1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196 
Too few easterners to end driver shorta e
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
MO RE THAN 3,000 van and truck drivers from Eastern Europe have applied to work in the UK follow ing expansion of the European Union last year A total of 232,000 people registered between May 2004 and June 2005, mainly in search of unskilled jobs. These numbers are far higher than predicted by the government.
One study. quoted by the Home Office before EU expansion, predicted the UK would end up with a net increase of 13.000 workers in the first year.
But the accession of countries such as Poland, Hungary and Lithuania to the EU appears to have made only a modest dent on UK driver shortages, with 1,920 registering as HGV drivers and 1,315 as delivery van drivers.
David Parrish. a partner in Bedfordshire haulier J Parrish & Son, suggests language is probably one of the main reasons why the numbers are not much higher.
Earlier this year he came away empty-handed from a recruitment drive in Poland — by far the UK.'E biggest source of migrant labour from Eastern Europe: -All the good ones soon got settled ink jobs; the ones that are left don't speak English, which is hopeless ii you're sending someone all ovei the country in a lorry."
However, Gary Hawkins, ME of AE Hawkins Haulage in King. swinford, West Midlands, it encouraged by Poland's potentia as a source of drivers following visit to its southern city of Krakow in June (CM 16 June).