233000 unfilled vacancies in Europe

Well that is what they say anyhow.
Do I believe it?
Not sure,…I’ve always been a bit sus of the perceived ‘driver shortage’ thing,.as tgere always seems to be plenty jobs about,…granted not all good ones

But for arguments sake, lets go with it for a minute, accept it as truth, and ask why it is actually so.

Incidentally the item on the BBC tv news show where this was discussed,.was about The Red Lion being awarded ‘Best Truckstop in Europe’ which is some achievement (I aint been there for a lot of years, but it sounds as if it has vastly improved since that time) which can only be good.

Very appropriate mentioning the vacancies on that item, the job of tramping could hardly be described as attractive when you consider the overnight parking disgrace, the quality of many so called ‘truckstops’, the vast reduction of in town parking, but mostly where sometimes the only option of parking is some sh hole of a lay by…(in fact the first option for many of you.:roll_eyes:)

What happened to the investment in parking infrastructure pledge ?
Which was sincerely promised by the highest echelons of government on tv a couple of years ago, when all this was high profile first item on news shows…remember that?
Oh yeah much of it was spent (aka wasted) upgrading msa s, …another no no for overnight parking for many of us, especially me.

Then lets start on the old 15 on 9 off 70+ hout shift patterns chestnut (yeah I know yawn yawn :roll_eyes:)
I normally only do 4 days, but last week I did a mon to sat 70+ hour stint voluntarily btw :flushed:and just for a change…but who tf in 2024 (in their right minds that is ) WANTS to do that sh every week,…and especially when many firms just routinely expect it?

Then there is the being treated like crap at many delivery points, being spoke to and treated like a child by some firms (if you are daft enough to allow it that is ) the ‘keeping up appearances with no real substance’ driver dcpc dog cack, and all the rest of the old well known b/s …cameras, being charged for damage etc etc , which has been discussed to death on here in the past.
Then they ask ‘WHY is there a shortage ?’.:joy:

So to sum up all that… if there IS a shortage of 233000 truckers,.I AM surprised.

Surprised it aint twice that figure.

in europe is a big area. i can imagine there probably is a shortage of that size across europe when you think of all the countries that dont have drivers because they are working in another country. I havent been to the pidou in calais for over a year now but the signs with a british mobile number on saying come to england and ring this number for work were still there.

There is no shortage of people with an HGV entitlement, what shortage there is involves those with an HGV entitlement who an operator is happy to hand the keys to a wagon.

What % of those do you recon are the [equivalent of] ‘‘Full time, part time, weekend work available, flexible shift patterns, pay £14 - £35 p.h.’’

I dare say very much in the minority, but this article does mention they got some gov funds to make improvements.

Longton truck stop wins praise for £225k revamp - BBC News

Shame there isn’t 40 more I can link up dotted all around.

i found this…
round 1 winners

round 2 winners

if anyone is interested there is this that sets out the criteria

broadly the highlights are priority was given to those that could complete the works by 21/3/25 you can claim up to 50% of the cost once it is completed and one of the areas for improvement was putting in electric and alternative fueling facilities. In other words install your car chargers and we will give you money out of this pot for lorry facilities

Interesting. I had a look down the lists, I see Swindon was down for multiple areas of improvement…

That said I haven’t been in since OnRoute took over and apart from overnight toilet provision I didn’t think Avonmouth was too bad when I have used it.

I didn’t know these guys offered overnight parking in Warminster

Wiltshire HGV parking and welfare site to be built for lorry drivers | Wiltshire Times