If you haven’t heard all the hoo-ha about driver shortages recently, then you’re either not from the UK, or you’ve been living under a rock.
Remember this post we made a few weeks ago about tests for van and lorry drivers being made easier? This was because the UK was facing the severe issue of a lack of delivery drivers — from vans to HGV drivers.
The reasons are numerous. But it seems to have stemmed from Brexit as the catalyst, and Covid-19 hurtling in like a tornado, gleefully stirring the pot to make things a thousand times worse. If there wasn’t a shortage already, ‘pingdemic’, as it has been affectionately named, has unfortunately caused further chaos. This is because drivers are being pinged left, right and centre, and being told to self-isolate by the ‘track and trace’ app.
As you can imagine, the consequences have been dire. Like the chain ‘NISA’, many newsagents have had their shop owners having to drive their vans and pick up supplies, as their suppliers face severe staff shortages. This is time and effort spent on top of maintaining and managing their store branches and dealing with staff off work themselves, too.
There are calls for the government to allow drivers who have been vaccinated (with both jabs) to skip the isolation period. This is as long as they continue to test, and the results are negative. At the moment, this is due to come into force from the 16th of August, but things could change — sooner or be pushed to later. So, everything is up in the air, and everyone is panicking. Help? We think so.
What do you think? Has the media blown this out of proportion, or is this something that needs further immediate attention? Have you been affected directly by the driver shortages? The struggling supermarkets certainly show us how serious this all this. Let us know your thoughts!
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