Social distancing will crumble.
Starting next week
Landlord at my local has his house in order ready for the nod to reopen pubs.
A one way system to the bar then onto the beer garden where he has installed an open sided marque to keep the rain of the punters head. Tables are over 2 metres apart to comply with the social media frenzy of keeping a pointless distance apart. (Proven that 2 metres isnt far enough)
R420:
commonrail:
And the day all those buisnesses are allowed to trade again…drivers will be required.Bankrupt businesses don’t require any drivers… because they’re bankrupt and no longer exist.
Theres still stuff to shift and they will need drivers to do it,no matter who’s producing it.
I think the key to job security is what you’re carrying.
Anything to do with carrying or producing foodstuff, and other life essentials will keep going in rain, sleet or shine. “Groceries” you could call them. People always need the survival essentials, even in economic trouble. So the fridges, as well as some curtainsiders, agricultural tippers, animal transport, and tanker companies haven’t really flinched.
The bulk of UK haulage tends to supplement other industries, such as construction, manufacturing, and energy. Which is of course operating at a lower capacity, but will soon get going again following the cessation of the lockdown. It will take time to get the ball rolling, and the first month after the halting of the JRS will be the most brutal. Reduced revenues through less work, having to pay drivers again, as well as months of inactivity will hit companies hard, and the weeks after the JRS is lifted are probably the most likely time there will be driver redundancies and fleet downsizing.
I would have thought car transporters and event transport would be the slowest to recover. As well as things linked to other suffering industries, such as aviation. The populace won’t be buying new cars any time soon, and with all the SD that will be events and mass gatherings on hold probably for the remainder of 2020. Without painting a grim picture, I can’t help but think these companies may not survive, as the recovery will just be too slow or take too long.
I do believe that a lot of companies and workers view the JRS as just a holiday. Without any real thought into what’s going to happen afterwards.
One thing I have been thinking about is the way that haulage companies look at their contracts. Will there be more competition for the “grocery” contracts, now that their ability to keep going in the darkest of economic times has been realised?
I think that with such a massive fleet to support we shall see the Green Monster becoming even more aggressive, cutting rates yet more to keep the trucks working and in the process driving te final nail into the coffin of many even previously successful businesses. Their own staff and that of others which survive are likely to see a deterioration in terms and conditions with an attack upon any enhanced payments and allownaces. It will become simply take it or leave it.
Stobarts are not the only ones who will be looking to fill holes in their turnover, DHL, Wincanton, XPO, Maritime and Turners are all companies that have lost volume some more than others.
There may be some mergers XPO announced they were buying a big chunk of K&N before this all kicked off(see if that goes ahead) and Wincanton had a lucky escape when they pulled out of a takeover of Stobarts before Xmas.
Conor:
UK not next. The UK has put in different methods of supporting business and employees than the US has. Whereas in the US they’re ending up unemployed due to a complete lack of workers rights meaning it’s as simple and quick to fire an employee as it is to tell an agency worker they’re not needed the following day, in the UK they’re being furloughed.
“Workings Rights” - are not that hard to get around in this country, neither as it happens… 
R420:
commonrail:
And the day all those buisnesses are allowed to trade again…drivers will be required.Bankrupt businesses don’t require any drivers… because they’re bankrupt and no longer exist.
Stobarts is bankrupt. They’re over £200 million in debt and were forced to take a loan of £55m paying 18% interest so they’re paying £10m a year in interest in order to keep operating. They’re still requiring drivers.
Just because a company is bankrupt it doesn’t mean it no longer exists. Often they’re kept running by administrators for months or longer in the hope of finding a buyer and the bigger the company the less likely it is that it’ll close.
Winseer:
“Workings Rights” - are not that hard to get around in this country, neither as it happens…
For clueless left wing chip on their shoulder still living in the 1970s people like you working for small family firms and owner drivers still stuck in the 70s too probably not as given your worldview you still are living in the 1960s and 70s where firing someone on the spot for no reason, giving them their cards and sending them home was common practice. However for those of us who have moved with the times and know what employment rights have been given to us and who are prepared to exercise those rights they are hard to get around.
R420:
commonrail:
As for pubs,restaurants etc.
It’ll be one big party once Boris says the word.Unlock…UNLOCK
How are you seeing restaurants reopening when they’ll have their maximum earning potential reduced by around 75% due to SD regulations? If a restaurant can hold 100 people and is profitable at say, 75+ capacity, they are not going to be reopening when the government says the maximum number of people they can have in the building at one time is 25 to ensure SD compliance. The same regs will apply to pubs.
There are already reports of bus and coach companies going out of business because the layout means a maximum 10% capacity due to having to block off rows of seats. No company can operate and make a profit at such ridiculous numbers. It’s completely unworkable.
Turn them into temporary takeaway places. Go in get food leave? All served on pape plates with plastic forks and knives obviously served by someone who changed gloves everytime.
This covid isnt as lathal as the media suggests.
I know someone who dies after isolating 5 weeks with wife and child. They are fine. Explain?
Why are people waiting anywhere for the ok to go back to work?
If the OK has been given, on a “be careful/alert” basis, then essentially if your risk tolerance is ZERO - then you’ll be refusing to go back to work for the rest of your natural lives?
…FFS just accept the fact that Coronavirus is highly unlikely to kill you - and get back to work, if your job is open for you to return to, OR get another job with a less risk-averse employer - if it is NOT.
…Look at Teachers right now in this country: What are they requiring to “get the schools open again”?
An absolute guarantee from the government that the last person to ever die - has already died?
Compensation if the government got it wrong in any way whatsoever?
A Risk Premium payment built into their wages?
None of that is ever going to happen.
The best way to get people back to work then - is tell them to “work safely” be alert, or pull the rug from those who are more than happy otherwise to be on gardening leave forever…
Meanwhile, of the 88,300 truckers “unemployed”, I’d have to beg the question “How many are STILL unemployed” if traffic is already back to normal, presumably made up of the usual number of trucks among it? 
