12 minute read
Opinion
HGVs are critical to a healthy society
OPINION PIECE BY JACQUELINE CURZON
It’s 4pm on a summer Friday and you’re driving hard up the M1, heading for Manchester or maybe a Shabbat visit with family. Three lanes of four are occupied by large trucks and HGVs playing hide-and-seek with each other, seemingly blissfully unaware of any other road users. Okay, we are justifiably annoyed, bad driving manners are truly irritating, but spare a thought for the drivers, who may have been on the road for many mind-numbing hours and just want to get their day over. At the end of the day, they are providing an essential service, for empty shelves are a customer’s worst nightmare.
For anyone who thinks driving an HGV looks pretty easy, I would beg to disagree. After my student days and in a gap between posts, I remember applying to the post office who had some vacancies for delivery drivers. Being young and naive may have played a part in my nervousness when I arrived, but let’s face it, sitting in a vehicle with no rear view mirror is pretty unnerving and I rapidly withdrew from the process. I can only imagine trying to navigate a 40 ton truck across roundabouts, at night and in awful weather conditions. I’m sure it’s enormously difficult, not forgetting that we also rely on them to drive safely and not fall asleep at the wheel, or text message their friends. Accidents involving HGV lorries, as an example, caused 284 fatalities in 2016 [no ONS data for 2020]
They have now hit the national news, alerting us about driver shortages, poor conditions and low pay. Previously, wages for HGV drivers were around £500 a week, but since we’ve had these appalling shortages some companies have upped their wages offer to ensure that they actually have stock shelves refilled. As an example, Waitrose is now offering its drivers £1500 a week, which would put them on a salary of approximately £78,000, roughly the same basic salary as the prime minister, and 2 to 3 times the average wage in the country. Other essential services, healthcare and education are also sliding faster than before, owing largely to unhappiness over salaries. Teachers and Nurses can’t thrive, but merely survive, on low salaries.
According to media reports we have a shortfall of around 80 to 100,000 drivers.
Boris Johnson is willing to offer up to 5000 visas, in an effort to ease the threat of fuel and food shortages, simultaneously relaxing immigration rules for European lorry drivers, however visas will only be valid for six months. Who would choose to uproot themselves, pay for a visa, find accommodation and accept lower wages, only to be demobbed six months later?
Sir Kier Starmer, labour leader, has said he would back the approval of 100,000 visas for overseas HGV drivers. Unfortunately this would likely open the floodgates from across the channel, and provide a safe haven for illegal immigrants, all of whom of course would show their gratitude at the next round of elections. 100,000 is not realistic. Michael Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, said the government was “going backwards by importing labour from Europe,” and suggested that people living in inner-city communities across the UK should be recruited instead but on decent pay and conditions.
Downing Street has further reassured us that we have ample fuel stocks in the country and there are NO shortages, although the panic brigade, {ME @ pump 2} look like they’re running to the pumps every time they go past. Personally I can’t see any merit in queuing for an hour to put in £15 worth of fuel, because if you have a half full tank [rather than half empty!], you’re not likely to run out. I’m not advocating the marshals standing by the queues visually check your fuel tank gauge and only allow those who are in the ‘last quarter’ to fill up. My, wouldn’t that be fun, given the daily road rage we are witnessing merely over queuing.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) cautioned that if this crisis is not resolved promptly there will be a significant disruption come December. Andrew Opie, the BRC‘s director of food, said “currently the UK faces a shortfall of around 90,000 HGV drivers and it’s the consumers who will ultimately suffer the consequences.” Covid and Lockdown have already spoiled our holidays and family time since 2020, now we’re heading into 2022 with trouble already creeping over the horizon .
So, how are other countries dealing with similar problems? A quarter of driving jobs across Europe remain unfilled, according to the international transport union, although some countries are trying innovative solutions to solve the problem. In Holland, several transport companies are recruiting and training asylum seekers, including schemes such as language classes and helping them get a driving license. In Germany they are doing the same, but also making it possible to pass a driving test in other languages, such as Arabic (from 2016). In Spain they have lowered the minimum age for driving commercial heavy goods vehicles to 18, to target the high number of unemployed youths in the country, currently standing at around 40%. In the United States some companies are relying on financial incentives to get people behind the wheel: Walmart is offering a $8000 signing-on bonus for commercial truck drivers, and a $1500 referral payment for people who recommend a successful applicant. Australia has shortages in its mining sector, now so bad that some companies are pressing retired soldiers and furloughed airline staff into service; they’re also offering gourmet meals and building Olympic size pools to attract more workers. What, then, are we doing in the United Kingdom!?
In addition to the aforementioned visas, similar to those available for seasonal European farm workers, the DFE will also launch a series of skills ‘boot camps’ which Whitehall sources intend to provide training for new drivers. The shortage of drivers has been further hampered by the backlog of 40,000 drivers still waiting to take the tests because of backlog waiting times of up to 17 weeks.
Luxury lorry parks are also being considered by the government as a way of attracting drivers, as present working conditions are frequently sub standard, which means drivers are often forced to sleep in motorway lay-bys without access to hot water, showers or toilets. The haulage industry warned that
the lack of lorry parks with decent facilities in the UK was a major obstacle to attracting new drivers. Duncan Buchanan, policy director at RHA, said the life of a lorry driver could be very hard but we’re asking drivers to sleep in lay-bys without food or hot water, and this is a real put off for the industry. A 2018 survey by the Department for Transport identified a shortfall of around 3700 parking spaces for lorries.
Adam Eastwood (31) from Warrington says that when he was made redundant in his sales job, he thought it would be a good fallback to become an HGV driver. This cost him £3,500, for which he had to borrow from family. When he then started driving in 2012, aged 21, he was on £18 per hour, but that kept falling to the point where by 2019 jobs were advertised at £9 an hour. He feels that employers regard their drivers as replaceable, however if HGV drivers didn’t do their job, the country - as we see now - would grind to a halt in a day. HGV drivers, he says, are amongst the most qualified on the road, yet it’s a thankless job with lots of pressure on you, and sometimes you might have to stop a few miles from your destination if the tachometer insists your driving hours are over. He also corroborates the poor facilities for HGV drivers, adding the government could do more, including secure park-up areas as are now being discussed.
In the October edition of Truck and Driver, retired HGV driver Alex Saville makes the point that the law which enshrines the right to peaceful protest is the very loophole which activists are using to block the highway and frustrate us. On ‘Ask the Police’ website, endorsed by Police Scotland, it states: ‘an offence is committed when there is an obstruction of the highway, the slowing down or stopping of vehicles, and that obstruction is wilful, not accidental.’ The only exception for doing this would include having express permission from police, or in situations where the obstruction is temporary or fleeting. However the police are interpreting this to mean all drivers on the roads agree to being stopped, to facilitate {their} protest which, of course, is nonsense and an infringement of the drivers’ human rights. Following Saville’s complaint to the Professional Standards Office in Glasgow, an Inspector Sutherland replied… ‘a police commander may choose to tolerate an unlawful protest where it is assessed to support human rights principles, to maximise public safety and minimise disruption.’ Disruption for whom? I ask.
He also says when lorries from across the UK were driving around Westminster back in January 2021 to protest over the EU disruption on UK fishing rights, the Metropolitan Police sprang into action, fining the drivers. Where was this firm hand of the law when we needed them recently at the port of Ramsgate? The police stand back allowing peaceful protests, which impact and impinge on people’s right to do their jobs. Is a lack of intervention acceptable if deliveries are held up, food produce is potentially spoiled and fuel is delayed causing total havoc? Activists are claiming ‘prearranged permission’ from police to interfere with the safe passage of lorries, in order for protesters to sit down and wave banners. However in many cases the police have indicated that there was no such agreement. In many other countries the National Guard would come out and remove these troublemakers, arrest them or drive their vehicles into the crowd to forcibly disperse them (just don’t try this in Red Square!). If we, for example, wanted to complain about our children’s right to have a school locker, would we get away with a peaceful protest at the school gates, or lying down in front of coaches? I can just see the headlines, as we get yanked unceremoniously away to permit passenger service to continue without disruption. One rule for one, and a dispensation for others, it seems. Saville takes a zero tolerance view on protesters, and feels it is incumbent on the public to show its contempt for antisocial behaviour. If you really want to change things, you organise a petition with 400,000 signatures and deliver it to Boris. The pen is mightier than the sword. You might not get his autograph, but you will certainly get his attention.
Look at the evidence
OPINION PIECE BY ROBERT FESTENSTEIN
Whatever a person’s line of work after a period of time they often develop an instinct for the job based on experience. Even though my father-in-law retired as a tailor over 20 years ago he’s still pretty good it estimating waist and chest sizes. Similarly I have known doctors diagnose a patient’s ailment within a minute of meeting them. My experience as a lawyer is that whenever an argument or position is presented to me the first thing I do is look at the evidence.
Since Keir Starmer took over the helm at the Labour Party the attitude of the Labour leadership towards Israel and the Jewish community has changed significantly. This and the recent re-joining of the party by Dame Louise Ellman has caused many to say that the bad old days are now well and truly behind us. There is no doubt that significant progress has been made by the leadership and that should clearly be applauded. The difficulty though remains is it there is still a significant number of Labour Party members for whom Israel is their only target.
The motion easily passed at the Labour Party conference almost two weeks ago calling for sanctions to be imposed upon Israel is evidence that there is a significant divide between the leadership and a substantial number of Labour Party members. The rhetoric used during the debate sadly reveals an obsessive hysterical hatred of the only democracy in the Middle East, yet despite this there are some in the Jewish community who believe that we are near the end of the problems that Labour has had with the Jews and we are now able to look forward to a bright cooperative future.
The evidence does not support this. There will always be a proportion of people in this country who do not like Jews, that is a fact of life. Judging by the statements made by some union leaders and various labour MPs it seems that the number of people in the Labour Party who dislike Jews and hate Israel remains disproportionately high. In the four and a half years that Jeremy Corbyn led the Labour Party it was transformed into an entity that to all intents and purposes was institutionally anti-Semitic. So bad was this appalling development that significant numbers of British Jews looked to emigrate in the event that Labour was voted into power.
The people who promoted the antisemitism and fermented the obsessive Israel hatred have not all gone away. There are still far too many of them in the Labour Party wielding influence and promoting the disgraceful motion condemning Israel which was passed last week. For some in the Jewish community the fact that the Labour leadership has changed is enough. The difficulty remains is that the attitude towards Israel and Jews by very many people in the Labour Party is one which would never be tolerated if expressed against any other minority group; and there lies the problem.
For too long Jews have just been treated on the basis of religion alone. Those screaming for sanctions last week would I am sure at the very same time say that they detest antisemitism and would describe themselves as determined anti racists. Yet when it comes to us defining ourselves as the people with an entitlement to self-determination through Zionism suddenly we become the enemy because we step outside the narrow and patronising definition of what is a Jew by those who claim to know all about racism.
In 1942 Winston Churchill famously said now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. So with the Labour Party. What this recent conference has shown us is that whilst progress has clearly and thankfully been made there is still a very long way to go before we can say that the Labour Party no longer has a problem with the Jews.
Robert Festenstein is a practising solicitor and has been the principal of his Salford based firm for over 20 years. He has fought BDS motions to the Court of Appeal and is President of the Zionist Central Council in Manchester which serves to protect and defend the democratic State of Israel.
