … as there is always one who’s willing to work for pathetic wages and think it’s ok… and any decent employers don’t need to advertise, like Sotbarts or DHL etc.
discoman:
driving is always going to be a non skilled job and wages reflect it
I have a mate who stacks shelves in Tesco overnight. I could start there tonight and do his job immediately. However, he could not legally or practically jump in an articulated low-loader and deliver a heavy piece of plant to central London without incident, anxiety, or efficiency. I could. That’s the skill, and I value myself according to that.
Steering a lorry is indeed an unskilled job.
Being a competent lorry driver in full control of the vehicle and its many possible loads however is far more involved job, many skills need to be learned, and yes there are many unsuitable people let out in lorries every day, and the results of that can be seen every day too.
As has already been said, Brexit itself is unlikely to create a shortage as the masked men and women packing pistols at Westminster will simply put out a shout to all 4 corners of the world to come and drive trucks upon the streets paved with gold which so many around the world believe we have.
What COULD frighten some of our EE friends back off home though will be in April this year when all the ’ LTD self employed driver ’ ■■■■■■■■ ends. A large amount of foreigners (and some of our own drivers for that matter) working here will no longer be able to earn £35k a year driving lorries and NOT pay tax. Many foreign drivers working here send money home and as of April, they will find they are significantly worse off and will struggle to send money home AND pay to live here.
Hopefully the days of 5/6/7 EE adults living in rented houses and being willing to pay greedy landlords inflated rents whilst not paying into the country are coming to an end. Rent prices are a joke where I live mainly because the EE’s typically have 3 couples in a 3 bed house, and it rubs salt into the wound when some of these folks drive trucks and don’t pay tax. Maybe I should stop paying tax too…in fact, ■■■■■■■■ to it.
Let’s all stop paying tax, I’m sure everything will be ok.
The tipping point will be if our government ever decides that it is suddenly OK for a non-qualified trucker to take up a professional job in this country…
At present, we already have non-UK qualified so-called car licence drivers - driving white vans and TfL minicabs about london, using their satnavs…
That’s why a light goods driver’s going rate is actually below minimum wages at present, eg. Uber drivers in particular, or these “Just Eat” type outfits…
The halfway house of this in trucker’s world - is taking on drivers on ZHC that have no experience, 9 points on EU licence, and can barely speak English despite having been here more than five years already.
The fussier firms are still taking on drivers based on political allignment rather than “safety record” or “clean licence” aspects, not to mention sheer years of trouble-free driving already behind them…
I predict that post-Brexit - there will be a sharp scism between London +continuing Labour-held inner cities from the rest of the country.
No longer a “North-South” divide I suggest, but rather “Urban-Provincial” one. 
Juddian:
Steering a lorry is indeed an unskilled job.Being a competent lorry driver in full control of the vehicle and its many possible loads however is far more involved job, many skills need to be learned, and yes there are many unsuitable people let out in lorries every day, and the results of that can be seen every day too.
Sorry I disagree, Steering a lorry requires training and then skills developed over time with experience, to negotiate / Manoeuvre
ezydriver:
discoman:
driving is always going to be a non skilled job and wages reflect itI have a mate who stacks shelves in Tesco overnight. I could start there tonight and do his job immediately. However, he could not legally or practically jump in an articulated low-loader and deliver a heavy piece of plant to central London without incident, anxiety, or efficiency. I could. That’s the skill, and I value myself according to that.
The old shelf stacker Gambit, hasn’t been used for a while.
As for a driver shortage, we still have the colonies old boy, think India, Africa, Ceylon lots of people there would be on next plane to come to this land of free money and benifits.
lennox1:
Juddian:
Steering a lorry is indeed an unskilled job.Being a competent lorry driver in full control of the vehicle and its many possible loads however is far more involved job, many skills need to be learned, and yes there are many unsuitable people let out in lorries every day, and the results of that can be seen every day too.
Sorry I disagree, Steering a lorry requires training and then skills developed over time with experience, to negotiate / Manoeuvre
Firstly to answer the original question. No.
Secondly lennox I think you completely misunderstood Juddians point however going back to before lorry drivers sat a test I would say it ain’t always necessary.
Anyone is capable of driving a lorry with or without training but when all is said and done it depends on the way the vehicle is driven, the capability of the driver and the attitude of the driver.
The variation nowadays seems immense.
ezydriver:
discoman:
driving is always going to be a non skilled job and wages reflect itI have a mate who stacks shelves in Tesco overnight. I could start there tonight and do his job immediately. However, he could not legally or practically jump in an articulated low-loader and deliver a heavy piece of plant to central London without incident, anxiety, or efficiency. I could. That’s the skill, and I value myself according to that.
To be fair, if your pal spent a few k , he would be able to drive a truck … end of the day, a truck is not hard to drive … once a few clicks are under your belt it gets easier, like all jobs… look, we all know, if trucks stop the world stops period … but governments will never give a licence a professional skilled job … it’s not hard to train to drive a truck … but it is to drive a train with all the other training required etc … if your offended by being advised it is an unskilled job so be it … take Robroy, he embraces his job and is good at it … ( not knocking drivers) you lot work excessive hours and it’s not on … if I was in government I would make it harder, I would make sure all drivers had a maximum 12 hour day and 13 hours rest no reduction and a minimum of £14 ph and proper overtime rates … but all big businesses would whine and cry if that was the case …
ezydriver:
discoman:
driving is always going to be a non skilled job and wages reflect itI have a mate who stacks shelves in Tesco overnight. I could start there tonight and do his job immediately. However, he could not legally or practically jump in an articulated low-loader and deliver a heavy piece of plant to central London without incident, anxiety, or efficiency. I could. That’s the skill, and I value myself according to that.
It’s a skill to you only not anybody else and your a professional to yourself nobody else now experience will be seen as something simple as opening doors
Plus the guy packing shelves in Tesco probably needed to show something about school nothing needed like that to drive a truck
discoman:
To be fair, if your pal spent a few k , he would be able to drive a truck … end of the day, a truck is not hard to drive … once a few clicks are under your belt it gets easier, like all jobs… look, we all know, if trucks stop the world stops period … but governments will never give a licence a professional skilled job … it’s not hard to train to drive a truck … but it is to drive a train with all the other training required etc … if your offended by being advised it is an unskilled job so be it … take Robroy, he embraces his job and is good at it … ( not knocking drivers) you lot work excessive hours and it’s not on … if I was in government I would make it harder, I would make sure all drivers had a maximum 12 hour day and 13 hours rest no reduction and a minimum of £14 ph and proper overtime rates … but all big businesses would whine and cry if that was the case …
Bigtruck3:
It’s a skill to you only not anybody else and your a professional to yourself nobody else now experience will be seen as something simple as opening doors
Plus the guy packing shelves in Tesco probably needed to show something about school nothing needed like that to drive a truck
Imagine you both owned a plant hire company, were looking for a driver, and 2 turned up for interview. One had just passed his test after flipping burgers at McDonalds for 5 years, and the other had 20 years blemish free driving and was well experienced in plant delivery. Would you both seriously argue that they’re both as skilled as each other? Or would you say one was a lot more skilled than the other? Which one would you employ?
ezydriver:
discoman:
To be fair, if your pal spent a few k , he would be able to drive a truck … end of the day, a truck is not hard to drive … once a few clicks are under your belt it gets easier, like all jobs… look, we all know, if trucks stop the world stops period … but governments will never give a licence a professional skilled job … it’s not hard to train to drive a truck … but it is to drive a train with all the other training required etc … if your offended by being advised it is an unskilled job so be it … take Robroy, he embraces his job and is good at it … ( not knocking drivers) you lot work excessive hours and it’s not on … if I was in government I would make it harder, I would make sure all drivers had a maximum 12 hour day and 13 hours rest no reduction and a minimum of £14 ph and proper overtime rates … but all big businesses would whine and cry if that was the case …Bigtruck3:
It’s a skill to you only not anybody else and your a professional to yourself nobody else now experience will be seen as something simple as opening doors
Plus the guy packing shelves in Tesco probably needed to show something about school nothing needed like that to drive a truckImagine you both owned a plant hire company, were looking for a driver, and 2 turned up for interview. One had just passed his test after flipping burgers at McDonalds for 5 years, and the other had 20 years blemish free driving and was well experienced in plant delivery. Would you both seriously argue that they’re both as skilled as each other? Or would you say one was a lot more skilled than the other? Which one would you employ?
Burger boy he’d be cheaper
robthedog:
ezydriver:
discoman:
Bigtruck3:
Burger boy he’d be cheaper
Yep, seen lots of that over the years, saved £hundreds on wages, cost £thousands in damage.
I know a bloke who used to load/shunt tankers at weekends, charged them a decent rate cos he did a decent job.
Along comes pietro who will do it for near enough half the cost, so they asked matey if he could price match, er No.
First weekend for pietro £45,000 in tanker damage.
Can you come back?, Nope, found something else ta let pietro do it.
, ■■■■■■ myself when he told me.
And what sort of fool thinks opening doors is all that’s involved in driver skills, Jesus wept 
Plus, you don’t spend a week learning to drive a truck. You spend a week learning how to pass a test driving a truck. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that after a couple of decades behind me, I’m still learning.