Welsh Senedd listens to industry with comprehensive plan to tackle HGV driver shortage, says Logistics UK

Thursday 27 January 2022

Following evidence provided by Logistics UK and other key industry representatives, the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee of the Welsh Senedd has today (27 January 2022) published its recommendations, addressed to the Welsh Government, to overcome the nation’s HGV driver shortage. Chris Yarsley, Logistics UK’s Policy Manager for Wales, comments:

“The Committee’s proactive and comprehensive plan to tackle the HGV driver shortage demonstrates that it has listened closely to the concerns and suggestions of Logistics UK and incorporated our proposals. These include measures to develop HGV driver apprenticeship programmes, increase the number of training providers available, and expedite the development of regional and national freight strategies. Most crucially, the Committee calls upon the Welsh Government to announce a national audit of rest facilities for drivers with the intention to improve provision where it has been found to be lacking, something we have been championing on behalf of our members for some time, since poor driver facilities continue to be a huge barrier to recruitment and retention of drivers. Now, it is vital that the Welsh Government moves swiftly to enact these measures, and works closely with industry throughout the process to ensure the best possible outcome to support Wales’s logistics sector and wider economy.”

Logistics UK is one of the UK’s leading business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With COVID-19, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods.