FWD lashes PM for cavalier attitude to HGV driver drought

By Pooja Shrivastava

The Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD) has criticised UK prime minister Boris Johnson for not paying attention to the country’s haulage crisis, saying that the problem is so deep that “some schools won’t be able to feed their children” in September, if the government does not act “urgently”.

In a series of tweets, the FWD raised the alarm over the current acute shortage of HGV drivers, while expressing its disappointment over the government’s alleged apathy in the matter.

Reacting to a tweet by Glasgow East MP David Linden in which he had accused Johnson of not understanding the “magnitude of the problem”, and of “driving the haulage sector to despair”, FWD thanked the SNP politician for raising the issue in the House of Commons and questioning Johnson on why the role of HGV drivers cannot be added to the UK Shortage Occupation List.

“Thank you @DavidLinden for raising this issue at #PMQs. Your reaction to @BorisJohnson's non-answer reflects our own!,” tweeted FWD.

In a video tweeted by Linden, Johnson can be witnessed avoiding the driver shortage issue in response to Linden's question, as he said only that the more important thing was to get the entire workforce back into work.

“The Prime Minister is driving the haulage sector to despair. Urgent action is needed to solve the #DriverShortage. Why doesn't the PM understand the magnitude of the problem?” Linden tweeted.

Pointing out that Johnson’s reply and reaction to Linden’s query shows that he is not aware of the driver-crisis which is currently engulfing food distribution, FWD called on the Department of Transport and DEFRA for taking actions “before it’s too late” in a series of tweets.

The federation also called on varied wings of the government including Department of Transport’s Robert Courts, Richard Benyon from Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and a minister at DEFRA, among others, to intervene and take immediate action.

Not crying wolf

Saying that it was not “crying wolf, it’s a real risk”, FWD chief executive James Bielby warned this week that if the crisis continues and government does not intervene and take necessary steps, some schools will be unable to open in September after the summer break as there will be problems with food supplies for free meals.

Meanwhile, the haulage crisis continues to deepen as German firm Haribo revealed that it was having trouble getting its products to stores in the UK. The firm has reportedly cancelled planned promotions on its share bags as it tries to maintain availability.

The problems affect all Haribo sweets, including Goldbears and Tangfastics. The company said it was "working with partners across the food and drink industry" to address the problem.

The Road Haulage Association believes there is currently a shortfall of over 100, 000 drivers and critical supply chains are falling. It estimates that some 30,000 HGV driving tests did not take place last year because of the Covid pandemic.

Many lorry drivers in the UK had been nationals of EU countries, particularly Romania and Bulgaria, who stayed in the UK after the Brexit referendum, but started leaving when coronavirus struck.