COMMENT
Page 9
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Driving by moonlight
With the number of drivers passing HGV tests at its lowest level for over a decade and a growing shortage of experienced drivers out in the marketplace, it can only be good news that the government is at last establishing a working party to explore ways of easing the industry's skills shortages.
For all the talk about this issue so far, the road transport sector has spectacularly failed to attract the manpower it needs. Those seeking evidence need look no further than the investigation announced this week into Cumbrian fire-fighters alleged to have been moonlighting as truckers for Eddie Stobart.
If it is true that Stobart's has been forced to bolster its supply of regular drivers with exhausted firemen who effectively never stop working, the situation is grim indeed. If hauliers as big and well-known as this cannot attract dedicated full-time drivers, what chance for the smaller operator?
And, as Margaret Edmunds of the RHA points out, the advent of the Working Time Directive can only make matters worse. By restricting the number of hours they work and so the amount they earn, it provides all employees with an incentive to moonlight wherever they can.
It won't be easy, but the industry desperately needs ways of attracting and retaining the skilled professionals. The new working party will hopefully prove a good starting point.
• Little wonder the HFA is doubting the point of further demonstrations after the incredible lack of support it received in Dover. If any further protests go ahead, hauliers must lend the cause their support. It's lime to either put up, or shut up.