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New hours regs are set to increase driver shortages
Page 20
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Driver shortages are predicted as the new drivers' hours regs force )perators to consider recruiting extra staff. Chris Tindall reports.
ik SURVEY WARNS that 27% f UK hauliers will have to employ xtra drivers just to comply rith the latest amendments to lie Working Time Directive on rivers' hours.
Driver shortages within the tdustry have been reported Dr some time. but a survey by nancial adviser Grant Thornton aggests the new rules will make tatters much worse by restricting rivers to 56 hours over any sevenay period.
The driver shortage is expected ) increase from 40,000 to 65,000 but the survey also reveals that fl% of UK operators are at least s optimistic about the industry as ley were last year. Ian Carr, Grant Thornton recovery and reorganisation practice partner, says: "UK hauliers continue to be between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, high costs such as diesel and foreign competitors undercutting prices have put a firm squeeze on profitability; on the other hand, driver shortages are putting a handbrake on expansion.
-The Working Time Directive will simply make matters worse, Carr predicts that the shortage will continue to encourage the recruitment of drivers from Eastern Europe.adding:"In terms of business volumes and values, the UK haulage industry offers a better picture of itself this year than the past. "However,margins remain very tight, with the average within the industry slightly south of 3%."
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