alamcculloch:
There was never a real shortage of lorry drivers. Chinese rumours thats all.
Strange why then companies were giving multiple pay rises & paying thousands in retention bonuses , lorry driving bosses arnt known for there generosity for no reason
ezydriver:
There is, and never has been, a shortage of lorry drivers. There’s only ever been a shortage of good lorry drivers willing to work for minimum wage.
So what were these drivers who refuse to work for this rate doing ? If they were sat at home twiddling there fingers refusing to do the jobs your right , but I suspect they were out working , so there was a shortage of drivers to do those jobs
I stand to be corrected but I’m sure tesco were offering retention / joining bonuses , pay rises , yet toonsy says he on 52k pa ,40 odd hours
I see no change in employed rates in my area , they went up over the last 2 years and have stayed up , the drop I’m seeing is agency rates , you’ve still got the odd £17/£18 / £20 ph but the norm now is £13 / £14/15 ph , it’s bound to drop due to so little agency work .
Will that be long term , we will have to wait until work picks up , or doesn’t too see
dozy:
alamcculloch:
There was never a real shortage of lorry drivers. Chinese rumours thats all.Strange why then companies were giving multiple pay rises & paying thousands in retention bonuses , lorry driving bosses arnt known for there generosity for no reason
We are on a National Forum, it stands to reason that there will be local differences. The operators will pay just enough to get bums on seats. If they want a driver to have some commitment they will pay more.
Bit misleading,confusing, 4 overnights or is it 4 trunks on nights. As I see it 4 overnights would be 2 days per trip = 8 days
Just my perspective of it.
ezydriver:
There is, and never has been, a shortage of lorry drivers. There’s only ever been a shortage of good lorry drivers willing to work for minimum wage.
If there was no shortage,why did they give me a big pay rise?
Notwithstanding,most of that is lost to inflation now,but I presume it wasnt because they like paying me more…
alamcculloch:
dozy:
alamcculloch:
There was never a real shortage of lorry drivers. Chinese rumours thats all.Strange why then companies were giving multiple pay rises & paying thousands in retention bonuses , lorry driving bosses arnt known for there generosity for no reason
We are on a National Forum, it stands to reason that there will be local differences. The operators will pay just enough to get bums on seats. If they want a driver to have some commitment they will pay more.
In any pay rise negotiations I’ve been involved in it’s always been can we get away with giving no pay rise , or what’s the least we can give , the normal sob story of no money in the pot , I personally have never been given or heard of commitment mentioned as a reason for a pay rise ( though if commitment is defined as 80 hrs / running your self ragged , I should have had some )
I’ve just never heard of retention bonuses / multiple pay rises in months , so I believe it was a shortage of drivers , or covid had twaddled the bosses brains
Sploom:
ezydriver:
There is, and never has been, a shortage of lorry drivers. There’s only ever been a shortage of good lorry drivers willing to work for minimum wage.If there was nk shortage,why did they give me a big pay rise?
Notwithstanding,most of that is lost to inflation now,but I presume it wasnt because they like paying me more…
Commitment ■■?
dozy:
ezydriver:
There is, and never has been, a shortage of lorry drivers. There’s only ever been a shortage of good lorry drivers willing to work for minimum wage.So what were these drivers who refuse to work for this rate doing ? If they were sat at home twiddling there fingers refusing to do the jobs your right , but I suspect they were out working , so there was a shortage of drivers to do those jobs
dozy, I meant that haulage bosses complain about a shortage of drivers, but what they really mean is there’s a shortage of good drivers who are prepared to drive artics for minimum wage. Because there was not a shortage of drivers, the bosses got their drivers, but a lot of them were just average everyday drivers, had can’t-do attitudes, took no pride, moaned all the time, etc. A good driver knows his worth, and to answer your question that I bolded above, they were quietly working for the more pleasant companies (they do exist) earning considerably more than minimum wage, and were not tramping for the likes of Foulgers.
I get your point now.Maybe some of them were doing other trades,wanting to go into haulage but not willing to work for peanuts
Sploom:
ezydriver:
There is, and never has been, a shortage of lorry drivers. There’s only ever been a shortage of good lorry drivers willing to work for minimum wage.If there was no shortage,why did they give me a big pay rise?
Notwithstanding,most of that is lost to inflation now,but I presume it wasnt because they like paying me more…
I cast my mind back to those few days where a couple of petrol forecourts ran dry, the news covered the story, the whole country panicked, ran every forecourt dry, and it kickstarted a narrative about a shortage of lorry drivers. This narrative dominated the news for about a month or two and created a false impression of a shortage. Companies reacted with knee jerk reactions, offered their drivers retention bonuses and pay rises, meaning drivers from other companies jumped ship, meaning their old companies had to offer payrises and retention bonuses etc, to stop their drivers jumping ship. There wasn’t a shortage, just a mass reconfiguration of drivers.
And now the effect of that media storm means thousands of people were manipulated inot thinking gaining their HGV licence was a golden ticket. So they went ahead and gained their licences, and here we are now, flooded with new passes, with some job adverts offering £11.16 p/h.
The cynic in me thinks this was all either created, or at least seized upon by the powers that be, whose haulage lobby donors were aghast at all the EE drivers disappearing, and having to pay proper wages. Though they did have to pay higher wages for a while, it looks as if the long game was being played, and it worked out beautifully for them.
They’re training up lots of HGV drivers near me around Bolton/Atherton/Westhoughton area, You cant move for them Monday through Friday on the local roads.
ezydriver:
dozy:
ezydriver:
There is, and never has been, a shortage of lorry drivers. There’s only ever been a shortage of good lorry drivers willing to work for minimum wage.So what were these drivers who refuse to work for this rate doing ? If they were sat at home twiddling there fingers refusing to do the jobs your right , but I suspect they were out working , so there was a shortage of drivers to do those jobs
dozy, I meant that haulage bosses complain about a shortage of drivers, but what they really mean is there’s a shortage of good drivers who are prepared to drive artics for minimum wage. Because there was not a shortage of drivers, the bosses got their drivers, but a lot of them were just average everyday drivers, had can’t-do attitudes, took no pride, moaned all the time, etc. A good driver knows his worth, and to answer your question that I bolded above, they were quietly working for the more pleasant companies (they do exist) earning considerably more than minimum wage, and were not tramping for the likes of Foulgers.
Fair point lollipop
lancpudn:
They’re training up lots of HGV drivers near me around Bolton/Atherton/Westhoughton area, You cant move for them Monday through Friday on the local roads.
I’ve been seeing lots of companies advertising driving apprentiships , rather than actual jobs that makes me believe they can’t get drivers / arnt drivers
When the driver shortage was high profile publicity,.at least the Govt promised to make the job more popular and more attractive, then more importantly improve on road facilities for drivers,…
So at least something good did come out of it in the end.
Oh hang on a minute though. 
We’ve been betrayed by these new rules.In my case ,I had to wait nearly two years before I could afford to do the class one.Now you can just walk straight into it and not even have to worry about whether you can reverse it or not
Sploom:
We’ve been betrayed by these new rules.In my case ,I had to wait nearly two years before I could afford to do the class one.Now you can just walk straight into it and not even have to worry about whether you can reverse it or not
I felt like that. Passed class 1 and they changed the rules just a few months later.
I wonder how many of the new intake will be so impressed with the working conditions and think "sod this I’m going back to my old job "
This is from 2017 , £8.90 ph , £700 pw = £35 k , so fougers 11 .14 ph must be £40k + , is £40’k +’a bad wage , I guess a lot of factory workers on 20 k ( I’ve looked lately & seems average ) would think twice there wage was good
dozy:
This is from 2017 , £8.90 ph , £700 pw = £35 k , so fougers 11 .14 ph must be £40k + , is £40’k +’a bad wage , I guess a lot of factory workers on 20 k ( I’ve looked lately & seems average ) would think twice there wage was good
Give 'em a call mate, they’ll love your ‘can do attitude’
