Christmas

Operators’ fears of a driver-shortage-fuelled capacity crisis this Christmas have been backed up by new research revealed today by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).

The quarterly data showed that in September, 21% of employers looking to hire permanent drivers and distribution workers and 23% of those looking to recruit drivers through agencies, expected problems finding qualified staff.

Across all industry’s, employers were more worried about filling driver vacancies than any other type of job, with a lack of available capacity increasingly jeopardising some firm’s ability to meet November and December’s extra demand for services, the report stated.

REC CEO Kevin Green said: “Recruiters are telling us that drivers are particularly hard to find. People are put off entering the sector by the high costs of things like training and insurance with the new Driver CPC requirements compounding the difficulties.

He added that with Christmas peak looming, shortages are an immediate problem and likely to get worse longer term due to the ageing driver workforce. “There are almost as many qualified drivers aged over 60 as there are under 30. We need to see more employers offering driver training and accreditation. The government could help by providing some pump priming funds.”

Julie Welch, HR director at Wincanton, agreed that the driver shortage has become a “critical issue” in the past few months through a combination of Driver CPC training, the cost and complications of gaining an HGV licence and growing demand for more frequent and flexible deliveries from consumers as the UK economy gathers pace.

She added that she also believes more needs to be done to recruit new drivers into the industry, with government backing essential. “The national driver population continues to age, having not seen a steady influx of new talent during the past two decades. We are backing efforts to attract new talent into the industry and provide training to our entire workforce free of charge – the cost of training has been a major restriction for younger drivers and we believe that this is something that needs to be addressed across the industry with support from the government.”

Maggie Larimore, MD at Ilkeston-based PMB Pallet Express a member of the Pall-Ex pallet network, agreed. "During the run-up to Christmas, demand for express palletised freight distribution services goes through the roof, and logistics providers often draft in additional trailer units as well as temporary warehouse staff and drivers to cope with increased volumes of freight during this peak time.

"We anticipate that the challenges will be amplified in 2014, as a result of mandatory [Driver CPC] testing. Of course, at PMB Pallet Express, we funded our drivers’ qualifications, as part of our ongoing commitment to safety and competence training.

"But problems could arise when recruiting agency drivers to assist over the Christmas period. The qualifications aren’t cheap, and reports indicate that there will be a shortage of qualified drivers. Volumes of freight are already increasing, with import levels already higher than forecast. Driver shortages could cause serious problems for retailers, let alone hauliers," Larimore said.

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