The Chief Executive of the Road Haulage Association, representing 7,000 UK members and 100,000 vehicles, spoke at a packed event in Parliament to mark National Lorry Week.
Richard Burnett also raised the issues of a national driver shortage in the haulage sector pointing out the country is 45,000 – 55,000 drivers short. The average age of a HGV driver is 56 with only 1% of drivers currently under 25 highlighting how urgent this crisis is for the wider logistics and distribution sector. He added:
“85% of everything we consume in the UK is delivered on the back of a truck. Without drivers and without trucks, we simply can’t deliver the economic growth that the UK demands. We are the backbone to the UK’s economy, we are the lifeblood”
The Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Freight Transport Rob Flello MP spoke at the Road Haulage Association’s parliamentary reception to mark National Lorry Week. He said:
You don’t need me to tell you how important this industry is. Without the road haulage industry, without everything that goes up and down our roads this country wouldn’t exist, it would cease to function probably within a few hours but certainly within a day or so”.
He added it was “the absolute centre of our economic prosperity, even in difficult times”.
Mr Burnett described the haulage and logistics sector as “a massive industry” but added that it was “taken for granted a lot of the time” by Government.
Mr Burnett added the size of the sector by saying it was the 5th biggest industry in the UK with a turnover of £74 billion per year. 12.2 % of the employed population work in the freight industry totalling 2.2 million people in Britain.
Mr Flello who represents Stoke-on-Trent South explained why he had helped set up the APPG on Freight Transport: “The reason we set the group up a few years ago was to highlight to Parliament just how important the freight sector in its entirety is”
“So many of our colleagues are just unaware how important freight is to the British economy, to everything we do, the clothes we wear, the drinks we are having, the food we eat, the building that we are in. Everything depends on it. Yet so many members of parliament don’t seem to be aware of that.
In this context Richard Burnett said he had two specific ‘asks’ for Government ahead of the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.
The first was to set up a driver apprenticeship to tackle the driver shortage, especially as the Government has recently withdrawn support for the Trailblazer scheme operated by BIS. He added: of “Our understanding is that the Government is unwilling to invest in a driver apprenticeship” and he added that newly announced Apprenticeship Levy “is not going to help this sector.
The second ask to tackle the 45,000 – 55,000 UK driver shortage was for a £150 million cash injection “to train drivers directed to hauliers who have jobs and can support young trainee drivers”.
This would help reduce some of the costs to individuals and firms who currently have to fund the £3,000 per HGV license test, which only currently has a 52% pass rate so no immediate job guarantee. “How many young people have got that amount of money to invest in a license?” he added.
Shadow Transport minister, Richard Burden MP added:
“The freight industry as a whole, the logistics sector, is vital to our economy. Unless we nurture it, then the problems will be felt throughout the economy. The issue about driver shortages is a very real one. That needs to be tackled on a number of fronts”.
On specific health and safety concerns for drivers he said there was little or no attention on looking into where drivers can go to the toilet during shifts and take secure driving breaks:
“Getting those conditions right is as important as getting the skills training right, so I really welcome national Lorry week for all those reasons.
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons Dr Thérèse Coffey MP recognised the issue of the skills shortage:
“I am hearing very clearly about some the challenges, the hurdle of getting licensed and accredited. I am hoping to get some more targeted information that I can then use to do this with our transport ministers because it does matter”.
She added in her own Suffolk Coastal constituency, which contains the port of Felixstowe, there was a clear shortage of drivers
“It is a significant issue. Frankly I have got more job vacancies than I have people out of work in my area and loads of it is hauliers. It is a challenge in which I am really interested because it matters for a vibrant UK plc frankly, being able to ensure suppliers from one place to the other”.