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HGV driver shortages: Fury as Government asks paramedics to take up lorry driving to solve crisisA letter from the Department for Transport was sent to paramedics urging them to ‘consider’ a career as an HGV driver in light of the national shortage
The Scottish Ambulance Service has received help from the Army in recent weeks due to a shortage of ambulance drivers (Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)
By Poppy Wood
October 1, 2021 3:34 pm(Updated 6:11 pm)
The Government has been accused of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” after it attempted to recruit paramedics to solve the nationwide HGV crisis.
The Department for Transport sent out a letter last week to around one million people with C1 driving licences, which allow them to drive vehicles weighing up to 7.5 tonnes.
Those contacted include ambulance workers, paramedics, road sweeper drivers, bus drivers and ex-Army personnel, among others.
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The letter asked them to “consider” a career as a HGV driver in light of the national shortage, telling recipients: “As you are undoubtedly aware, this has been putting pressure on UK supply chains for some time.”
It added that the HGV sector offered “attractive pay rates,” as well as “flexible working, fixed hours, fixed days, full-time and part-time”.
Caption: Vehicles queue up outside a BP petrol station in Alton, Hampshire (Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)
The Department of Health and the NHS were not warned in advance about the attempt to convince their workers to leave their jobs and retrain, i understands.
Keera Davies, a former trainee ambulance driver from Northamptonshire, said she was “shocked” to receive the letter, having only received her C1 licence this summer.
“I don’t think many people understand that there’s a shortage of HGV drivers and not actual fuel. I didn’t realise it was as serious as sending letters to houses to get people to consider potentially working as lorry drivers,” she told i.
“I understand they need to do something but there’s also a shortage of ambulance frontline staff so to pull from one sector to another, I feel that could potentially cause another issue.”
Jim McMahon, Shadow Transport Secretary, told i: “It becomes clearer every day that the Conservative Government has absolutely no grip on this crisis.”
Unison, the largest trade union in the UK, said attempts to poach frontline workers from the healthcare sector would add extra pressure to an already stretched industry.
The ambulance service is currently grappling with an annual funding gap of more than £200m, according to Unison.
At the same time, the number of emergency call-outs have hit fresh record highs. In just two years, the number of “category one”, or life-threatening, incidents have risen by more than a quarter, while July this year was the busiest month on record ever for ambulance services, with more than one million 999 calls made across the country.
The Army has also been called out to assist ambulance crews across Scotland and Wales in recent weeks because of demand.
Unison national officer Colm Porter warned that enticing people from the healthcare sector to plug the shortage of HGV drivers could have “potentially deadly consequences”.
“Adding to the already significant pressure on the ambulance service by robbing Peter to pay Paul isn’t going to help,” he told i.
“Staff shortages and extra demand because of Covid mean crews are so stretched several ambulance services have already called in the military. Enticing scarce staff away will pile the pressure onto the service, resulting in long wait 999 times, with potentially deadly consequences.”
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has estimated that the UK needs an extra 100,000 HGV drivers to solve current supply chain issues.
The shortage sparked panic-buying last week after leaked comments made by BP bosses during a meeting with Cabinet members warned that fuel levels at UK forecourts were “declining rapidly”.
Chaotic scenes at petrol stations across Britain prompted the Government last week to unveil a package of measures to try and alleviate the crisis.
Ministers announced 5,000 temporary three-month visas in a bid to attract foreign HGV drivers, alongside a suspension competition laws to allow oil firms to target fuel deliveries at petrol stations.
But industry figures warned that the measures would do little to solve the current HGV shortfall or prevent further disruption this winter.
RHA policy director Rod McKenzie told i that the shortage was “not going to go away” without a root-and-branch overhaul of the Government’s approach to the HGV industry, warning that the crisis could last a year.
The letter in full
Dear Sir/Madam,
HGV Driver Shortage- Employment Opportunities
We are writing to you, and all HGV driving licence holders, about the national shortage of HGV drivers.
As you are undoubtedly aware, this has been putting pressure on UK supply chains for some time. The Government and the logistics sectors are working on a range of solutions to ease the shortage.
To those of you who are currently driving, we would like to thank you for the vital service you have provided during the COVID-19 response and the incredibly important role you continue to play in keeping goods moving around the country.
If you are no longer working in this sector, we would like to take this opportunity to ask you to consider returning. Your valuable skills and experience have never been more needed than they are now.
There are fantastic HGV driving opportunities in the logistics industry and conditions of employment and pay have been improving across the sector. As well as attractive pay rates, we are seeing more options for flexible working, fixed hours, fixed days, full-time and part-time.
Many employers are offering training packages so even if your Driver CPC has lapsed, you can be supported in updating this through classroom or online courses. Furthermore, given the significant number of opportunities available, can become an entry point into a much wider pool of job roles.
Business of all sizes, in many different sectors, including specialist operators, are looking for drivers. There has never been a better time to find the type of HGV driving job you want.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Many have also questioned the Government’s claims that the HGV sector could offer “attractive pay rates” and “flexible hours” in the letter sent out last week.
One former British Army member, who asked to remain anonymous, told i that harsh working conditions in the HGV sector meant he would not consider the Government’s appeal for him to become a lorry driver.
“{I have] no plans to go back to it, even on a part-time basis such as with an agency. Especially not if it would mean being away from home overnight, sleeping in the cab and using motorway services for showers,” he said.
“I haven’t driven an HGV in over ten years, and I’m not that good at it in a wagon bigger than the four-tonner, which is really quite short in HGV terms.”
The starting salary for an HGV driver is between £19,000 and £24,000, according to Totaljobs, while the average paramedic salary in the UK is £27,312, and newly qualified staff can expect to earn £21,000.
Retail giants have been handing out large joining bonuses in a bid to recruit new drivers amid the current crisis, with Tesco and Marks & Spencer offering signing-on bonuses of £1,000 and £2,000 respectively.
But many have argued that the incentives are little more than a temporary “sticking plaster” to deep-rooted issues, and urged the Government to address the root causes of the shortage.
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Mr McMahon added: “As forecourts ran dry and queues built up, ministers were slow to act, unwilling to acknowledge the scale of the problem and more focused on blaming others than taking responsibility.
“People across the country are unable to get to work and children face being unable to get to school; the government’s ‘solutions’ clearly are not working. The Prime Minister needs to get a grip.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson told i that the letter was automatically sent to everybody in the UK with an HGV driving licence, and it was “impossible to narrow the copy-list by profession due to personal data protection”.
“We don’t want ambulance drivers to change jobs, or to be diverted from their vital work saving lives,” they added.