RHA chief executive Richard Burnett says his organisation will be lobbying MPs tomorrow (Tuesday 27 October 2015) as part of its ‘National Love a Lorry Week’, which runs from 26—31 October.
“We are short of between 45,000 and 50,000 drivers and the situation is getting worse,” insists Burnett.
“Thousands of older drivers are leaving the industry and younger people can’t afford the £3,000 it costs to get a truck licence,” he explains.
“The government could help but won’t... They should support a truck driving apprenticeship, but are refusing to do so, even though they are forcing the larger trucking firms to pay the new apprenticeship levy.”
Burnett says that the RHA sees the apprenticeship levy as “little more than just a tax on payroll”.
And he adds that the driver shortage is grave and “presents a real threat to Christmas and to economic growth”.
Burnett is reminding anyone who wil listen that trucks carry “85% of everything bought in the UK” at some stage in the supply chain. And he adds that the road freight industry and its associated warehousing operations employ more than 2.2 million people.
“Our industry is the life blood of our economy the government can and must do more to help with this driver shortage crisis,” insists Burnett.
“Its failure to do so is now posing a real threat to the UKs economic recovery.”