There would be no shortage of drivers if the pay was £15.00 per hour for day shifts,with a bit more for nights and weekends.
scanny77:
i don’t know what happened but there just aren’t enough drivers in central Scotland to cover demand.
I best move back then!
Pimpdaddy:
Left hand down!:
scanny77:
driver shortage isnt a mythRubbish
. There is a shortage of drivers willing to work for the peanuts being offered but there is no shortage of drivers per se.
Two local companies to me as always banging on about the alleged national driver shortage because they’ve been advertising for yonks and can’t get anyone, yet both pay marginally above the national minimum wage. Even the jam rolls won’t work for that.
+1
- another 1.
Like any job in the free market economy, driving a truck pays “the going rate”". This is currently a few pence above the National Minimum Wage in the general haulage sector. Therefore there is no driver shortage. This is primary school economics.
I’d love to know the demographics of who’s about to hang up their keys this year… This is going to be a very interesting Autumn I reckon!
There’s already plenty of work out there, so the next stage has to be “drivers becoming more and more fussy about what they’ll do for flat wages”. Then out come the knifes, and firms are going to have to poach drivers from elsewhere - or go without. You don’t do that without a significant wage hike!
I am happy to work for £10-12 locally for example. What if I were asked to work in London 40 miles away? - I reckon £15ph might motivate me, but not for much longer! 
As it is, London rates for class 2 work have always been pretty good. I’d imagine that will become even more extreme in the future, as 7.5t drivers in particular dwindle away (fewer and fewer with grandfather rights), with firms attempting to replace them with van drivers who then just smash it all up.
Just pay the premium and get in some proper drivers - or go under hehe! 
Winseer:
I’d love to know the demographics of who’s about to hang up their keys this year… This is going to be a very interesting Autumn I reckon!
I don’t. It will be the same as any other year. All the other old [zb]s currently only working for “a bit of pin money for the wife” that reckon they’ll be hanging their keys up come September will probably do so initially, but then after rattling around in the house for a few weeks bored [zb]less, they’ll go pay their £300 and pick up where they left off.
I suppose this CPC malarky coming in will be a good time too for newly passed drivers. the 2 year rule tends to go out the window when agencies get desperate as a guy at my place found, its got to the stage where he will only do certain runs and 9 times out of 10 he gets what he prefers because he is reliable, gets the job done, doesnt winge and works whatever hours are required 
I was looking at “being over age 67” for those hanging up their keys for good. It’s a lot of hassle continuing in trucks past 70 or even keeping a car lience at that point I believe…
Wages aren’t bad where i work.
agency 1 pays £10.20 weekdays, £11.20 Saturdays, £13.20 sundays
agency 2 pays £10.50 flat rate
agency 3 pays £11 flat rate
most drivers make £100+ per day on average. After breaks i have hit 61 hours in the last week and i haven’t really done much actual work. Mainly trunking or waiting so the job is a cushy number. Nobody chasing you to get back with the exception of todays shift but that’s only because i am doing a double run and have to catch the last boat before i park up for the night. I volunteered for this to get an extra 3 hours today and tomorrow plus night out money and saving petrol.
the money is good, the work is easy but we cant get enough drivers signed up. The work is there 12 months of the year too which is rare
After almost 25yrs in construction, I decided last summer to up my grandfather rights to class 2, as I just fancied a change of direction. Passed it early Nov last year and did the agency thing, hitting the two year brick wall and getting nowt but 7.5 work for the last 6 months. Was finally offered some class 2 work last week (DHL for Alliance/Boots) and the gaffer has pretty much told me that this is as ongoing as anything can be, as theyve also recently won a sizeable TK Maxx contract. It was also said to me by the guy who did my assessment that it would be a very good time to get class 1 under my belt, and the intimation there was that they are becoming unable to procure drivers as and when required. Also, previously slow to respond agencies are ringing me on a regular basis recently, sounding somewhat desperate for immediate starts. I dont know if this is a growing phenomenon in other areas of the country (I`m in East Anglia) but from a personal perspective, things definitely appear to be gathering pace. As a consequence of this, I will be gunning for class 1 entitlement in a couple of months, and see what happens.
Although I have no frame of reference as I’ve only returned to driving (part time) since last September, this year there have only been 4 weekends when no work was available (Late Januaray / Early Feb).
Now I’m called by the agency even on days they know I can’t work just on the off chance.
Perhaps theres a number of factors involved, not just the CPC but a slight improvemnt in the economy, a general feeling of things ‘aren’t too bad’, minimal attraction for new recruits with low wage prospects (at the moment) for anyone thinking of driving trucks, holiday season approaching… etc.
Are we heading for the perfect storm post September and wages will leap up, I doub’t it but supply and demand basics will see prices raise gradually over the whole sector I believe.
Even with the influx of our carp munching cousins (lets face it the haulage industry in the UK would be in a messs without them) there will be more than enough work available allowing drivers who may not be happy with their current job to look for greener pastures.
Dipper_Dave:
Even with the influx of our carp munching cousins (lets face it the haulage industry in the UK would be in a mess without them)
I have to disagree with you there, wages are considerably worse now than they would have been if we hadn’t had the foreign invasion.
As an aside, they are voting today in Switzerland for min wage of around £15!
I don’t know how much of their unskilled workforce is foreign but thats a hell of a starting point. Im sure it will attract the migrant worker though. 
fredthered:
As an aside, they are voting today in Switzerland for min wage of around £15!I don’t know how much of their unskilled workforce is foreign but thats a hell of a starting point. Im sure it will attract the migrant worker though.
That’s easy. You’re entitlement to such a minimum wage is based on you having a full passport for that country, so you have to have been born there.
I understand that Swiss passports in particular are like Unicorn’s Horns to get hold of as it is - before anything like this.
If we had such a policy in this country, the minimum wage would need to be NATIONAL, so we don’t end up encouraging the north to move south. Better the other way surely, where now it’s possible to get London wages in say, Newcastle - Many of us would actually be encouraged to move oop narth, where there are still pubs, the women like ■■■, and there’s a lot more open space. 
fredthered:
As an aside, they are voting today in Switzerland for min wage of around £15!I don’t know how much of their unskilled workforce is foreign but thats a hell of a starting point. Im sure it will attract the migrant worker though.
Have you seen how much the cost of living is in Switzerland? I worked in Basle twice for a couple of weeks each time and it was very expensive to buy anything eight years ago.
As Switzerland is not part of the EU, there is no automatic right to live and work there for EU citizens. They have a system of Work Permits - although the restrictions for EU citizens are not as strict as thy are for non-EU workers.
It’s also a lot more expensive to live there. (Compulsory) health insurance will take a significant slice of your wages, and food etc is a lot more expensive. Property rents are a fair bit higher, too - and although their version of VAT is lower than ours, there are a whole raft of extra local taxes (which vary from one Canton to another - or even from one town to another).
I assumed it was a higher cost of living thing after visiting in the late 90’s. But at least they seem to be pitching it at the required level to live there? And keeping a lid on immigration or do they?
I get a call or text at least once a week of various agencies that I gave my details to when I moved down these parts, also every firm is taking on permanent positions in this area. Agency rates are around £11th on a Ltd basis, although hourly rates PAYE at a company work out at under £8ph for class one which is gash!
Plenty of jobs but the money isn’t going up as of yet.
Unfilled shifts make no money for the agency. In fact, they can actually lose the agency their customers, because what yard is going to bother long with the agency that says “Sorry bud, I have no one available” because the drivers in the pool are working for some other agency in the area who are paying more. 
I would imagine therefore, that the process of wages being driven up at agencies will run concurrent with some agencies going bust. This, in turn pushes more drivers, especially the newer sign-ups towards those fewer agencies that remain, stabilising prices for a while… Until the whole cycle starts again, which surely it must at least once more before the end of this year, most likely September. £11ph for Ltd Company is also “gash” - not just £8ph for PAYE btw.
Winseer:
Unfilled shifts make no money for the agency. In fact, they can actually lose the agency their customers, because what yard is going to bother long with the agency that says “Sorry bud, I have no one available” because the drivers in the pool are working for some other agency in the area who are paying more.I would imagine therefore, that the process of wages being driven up at agencies will run concurrent with some agencies going bust. This, in turn pushes more drivers, especially the newer sign-ups towards those fewer agencies that remain, stabilising prices for a while… Until the whole cycle starts again, which surely it must at least once more before the end of this year, most likely September. £11ph for Ltd Company is also “gash” - not just £8ph for PAYE btw.
I was referring to them both being gash