Driver drought Jam writing to express my concerns regarding the
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
increasing shortage of drivers and people with specific skills within the road transport industry.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit personnel of the required calibre to satisfy the needs of our clients; consequently our customer base is expanding as more and more companies are finding it difficult to replace or find additional staff. This is leading to an increase in the wage bill as businesses start to compete with each other to attract personnel. This, along with other recent transport-related increases will inevitably lead to inflationary pressures.
The recent discussion of a minimum statutory wage becomes academic when facing the inflationary spiral.
One answer would be to offer easily-accessible transport career training to attract people to the industry.
As there is a shortage, particularly in specific qualifications such as HGV, PCV, HIAB, ADR and so on, does the Government not recognise the need and viability of facilitating easily-accessible training for both the underemployed as well as the unemployed?
Dave Whitmore, CDS Employment, Crawley.