Britain is grappling with a growing shortage of lorry drivers, sparking fears that supermarket shelves could soon be left empty once again.
In the first frantic months of Covid the nation was left horrified at the barren shop shelves, the fuel-less petrol stations and delayed deliveries of vaccines caused by an estimated shortfall of 100,000 lorry drivers.
This crisis led to a temporary surge in trucker recruitment, with industry-wide incentives, including retention bonuses and higher wages, luring drivers back to the job.
In short this saw the immediate problems go away, as hourly median pay for full-time HGV drivers rose 27 percent to £14.99 between 2020 and 2023, according to ONS data.
At the same time the number of job vacancies in the sector fell from 43 percent in 2021 to 18 percent by 2023.
However, this progress appears to be short-lived, as new figures have revealed that HGV driver numbers have once again dwindled falling to around 266,000, over 20,000 fewer than before the pandemic.
So what is causing this second slump?
One of the main issues driving this downturn is the industry’s increasingly aging workforce, according to training provider HGVT 55 percent of truckers are aged 50 to 65, with less than 2 percent under the age of 25.
In the first frantic months of Covid the nation was left horrified at the barren shop shelves
This in turn led to a brief boom for lorry drivers, as they were incentivized back into the industry with recruitment bonuses and wage increases
On top of this HGV businesses reported a drop in vacancies from 43 percent in 2021 to 18 percent by 2023
This means that when many more drivers retire in the next 10 years, there will not be the necessary influx of young drivers to replace them, so the shortage is only going to get worse.
Adrian Jones of the Unite union believes the main deterrent for new people becoming lorry drivers is the shrinking wage gap between their roles and minimum wage.
Both Tory and Conservative governments have been increasing minimum wage over the last decade, meaning it has crept ever closer to that of an HGV driver.
For example, in 2011 a lorry driver was paid 62 percent more than the minimum wage, but today it is only 38 percent higher.
Mr Jones said: ‘We’ve got drivers on £13, £14 an hour looking at the minimum wage and and saying ‘why do I bother putting up with this?’
On top of this, drivers face long, unpredictable hours that make balancing work with family or social life difficult.
Chris Kirk, from Maritime Transport’s Felixstowe depot, was speaking at a driver recruitment event in Suffolk last October when he argued that anti-social hours were the key reason for the drop in numbers.
![Chris Kirk, from Maritime Transport's Felixstowe depot, was speaking at a driver recruitment event in Suffolk last October when he argued that anti-social hours were the key reason for the drop in numbers [File picture]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/26/12/46824811-14437569-British_businesses_are_said_to_be_appalled_by_Government_backed_-a-3_1740572902766.jpg)
Chris Kirk, from Maritime Transport’s Felixstowe depot, was speaking at a driver recruitment event in Suffolk last October when he argued that anti-social hours were the key reason for the drop in numbers [File picture]
New technologies, like cameras to monitor drivers for signs of sleepiness, have only added to the frustration
The shortage of drivers saw petrol pumps run dry as motorists panic buy fuel worried that they will not be able to run cars
He said: ‘New drivers coming in don’t like the fact they are away from home and might not get back for tea.
‘So they are trying to find a balance between home life and work. But there’s always something we can do to put the round pegs in the round holes from day one so they know what we need from them and what we can do to help.’
New technologies, like cameras to monitor drivers for signs of sleepiness, have only added to the frustration. Mr Jones said as drivers feel they’re constantly being watched, which is driving them away.
