Delivery driver shortage likely to continue, say suppliers and hauliers

The firm’s UK managing director, Ash Amirahmadi, said in a BBC interview that the shortage, which for them started in April, could mean a summer of disruption.

The milk company’s warning came days after the baker Warburtons said that it was facing localised difficulties because of high levels of driver absence.

The problems of individual companies were underlined with a report out today (29 July) from the Road Haulage Association (RHA) which said that “critical supply chains” were failing.

The RHA report said that there was a 60,000 shortage of drivers even before the pandemic, a shortage which had been worsened by Covid, Brexit, the shutdown of driving tests during the pandemic.

Things have not been helped because the average age of an HGV driver is 55, with under 1% less than 25.

Many older drivers are retiring early or finding work in less demanding sectors.

In a survey of their members the RHA found that retiring drivers was the most important reason for the shortage, above even Covid and Brexit.

Because of the affect of the driver shortage on food deliveries to stores, the RHA asked in the report for the recently disbanded Food Reslience Forum – run by DEFRA – to be re-established.