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Jingle Jon:
There is a shortage
Where ? - please go to the newbies forum and tell them !
ROG:
Where ?
Stobarts and taylors
Jingle Jon:
There is a shortage and you have come to the wrong place. Quite a lot of the people here feel threatened by anyone with and education… act out like the chavs they are instead of helping you get on in life.
Well, fancy that. Jingle Jon allows his superiority complex to get the better of him while sitting safely behind his computer. Again.
You may lack the awareness and intelligence that would allow you to see that there is no shortage of drivers in the in the haulage industry, but thankfully, many of the other posters on here are a bit more switched on and they know how things really are.
It would also be ‘an education’, you clueless dolt.
OVLOV JAY:
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There’s obviously not a driver shortage at Goldstar, where they have no trouble finding drivers at £7.40 an hour.
Harry Monk:
There’s obviously not a driver shortage at Goldstar, where they have no trouble finding drivers at £7.40 an hour.
There are plenty of “wreck it Ralphs”, new passes and “jonny foreigner who doesn’t know any better” who’ll be happy to fill them positions. Anyone with half an ounce of ability will move on after they get six months experience.
Uncle Albie:
I can tell you one thing about LGV driver skills.The standards of their driving is appalling in a lot of cases.
We need to eradicate bad driving before anything else.
There is certiny a shortage of decent drivers.
This is spot on, zero pride seems to be the “look at me” default position nowadays from a lot of the “next” generation…
Not all of them, but a fair %… 
Stanley Mitchell:
Uncle Albie:
I can tell you one thing about LGV driver skills.The standards of their driving is appalling in a lot of cases.
We need to eradicate bad driving before anything else.
There is certiny a shortage of decent drivers.
This is spot on, zero pride seems to be the “look at me” default position nowadays from a lot of the “next” generation…
Not all of them, but a fair %…
Funny you should say that…
Big thanks to everyone who has responded to the survey,
If you believe there isn’t a skill shortage, like many of you have stated, mention it within the survey, this isn’t a one way thing.
Thanks again,
Since anyone who has a car driving licence and can read the back page of the Sun can move up to driving an HGV in a couple of weeks (and a couple of £thousand) any shortage is likely to be filled quite quickly.
ATsimpson:
Because there is a UK HGV skill shortage, an ageing workforce with lack of new entrants, I’m solely looking into strategies that can overcome this such as apprenticeships etc,
What do you mean by new entrants? Generally younger people who aim to pass their C+E test? If so, then yes, there may be less new entrants than the 1970s when young lads aspired to drive lorries and you could go from car licence to taking a practical HGV 1 test only. However, there is definitely no shortage of Eastern European drivers who take up that slack. If anything, there are far too many of them flooding our industry, and this oversupply partly contributes to stagnant wages, and renders the driver skills shortage a myth pedalled by those whose interests it serves. There is definitely not a skill shortage amongst HGV drivers, only a shortage of quality drivers.
I’ve completed your survey. Best of luck with it.
I’ve said it before;
There is NO shortage of drivers. There is however a shortage of good drivers, and that’s because there IS a shortage a of good employers. Couple that with the fact that a considerable number of next generation workforce don’t fancy driving as a “profession” and you would be someway there to finding out why.
The cure to both? More pay, less hours, better conditions. Have a look at the thread where a well known company is asking drivers to wait outside in a cattle pen while they are unloaded(not a five minute task) and you might start to get a handle on it…
ezydriver:
ATsimpson:
Because there is a UK HGV skill shortage, an ageing workforce with lack of new entrants, I’m solely looking into strategies that can overcome this such as apprenticeships etc,What do you mean by new entrants? Generally younger people who aim to pass their C+E test? If so, then yes, there may be less new entrants than the 1970s when young lads aspired to drive lorries and you could go from car licence to taking a practical HGV 1 test only. However, there is definitely no shortage of Eastern European drivers who take up that slack. If anything, there are far too many of them flooding our industry, and this oversupply partly contributes to stagnant wages, and renders the driver skills shortage a myth pedalled by those whose interests it serves. There is definitely not a skill shortage amongst HGV drivers, only a shortage of quality drivers.
Thanks for your reply,
This is exactly why I’m conducting this research, If you could mention this in the survey, it will really help to see both sides of the argument, and it will be included,
Cheers!
yourhavingalarf:
OVLOV JAY:
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Dissertation threads are generally (not) well received.
Maybe Rikki and the Mods should consider modifying the forum rules to state the posting of dissertation threads need permission to post before posting
ATsimpson:
ezydriver:
ATsimpson:
Because there is a UK HGV skill shortage, an ageing workforce with lack of new entrants, I’m solely looking into strategies that can overcome this such as apprenticeships etc,What do you mean by new entrants? Generally younger people who aim to pass their C+E test? If so, then yes, there may be less new entrants than the 1970s when young lads aspired to drive lorries and you could go from car licence to taking a practical HGV 1 test only. However, there is definitely no shortage of Eastern European drivers who take up that slack. If anything, there are far too many of them flooding our industry, and this oversupply partly contributes to stagnant wages, and renders the driver skills shortage a myth pedalled by those whose interests it serves. There is definitely not a skill shortage amongst HGV drivers, only a shortage of quality drivers.
Thanks for your reply,
This is exactly why I’m conducting this research, If you could mention this in the survey, it will really help to see both sides of the argument, and it will be included,
Cheers!
Ok mate, I’ll complete it over the next couple of days when I get 5 minutes.
peirre:
yourhavingalarf:
OVLOV JAY:
Thread locked in 5…4…3…2…
Dissertation threads are generally (not) well received.
Maybe Rikki and the Mods should consider modifying the forum rules to state the posting of dissertation threads need permission to post before posting
I was more pointing at a confrontational post from a new poster
We hear a lot about “adverts offering jobs near minimum wage” that apparently “prove there is no driver shortage”. How about if those adverts are faux news, and no one takes them anyway?
They are only published to present the illusion that “that’s all a driver is worth”.
Let’s hear from someone ON THIS BOARD who’s just taken a sub-£8ph job please.
I believe this country has been in denial about the ongoing shortage of quality transport staff across the board - for quite long enough by this point.
Just how far does one have to get away from London and mickey mouse yards before one starts seeing actual taken jobs paying crappy wages?
Even Maritime, Polypipe, and DPD are paying more than £8ph these days are they not?
ATsimpson:
Uncle Albie:
I can tell you one thing about LGV driver skills.The standards of their driving is appalling in a lot of cases.
We need to eradicate bad driving before anything else.
There is certiny a shortage of decent drivers.
To make it more clear, the title of the dissertation piece is not yet set in stone, but yes, clearly there is a lack of experienced HGV drivers
Or maybe there is a divide between HGV drivers and transport, logistics and HR managers?
No there’s just the lack of realisation among employers that ‘experienced’ drivers only get that ‘experience’ and the ‘skills’ which come with it by being employed as ‘inexperienced’ drivers.Nor is it anything new.
Having said that exactly what ‘skills’ are they referring to.Having tried to dumb down at least the driving part of the job with their automated transmissions and synchros before that.Not to mention over simplistic vehicle designs like close coupled so called ‘drawbar’ outfits v A frame and a driver training regime which panders to same.IE you won’t find the best truck drivers by trying to make the job attractive to people who would really rather be driving a car.
While it’s not realistic to expect even an ‘experienced’ tanker driver to have all the loading/unloading skills needed for general haulage let alone heavy haulage or visa versa for example.Those skills in either case having to be learn’t from an unskilled,inexperienced,position in either case.
ROG:
If there was a LGV driver shortage then newbies would be snapped up by companies the moment they passed and the job ADs would be mainly by companies and not agencies - those are the FACTS not my opinion
^ This.
It’s clear that what’s being referred to is the same tired old employer excuses to make the case for the import of labour or the export of jobs on the basis of so called ‘experience’ and ‘skills’ that we supposedly don’t have here.Rather than any adverts saying new inexperienced drivers of our own welcome.
All to maintain an over supplied labour market to keep wages as low as possible.