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RHA: government must act on driver shortage
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By Tim Wallace
The RHA has renewed its plea to the government for urgent action to ease what it calls a growing crisis in driver availability, made worse by the recent IR35 tax changes.
The association said pallet firms, in particular, were having to extend next-day deliveries by up to five days.
The situation was critical even before the pandemic, it said, with many EU truckers heading home for Brexit-related reasons, but a “complete failure to test new drivers during lockdown” had left a backlog of thousands of tests and made matters worse.
Potential drivers have been sidelined and the introduction of the IR35 tax rules was now hitting many firms and drivers, it added.
Frustration among drivers has reportedly resulted in walkouts and self-furloughing, further exacerbating the problem. “Drivers’ hours relaxations won’t help, because that doesn’t deal with the fundamental underlying prob-
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lems,” it said. “Making people work longer hours isn’t the solution.”
Repeating its call for greater priority for vocational drivers to clear the test backlog, it said the RHA’s Road to Logistics recruitment and training programme and schemes like KickStart remained vital.
The association also demanded that truck drivers be put on the government’s Occupation Shortage List, allowing EU and other foreign drivers to fill some rota gaps.
It also revealed it had paid £500m into the Apprenticeship Levy but had only had £50m back, which it said was “a very unfair payout for an industry with a critical staff and youth shortage”.
Boughey in £11m fleet renewal
Cheshire-based Boughey Distribution’s transport operations director Neil Trotter is pictured here with one of the first two Volvo new generation FHs to have arrived on site, heralding the rollout of an £11m renewal of the firm’s 127-strong fleet.
The delivery of the new FH 460 6x2s, which only went into production this month, makes Boughey one of the first operators in the country to get the trucks out on the road.
The vehicles’ features include 33-litre under-bunk fridges, microwaves fitted in overhead lockers, and flat-screen TVs located above the drivers’ doors, which can be viewed from swivelling passenger seats.
The latest additions are part of Boughey’s five-year deal with Thomas Hardie Commercials of Middlewich for the supply of the new fleet. The renewal programme will take two years to complete, with the first 25 vehicles being delivered to Boughey by the end of this month.
Britain’s most bashed bridge in fresh smash
Britain’s most bashed bridge has been struck yet again, closing part of the A5.
Watling Street Bridge near Hinckley in Leicestershire was named as the most-struck rail bridge in the country last year, after Network Rail recorded 25 collisions in just 12 months.
On Tuesday 27 April at around 4.25am, police received a report from a member of the public that a lorry had struck the bridge again. The road was closed while officers attended and the HGV was recovered.
Police said the road was reopened at around 9.30am.
Clark joins Hermes to oversee depots
Hermes UK has appointed former Culina Group operational excellence and procurement director John Clark as its new director of depots.
Clark’s remit on the senior management team is to support the continuing growth of the business while ensuring that high service standards are maintained.
Clark has previously held senior roles at Argos, Bibby, DHL and the NHS Supply Chain. He will report directly to chief operating officer Carl Lyon and is responsible for all depot operations.
Driver trapped by falling container at Port of Felixstowe
A truck driver was injured at the Port of Felixstowe after a 40ft container was dropped onto his truck, trapping him in the remains of the cab.
Four fire engines and the ambulance service were called to the Port of Felixstowe just after 5pm on Wednesday 21 April.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said cutting equipment was used to rescue him.
East of England Ambulance Service dispatched an air ambulance, two ambulances, a rapid response vehicle and two Hazardous Area Response Team vehicles to the scene.
A spokesman for the port said the driver had been discharged from hospital and that an investigation had been launched. ■ A delivery driver sustained
serious crush injuries to his legs at warehousing firm Skillbeech Services when he was run over by a forklift truck. The driver was in the delivery yard when the incident occurred. The company pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £32,000 with £8,222 in costs.
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