With the UK’s HGV driver shortage really starting to be felt by delivery companies in Britain, last week the government responded by introducing a temporary extension to the number of hours able to be legally driven in a day from 9 hours to 10 hours, as well as allowing changes to be made to weekly rest patterns.

Described by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps as a move that will give more flexibility to drivers wanting to make slightly longer trips, it has been roundly condemned, with a fierce backlash from the industry and the Road Haulage Association (RHA) calling it nothing more than a sticking plaster move.

“It Will Make No Difference At All”

At present there is a shortfall in HGV driver numbers that sits at around 60,000, caused by a number of factors like Brexit, IR 35 tax law changes and exacerbated because of some 30,000 HGV driving tests that weren’t able to be taken during the coronavirus pandemic.

Claiming that the announcement will make absolutely no difference to the current problems faced by the UK haulage industry, Adrian Jones from Unite the Union was very clear in what it would be telling workers to do “Unite will be advising its members to not place themselves in danger and that if they are too tired to drive safely, they have a legal right to refuse to do so”.

He continued “Unite will fully support those who make that decision, legally and industrially” and this was echoed by Logistics UK spokesman James Firth who himself said that these extended working hours would “heap more pressure on drivers who are already stretched to the limit to deliver” and that the government had “ignored the will of those who will be most affected by the changes“.

Making the Role Seem Less Appealing

The safety concerns are obvious and they are rightly being highlighted, however, it’s not the only impact that this could have on the industry. Having long suffered with something of an image problem, a lot of work has gone into enticing new people into the industry by changing perceptions about the role of HGV drivers for outsiders.

These working conditions could be seen by many as undesirable, in fact, as existing drivers have been stretched to the limit since early 2020, there are those in the profession who see this extension as the final straw that could actually see them leave the profession as a result. This is not going to help attract new talent into the sector.

Doing Our Bit to Alleviate the HGV Driver Shortage

There is clearly a lot of work to be done by the government and UK haulage organisations for this growing issue to be dealt with in a meaningful way and there are certainly some challenging months ahead in the sector. At Insite, however, we’re working hard to help companies avoid the impact by providing effective HGV driver training to their existing staff.

Able to cater for both small and large scale licence acquisition programs, our industry leading services have already directly led to thousands of new drivers entering the market. So, if you run a delivery company and you’re interested in the training that we offer, you can find out more by contacting us online through our contact form.

Alternatively, if you would like to talk to us directly about your driver training needs, we’ll be more than happy to assist. You can get in touch with our friendly, expert team by calling us on 0333 818 8888 today.

At Insite, we offer high quality HGV driver training via our 400+ centres across the United Kingdom and our ability to cater for both small and large-scale licence acquisition programmes make us the provider of choice for many companies across the country. This is something we’re rightly proud of, however, today, we’re here to tell you all about something else that fills us with pride.

Insite has become the very first provider in the United Kingdom to offer carbon neutral training through our partnership with THG More Trees. Under this new agreement, they’ll plant a tree on our behalf for every training course ordered, which will off-set any carbon created by the vehicles used during the training and illustrate our commitment to protecting our precious natural environments.

Confident We’ll Actually Be Carbon Negative

Each tree that is planted as part of this agreement is known to absorb roughly 0.3 tonnes of carbon-dioxide (CO2) and during one of our training courses, around 75-90kg of CO2 is created. Because of this, we’re confident that we’ll actually be working in a carbon-negative way, meaning that we’ll be helping to eliminate more CO2 than we’re producing.

That’s not the only benefit to nature either, as the extra trees that are planted will enhance our natural spaces and create brand new habitats for wildlife. This in turn helps to increase biodiversity and the number of pollinators that are so vital to plant life.

Trees Planted in Projects Around the World

We’re extremely glad to be working with THG More:Trees in this regard, as the tree-planting projects they are involved with help to tackle deforestation and poverty in many areas of the world to include Madagascar, Kenya and Haiti. Not only do these projects help nature, but these new forested areas help to channel water to communities and farmers that need it desperately.

In addition to this, the re-emergence of healthy forests helps to purify water sources, control flooding, revitalise soil and even improve local weather patterns. It’s an organisation that does a lot of good in the world and we’re happy to be able to contribute in our own way.

Our Commitment to Environmental Protection

At Insite, we take our commitment to protecting the natural environment very seriously and we will always work hard to do everything we can to prevent pollution and grasp opportunities to do so. Alongside this new directive, we will continue to monitor and reduce our carbon footprint, as well as seeking out alternative, renewable energy solutions and improving the fuel efficiency of our vehicles.

To know more about our carbon reduction policy, click here.

After the launch of Transport Focus 20/21 Logistics & Coach Survey: Strategic Roads on 27 May 2021, Logistics UK has urged the DfT to take urgent action on the matter of the nationwide lack of HGV parking spaces. This is in response to 56% of the surveyed respondents that rated the availability of these areas as fairly poor or very poor.

Michelle Gardner, Logistics UK’s Head of Public Policy, had this to say “These figures reconfirm a desperate industry need and three years ago, the government pledged to increase the availability of safe, secure parking spaces for lorry drivers – who work tirelessly to transport the goods that the nation needs – but it has yet to deliver on its promise”.

A Need to Listen to the Concerns of Businesses

As one of the largest business groups in the country supporting the currently beleaguered haulage sector, Logistics UK is keen to make the case for the sector which can be accurately described as vital to the UK’s ability to trade. It’s the only business group to represent the entire industry to include those involved in road, rail, sea and air transportation and whose operations depend much on efficient goods movement.

Ms Gardner continued by pressing the government to make meaningful action “Our members need the government to listen carefully to the concerns of businesses shared in the report. The logistics industry needs an efficient and fully maintained road network, with plentiful supplies of good quality parking options, to operate effectively; this is vital to enable logistics businesses to support the economic recovery of UK PLC.”

Exacerbating the HGV Driver Shortage

One of the driving reasons why the aspect of safe parking spaces is of such high importance is that it’s reflective of the kind of working conditions that UK-based HGV drivers can expect whilst on the job. Worryingly, the driver shortage is showing little sign of abating and if that tide is to be turned, people entering the industry need to see the role as an attractive one.

Currently, the industry is already around 76,000 drivers short of where it needs to be and professionals in the UK are legally required to take periodic breaks. Without the provision of a significant number of safe parking spaces, HGV drivers may be frequently required to park in unsafe locations, which is not the kind of reality that is going to bring new people into the profession.

Insite – Tackling the Driver Shortage One Company at a Time

The issue of safe parking spaces is just one of the many challenges the UK’s haulage sector is seeking to overcome, with Covid-19 and Brexit being the other notable obstacles faced. At Insite, we’re helping to reduce the HGV driver shortage with our industry-leading HGV licence acquisition programmes that allow businesses to circumvent the issue by upskilling their existing warehouse staff.

Able to cater for both small and large-scale needs our driver training programmes are fully managed throughout, making the whole process seamless and efficient. If you would like to know about how Insite can meet your driver training needs, please send us a message via the link below, or give us a call on 0330 818 8888 and a member of our team will be more than happy to talk you through your options.

Highlighting the urgent nature of the need to resolve the UK’s growing shortage of HGV drivers, Roads Minister Baroness Vere met with logistics industry trade bodies – to include the Road Haulage Association (RHA) – on June 16th 2021. With the UK supply chain already starting to misfire due to the worsening lack of drivers, action is self-evidently needed immediately.

This was a view echoed by RHA executive Richard Burnett who said “The need for action is clear and urgent. We and many others have provided overwhelming evidence that the shortage is getting worse, meaning that the situation must be addressed right now.” – something that forms the consensus across the industry as a whole.

Issues Occurring Across the Supply Chain

Also meeting with the Roads Minster was DWP minister Mims Davies and representatives from all types of companies that exist across the supply chain, to include those in manufacturing, retail, food production and hospitality. Front and centre of the discussions was the huge scale of the issue and what short, medium and long-term measures could be implemented.

Amongst the topics mentioned were issues relating to HGV driver training as a whole, Brexit’s impact, Driver CPC, apprenticeships and access to non-UK labour. Also discussed was the lack of facilities and safe parking for drivers and the need to treat the role as one that deserved respect – due to what the job entails and its huge importance to the country’s economy.

A Commitment to Look Into Options

Whilst nothing concrete has yet come out of the talks, what was given was a government commitment to look into measures that could be used to address the range of issues raised. Something that industry bodies have been calling for is the reclassification of HGV drivers as skilled workers, which would allow EU drivers to obtain UK skilled worker visas, however, it is not known if this is part of the government’s thinking right now.

What is for sure though is that Brexit has had a huge impact on the availability of HGV drivers, with new figures showing that the number of EU workers looking to come to Britain has dropped by a third since it came to pass. Essentially, things cannot carry on ‘as is’ forever without serious ramifications, so it’s surely a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ something significant is done about it.

Helping UK Companies to Keep Moving

At Insite, we offer hassle-free HGV driver training for businesses across the UK, allowing them to minimise the impact of the current UK driver shortage. Regardless of whether your company needs to upscale 10 employees or 1,000, we have the experience, expertise and infrastructure to offer both small and large-scale HGV licence acquisition programs.

If you would like to know more about our fully managed services take care of everything from on-boarding to analysis and reporting, please send us a message via the link below.

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The UK’s HGV driver shortage is worsening with each passing month and the industry has now warned that unless the government does something about it, the result could be empty supermarket shelves and higher prices for consumers. Labelled as ‘the Perfect Storm’ by some, the UK’s logistics sector has been reeling from the double impact of both Brexit and the pandemic and is in dire need of help.

Whilst the government has stated that it was ‘working on the issue’ with the haulage sector, this will come as little comfort to companies like Owens Group in Carmarthenshire who are said to have lost 50 drivers from the EU who didn’t meet the new official criteria from skilled work visas in the UK.

Boris Johnson’s Government Under Increasing Pressure

The new immigration rules have been set up to encourage UK employers to invest more in the domestic workforce, however Ian Jarman from the Owens Group, who’s also the vice-chairman of the Welsh Freight Transport Association has called for more to be done by the government, stating how important the haulage sector is to the UK economy.

Mr Jarman, who’s responsible for supplying supermarkets, pubs and restaurants across the UK had this to say “During the pandemic, we were seen as an important industry keeping the deliveries going in the UK. If things don’t improve in the coming months there’s a very real possibility of delivery shortages occurring.” Should this come to pass, then higher priced essentials are certain to follow.

Delays For Goods Entering Britain

What’s exacerbating the problem is the extra red tape caused by Brexit, something that wine importer Daniel Lambert is all too aware of, as he explains “What we have seen since Brexit is that transit times have dramatically increased. I’m aware of a major haulier who has 550 containers of wine waiting in Belgium to come to the UK, but they can’t because the paperwork isn’t right”.

Whilst making the process of importing goods into the UK more simple and clearer might take some time to achieve, there are those who believe that there is a quick simple answer to improving the HGV driver shortage. By changing the status of the role of HGV driver to a skilled occupation, it would allow EU workers to obtain a skilled work visa – allowing thousands to return to work in the UK, although this as yet, is not being considered.

Helping Businesses Circumvent the HGV Driver Shortage

It truly is a crucial time for the logistics sector in the UK and at Insite, we are working hard to help businesses to upskill their existing employees, rather than outsource their haulage needs. Our ability to cater for large-scale licence acquisition programs means that we can help any size of operation to circumvent the impact being caused by the current shortage.

If you would like to know more about what we do and how we can also help with Driver Risk Assessments and all of your Driver CPC needs, just call us on 0330 818 8888 to talk to a member of our team.

The 23rd of February 2021 was a red letter day for Insite, as it was the date we signed the Armed Forces Covenant. As a company, we did so as we are committed to paying current and ex-serving members of our military forces the respect they deserve. Following on closely from our ex-army discounted HGV training scheme, we are doing very best to pay back those who have dedicated their lives to protecting us.

In total, there are more than 6,000 armed forces personnel stationed in various areas of conflict around the world, with more doing important work within our own borders. The contribution they make often gets forgotten or even criticized, but we seek to ensure that these brave individuals are treated as fairly as anyone else in society.

The Armed Forces Covenant Explained

Around 6% of those that live rough on UK streets have a background in one of our three armed services, which points towards a lack of fairness and support for those leaving to become a civilian. The Armed Forces Covenant is a document that is signed to show support and recognition for the hard work and sacrifices they’ve made and it’s something we did gladly.

Ways In Which the Covenant Helps Ex-Veterans

Rather than being an empty gesture that doesn’t make a tangible difference to people’s lives, the Armed Forces Covenant lays out a framework to ensure that serving and ex-serving personnel have access to both governmental and commercial services just like everyone else. This support is represented in a number of ways, to include:

• Family well-being
• Starting a new career
• Discounted services
• Access to adequate healthcare
• Discounted services
• Financial assistance
• Education

The available assistance is wide-ranging and covers the areas shown above and more. Any serving member or veteran of the UK’s armed forces looking for help for themselves or their families should visit the government website where everything is laid out in greater detail.

Who Is Participating in the Scheme?

At Insite, we are just one of an increasingly large body of organisations that are committing to making meaningful change in the help that servicemen and women get when they leave military life. Amongst those that have already given their support are:

• Local government
• Businesses of all sizes
• The RN, British Army & RAF
• Communities
• Charities
• Adult volunteers with cadet forces
• Central govt, under the auspices of the Veterans Board & The Ministerial Covenant

Working Towards a Better Future For Servicepeople

Our commitment to this noble cause is just a small element in the greater scheme of things, but with so many others also following suit, it would seem that meaningful change is possible. At Insite, we are working hard to help people from all walks of life to enjoy a rewarding career as an HGV driver. Our endorsement of the Armed Forces Covenant is an extension of this commitment to those who have contributed so much to society.

If you would like to know more about us and how we work, click ‘Get in Touch’ below, or give us a call on 0330 818 8888 to discuss your training requirements and we’ll do our utmost to find the perfect solution for your needs.