This may have been covered before, so apologies if it has!
Was double manning with a chap on monday and got onto the conversation of the 2 years exprience and how full time work is difficult to find.
He then said to me he was talking to a manager at an RDC and this particular manager appeared to believe over the next few years there is going to be a driver shortage in the UK, not because of CPC etc but because of retirement, the figure he gave i thought was an extremly high one but he quoted 38.000 or something. I said but what about new drivers coming into the trade etc, he said that there was no where near enough to cover the losses.
Do you think there is any truth to this and do you think any of the younger generation will benefit from this?
Was talking to my old man about this today and he appeared to agree with the above statement (he has nothing to do with transport), and he said it seems viable as after the war there was a large baby boom and now that baby boom is reaching retirement age (just like hime self, retired last year)
With company’s closing down and with this “recession” do you think we will see any benfit from this OR do you think its just a load of old bull…
Would be great if this was the case as it could really help the job out, maybe wages would increase agencys would fall on there ■■■ and full time positions would be the norm, or am I just dreaming?
Oh there’s definately going to be a shortage of drivers but not necessarily licence holders , those taking their driver CPC’s will notice just how few younger participants there are.
My old game on the cars will see a severe shortage of skilled competent staff, indeed it might be starting to take effect already, some poaching going on by forward thinking companies, some companies paying very well struggling to recruit retain.
Will it help, possibly, but constant dumbing down of the job with increasingly easy work and lorries that drive themselves can see higher volumes of recruits that in a previous time simpy wouldn’t have made good competent drivers nor would have been prepared or able to tolerate the hardships and hard work, i think this trend will continue, thats not to say that there arn’t good new drivers there are but not in numbers enough.
There will be further recruitment from the current eastern bloc countries and the ones about to be allowed to migrate en mass for work, you’d think by now that insurers would have raised some concerns as they must be seeing a pattern emerging, maybe in these PC times they don’t know how to deal with this, maybe operators are fixing own damage themselves and not involving insurance, either way someones footing the bill.
Drivers could with a bit of collective thinking use this coming time to reorganise themselves a bit more, regain some of their self respect and respect for each other, and they might be able to properly negotiate some better terms and conditions and try harder to make themselves better employment prospects too, i hope they do.
Im pretty new to this with only a years experience but it doesn’t take long to figure out that no one in this game wants to give the new guys the time of day so you end spending an easy 2k on your tickets to work for an agency for pennies. It makes sense that new guys don’t want to do it. I personally love the job but it doesn’t make sense to be trying to get into this industry unless you were brought up around it and already have the bug. Just my opinion
delboytwo:
The average number of hgv passed test in uk is about 25000 per year thats C and C+E
How does that figure compare over say a period of the last 20 years Delboy? It’d be interesting to see if that figure is significantly up or down over the period. I personally don’t believe there will be a driver shortage. I agree there’ll be natural wastage but I think there are plenty of young 'uns coming into the game. Just today at our place I thought I’d bumped into teenage heartthrobs 1 direction but it turned out to be 4 Reed Bordall drivers! At least there’s one company giving young lads a shot.
delboytwo:
The average number of hgv passed test in uk is about 25000 per year thats C and C+E
How does that figure compare over say a period of the last 20 years Delboy? It’d be interesting to see if that figure is significantly up or down over the period. I personally don’t believe there will be a driver shortage. I agree there’ll be natural wastage but I think there are plenty of young 'uns coming into the game. Just today at our place I thought I’d bumped into teenage heartthrobs 1 direction but it turned out to be 4 Reed Bordall drivers! At least there’s one company giving young lads a shot.
Hugely down on past years and declining all the time - I have seen the figures over the past 10 years
delboytwo:
The average number of hgv passed test in uk is about 25000 per year thats C and C+E
How does that figure compare over say a period of the last 20 years Delboy? It’d be interesting to see if that figure is significantly up or down over the period. I personally don’t believe there will be a driver shortage. I agree there’ll be natural wastage but I think there are plenty of young 'uns coming into the game. Just today at our place I thought I’d bumped into teenage heartthrobs 1 direction but it turned out to be 4 Reed Bordall drivers! At least there’s one company giving young lads a shot.
Hugely down on past years and declining all the time - I have seen the figures over the past 10 years
I’ll take your word on the figures Rog. Tbh it’s easy to see why they are down. Unless you have a real “want” to do the job why (even if they had the money) would any youngster want to shell out the ridiculous figures they do nowadays for the pleasure of what we do?
Old age among drivers is not unique to the UK.each week trundling around Europe taking dinner in a truckstop I look around and I am almost 65,they all look about my age or thereabouts.
Young men,not many doing the job in Europe France seems to have more than most but even those coming from Eastern Europe,well they’re not exactly spring chickens and giving it a great
deal of thought…Why the hell would any young lad want to do this job,today it ■■■■■…NO FUN…we have to some how put the spirit back.
Silver_Surfer:
Never happen, they’ll just recruit from abroad.
Erm…ahem ! Whats going on now then ! Maybe not recruiting from abroad as they are all coming here.
As for the OP. If 38,000 older drivers retire then fear not, Bulgaria and Romania are about to join the EU with at least 20 drivers for every 1 driver that retires ! There was an expected driver shortage 10 years ago, just as Mr Eastern European driver started coming over for work, now English drivers are sitting at home because they can’t get a job.
mickyblue:
every ruck driver i have seen are old ones. Not seen a young one on the road at ll.
I hardly ever see people my age driving trucks, get the old, “wheres your dad”, “arent you ment to be at school” routine on an almost daily basis, so it just goes to show that there really isnt many young drivers coming through which is a shame. Ive never had any problems getting a job, had 3 jobs since starting and only ever called about 7 companies, the two that didnt take me on had no work and the others said call back when your 24/25.
I think that for to-days young folk the cost of a car licence puts them off.I was 15 when I left school and saved my meagre wages for driving lessons then bought a car after passing the test at 17 years old.There are few jobs for youths so they just cant afford to drive.
Most of the drivers I’ve met have been 45 plus. I’ve only been driving a truck for just over a year (I’m 55) but have just been offered a job driving a 7.5 tonner a couple of hours a day and a couple of days a week and doing admin and other work the rest of the time. My brief experience on agency driving a variety of larger trucks was that (a) I really enjoyed it and want to drive more artics, particulary tankers, but (b) I’m doing stupid hours (especially 2.30 am starts), 15 hour shifts and getting £7 - £8 an hour…
The job I’m offered pays over £10 an hour, work regular hours, get out and about in the 7.5 tonner and is a doddle with no rush, no stress, free uniform, phone, laptop and other kit, paid training, and probably a company van to take home…
Hell it looks like another one leaving the job. Unless pay and conditions improve I’ll just have to dream about driving a proper truck full time. Parked my truck in a filling station yesterday and went to pay, cashier said “oh, your that little truck then”. Trucking dreams dashed…
delboytwo:
The average number of hgv passed test in uk is about 25000 per year thats C and C+E
How does that figure compare over say a period of the last 20 years Delboy? It’d be interesting to see if that figure is significantly up or down over the period. I personally don’t believe there will be a driver shortage. I agree there’ll be natural wastage but I think there are plenty of young 'uns coming into the game. Just today at our place I thought I’d bumped into teenage heartthrobs 1 direction but it turned out to be 4 Reed Bordall drivers! At least there’s one company giving young lads a shot.
drummerkev:
I said but what about new drivers coming into the trade etc, he said that there was no where near enough to cover the losses.
Do you think there is any truth to this and do you think any of the younger generation will benefit from this?
When the WTD was being introduced several years ago I did the figures. There was something like 25,000 a year leaving the industry and only 10,000 licence applications, most of which were for the forces and fire brigade etc so didn’t end up getting used commercially.
The average age of the truck driver was also 53 in that year.
So where does that leave us now? Many truck drivers will be knocking on the door of retirement. 2014 is when a lot are going to have to pay for their DCPC and many won’t bother, especially those not working or about to retire. Come the economic upturn and an increase in the number of wagon drivers needed, they’re not going to be there.
, those taking their driver CPC’s will notice just how few younger participants there are.