Oh no not this zb again, daily mail are now on this bs bandwagon:evil::twisted:
It only takes a few weeks to train an HGV driver, the government & hauliers should pull their finger out & do something about it if it’s that bad-THERE IS NO DRIVER SHORTAGE & THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE:!::!::!:
Perfect example of an article written by the opposition of whoever is in power at the moment.
Switch places at any time you like depending on the biggest issue at any given moment in time.
Not promoting but we are realy struglingfor skip drivers and have been all year. A lot or our older casual guys have packed in this year cards needed to get out of yard now
If you give any old driver a LGV licence all of a sudden, and scrap the “2 years experience required” bit - I’d step back from the pavement, as there are going to be a lot more accidents involving lgv’s this coming Christmas.
There’s no shortage of drivers with valid licences. There’s only a shortage now of the accidentless ones wishing to work flat out when it suits an employer.
Why would any new driver want to be an HGV driver? There’s no incentive, starting from scratch they’ve got to do 7.5t, class 3 then class 1, then the dcpc then get a digi card, maybe an ADR or hIAB licence, all that expense of a few thousand pounds to earn almost minimum wage, why bother? Go drive a van or forklift for the same money…
buster4086:
Why would any new driver want to be an HGV driver? There’s no incentive, starting from scratch they’ve got to do 7.5t, class 3 then class 1, then the dcpc then get a digi card, maybe an ADR or hIAB licence, all that expense of a few thousand pounds to earn almost minimum wage, why bother? Go drive a van or forklift for the same money…
No need to do 7.5 ton first
I see it as the industry bosses pleading for the government to subsidise hgv training and flood the drivers market to keep rates low.
Also the statement in that article " many people will have a bleak Christmas," what a load of rubbish, poor Johnny can’t get hold of the latest ipad or toy until after Christmas as it’s not in stock, hardly poverty or starvation is it, general headline grabbing rubbish.
kr79:
Not promoting but we are realy struglingfor skip drivers and have been all year. A lot or our older casual guys have packed in this year cards needed to get out of yard now
The thing stopping me from applying to a place near me is that the advert only says “HGV drivers” and doesn’t say whether it’s on their tippers or skips. I don’t want to suddenly get lumbered with skips or roros.
One place just down the road from my house has been advertising for skip drivers for nearly two months.
Have to agree in part I’m afraid. There is a lack of ‘intelligent’ drivers in my opinion.
Yes there are plenty of drivers available through agency, but for every decent 1 that can work and present themselves as a clean intelligent human being, you get half a dozen scruffy thick as s*** ones !!!
I work part time as a bus driver and also do some casual HGV driving direct for a small company - easy one-hit trunking or a trailer swap.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed an advert for an experienced tanker driver to tramp out and out of curiosity applied for the job as I have 10 years of tank experience, a clean licence, dcpc and can provide relevant employer references. The ad was by a well known, fairly large UK company.
I was offered a basic rate of £6.09 per hour (yes really - I have it in writing) overtime over 8 hours a day was to be paid at £9.02 with a guarantee of 9 hours a day (thus sidestepping the minimum wage rule).
A productivity payment was to be made on top of this and the bloke interviewing me assured me that his drivers could earn UP TO £150 per day. This was for a 15 hour day and included night out money of £26.72
So 150-26.72= 123.28 and 123.28/15=8.552
This is a MAXIMUM hourly rate of £8.55 IF you manage to hit the maximum productivity that their planners plan for you and considerably less if you don’t, (or maybe if they don’t plan it properly!), but a guaranteed £69.39 per day.
When I asked about WTD and maxing out your hours it was explained to me that you only get paid your guaranteed pay if you come into the yard and sit in the canteen as you have obviously not properly used the POA button on your tacho.
I agree that there is no shortage of qualified, experienced drivers in this country but there may be a shortage of people who are prepared to do the job for this kind of wage. I certainly don’t need that sort of poop.
I don’t think that the government training up the habitually workshy or criminals is going to change that either - if these folk want to work for peanuts instead of claiming benefits or robbing others then they can already.
scrap the “2 years experience required”=and start check new drivers simply-good drivers or not and near every agency will be queues.because now plenty people can pass tests and agree work long hours.but can pass test without mistakes and nobody want give job if hold licence less for 2 years.
Minimum £25k pa for a standard 40 daylight hour week would be a step in the right direction
more bullsh#t
samsgrandad:
more bullsh#t
If it is, who benefits from it?
A slightly exaggerated article IMO although my company is itself 400 drivers short apparently so could be right… What i want to know tho is what relevance does the video of a tesco driver screwing it round some lights in london have to do with a driver shortage■■? lol
maybe if people stopped being so tight , and payed a driver his worth , they wouldn’t have a issue, builders laborers , cleaners and gardeners are on more money that a class one driver, and maybe if i was paid £200 a day , i might get off my arse and do some work insted of doing 2 days a week and living off benefits
If you do part time on agencies and earn £100 , 22% is stopped in tax and nat insurance then they want £25 for the umbrella company leaving you with £53 not a lot of inventive is it . Yes I can see why not many bother and do a bit of gardening etc instead.
holliefabbabe:
maybe if people stopped being so tight , and payed a driver his worth , they wouldn’t have a issue, builders laborers , cleaners and gardeners are on more money that a class one driver, and maybe if i was paid £200 a day , i might get off my arse and do some work insted of doing 2 days a week and living off benefits
Get off your arse and find a job that pays £200 a day then instead of sponging on the state !!!
would a burger flipper or a shelf stacker pay at least £3000 out of there own pocket just to get a job working for pennies above minimum wage, no, so why are we expected to do it, o because its an easy job, like ■■■■■ it is, ok not really physical but mentally its shattering add to that a 70 hour to make it pay and the fact probably 5 in 10 drivers loose there family because of it then why would anyone really want to come in to the industry, i think there is a small shortage but only because agencys pay well in some cases and people can afford to work 3-4 days a week and live on that. start pay us minimum £10 an hour which i think is deserved and time and a quarter anything after a 40 hour week and you might well plug the gap, i can put up with ■■■■ for a good wages but not for peanuts