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Name your hourly rate Washroom bu( by Sally Nash •

23rd April 1998, Page 10
23rd April 1998
Page 10
Page 10, 23rd April 1998 — Name your hourly rate Washroom bu( by Sally Nash •
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Agency drivers may soon be able to "name their price" as the driver shortage begins to bite further.

That is the opinion of Turnpike Lane-based job agency Reliance Employment which is advertising in a bid to woo more truck drivers on to its books.

"Tell us what rate you need to drop whatever you are doing and we will not call you until we have a client prepared to pay that rate," runs the advert.

Reliance's temp controller Tom Petty says response to the advert has been fair with pay demands coming in at about £7 to ES an hour. "It's quite reasonable—we haven't had anything silly yet," says Petty.

He believes customers will eventually have no choice but to pay good rates to secure drivers, and adds: "If you've got a truck sitting in your yard with hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of goods on it and you've got nobody to drive it then what are you going to do?"

Petty says that although wages have been kept artificially low for years, the tide is now changing in the drivers' favour.

The driver shortage has worsened over the past few years, says Petty. Customers are already unable to get staff at short notice and, as the summer approaches, the situation will inevitably get worse, he adds.

The move comes as the Road Haulage & Distribution Training Council warns that up to 50,000 drivers a year could leave the industry if the current turnover rate continues (CM 16-22 April). Preliminary results from a RHDTC survey on the problem should be revealed next month.


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