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Food wholesaler BidCorp and the National Buying Consortium are calling on the government to take urgent action to tackle the shortage of HGV drivers and warehouse operatives or face worsening food shortages and price inflation across the UK.

The warning comes ahead of a meeting tabled for tomorrow (June 15) between transport minister Baroness Vere and representatives from the logistics, wholesale and food suppliers industries to discuss the supply chain crisis.

Speaking to Motortransport.co.uk, Bidcorp chief executive Andrew Selley (pictured) said that as the economy begins to open up volumes have soared.

“However it is a real struggle to get drivers and keep them. Wages have gone up in double figures and the lack of driver testing during Covid means there is a large backlog of drivers waiting to book tests.

Selley said the shortage had hit not only Bidcorp’s deliveries to customers but also the food wholesaler’s inbound deliveries of food products with the 3PLs used by the food manufacturers hit by a shortage of drivers and warehouse operatives.

“Normally 95% to 98% of products we order are delivered but currently this is more like 85%. It doesn’t help that the big supermarket retailers are flexing their muscles to be first in the queue,” Selley added.

He called for the government to immediately relax the drivers hours rules for the short term, tackle the backlog of HGV driver tests and put HGV drivers on government’s list of skills which can be imported from abroad.

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“We need action, otherwise this will hamper the recovery. These shortages are not just in the food sector, other goods will be held up too, such as clothing and electronics, just as we come out of the pandemic,” he warned.

David Lunt, MD of the National Buying Consortium, which represents independent wholesalers in the FMCG market, said food shortages were worsening by the day with EU suppliers hit by the reluctance of European drivers to deliver to the UK post Brexit and by the UK driver shortage.

He said a major bottled water supplier to the UK currently has stock held up in Amsterdam because of the lack of European drivers willing to take on the work.

He also told of a major 3PL which had informed a large confectionery manufacturer this week that it can only deliver three customer orders a day, down from around 50 orders a day, due to driver and warehouse operative shortages.

He added that the NBC was told this week by a major dairy goods producer that it has stopped taking orders this week because it has run out of stock.

“We have five orders outstanding and now they are saying that they cannot fulfil those orders til the end of June. The stock is there but they cannot get it out of the warehouses. This sort of thing is a major blow to businesses,” said Lunt.

He added that the shortage of both drivers and warehouse operatives, post Brexit was also driving up wage inflation with reports of drivers commanding £700 a day for their services and warehouse operatives walking out, lured by higher wages at other facilities.

He echoed Selley’s call for urgent action from the government, warning that without action “the knock on effect for consumers will be prices rises this year. This is already having an impact and can only get worse.”

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