Supply chain and HGD shortages

M0nica there is a worldwide shortage of HGV drivers (even USA).

Shortages appear to be regional and sporadic, it’s not as if there is a Countrywide shortage of food item/s.

it’s not as if there is a Countrywide shortage of food item/s.

Of course there is. Jeezy peeps.

It seems like they are not short of a tomato juice or two in Essex, but that doesn't mean that there aren't fewer boxes of tomato juice in the whole country than we need to meet normal demand. Ergo, countrywide shortages....

#Lincslass I agree. I heard the president/CE of the Hauliers Association on the radio a few weeks ago. He said that last year shortages were due to Brexit but this year it was due to a shortage of HGV drivers as no HGV drivers have sat an HGV test since covid began. It will also take time once they start teaching again for the number of HGV drivers to go up. Possibly PSV drivers too.

I had to go to 4 different supermarkets last week to get some dog poo bags for my daughter's dog!
I blame Brexit!!!

pamdixon

I had to go to 4 different supermarkets last week to get some dog poo bags for my daughter's dog!
I blame Brexit!!!

Nappy sacks smell nice too

Pamdixon
You can get them on next day delivery with Amazon.

M0nica

janejudge The blood sample bottles are made of plastic and would probably melt or deform if subject to great heat, I also think it would be very difficult to source sterilisers as there is no deman for them now that all medical supplies like this are one use only.

The Tory voters “don’t see” any empty shelves
They say people can always find an alternative
They don’t have a strict budget which means it’s not on to shop around.

Sorry I quoted Monica instead of Lemongrove

Brexit did not happen until this year! Last year we were getting to the end of the negotiating stage - (Christmas announcement of the deal being done.)
There are plenty of lorries still on French roads but the diminishing number at the port and on the ferry heading to Britain was very noticeable. Also there were less U.K. Company lorries.
I noticed missing stock in the local big Tesco today and cardboard with photographs of fruit on the top of the empty display boxes.
The staff in a branch of Sketchers told us at the weekend they were only receiving about 50% of their normal stock and that this was the case with several other retail stores.
Until the end of the year the imports from the continent are not being checked at the U.K. border to help prevent shortages of goods. The traffic going into the EU is being checked. People on the other hand face lots of checks and paperwork to enter the U.K. but very little to enter the EU if you are double jabbed.

As I understand things, BREXIT is only one part of the issue, Covid has meant that trainees have been unable to take tests, and existing license holders have found it very difficult to access their GP for medical sign off.

Daftbag1

As I understand things, BREXIT is only one part of the issue, Covid has meant that trainees have been unable to take tests, and existing license holders have found it very difficult to access their GP for medical sign off.

Absolutely correct

BREXIT is only one part of the issue

Which is what most people have said. And that Brexit has made it worse.

There are probably a thousand different opinions about this situation - but I also can't understand, like several other posters, why some are saying that drivers have gone home because we 'voted to say we didn't want EU people here'. I don't remember that being as issue at all - we thrive on tourism and foreign visitors, and have always depended upon foreign workers for hospitals, transport, fruit picking etc. It was never suggested that workers should go home and never come back.

It was never suggested that workers should go home and never come back.

I wonder how many EU nationals you know in this country? I worked in an organisation that was about 50% EU nationals. About 60% of them went home because the Brexit vote to end free movement was seen as a vote to marginalise people who weren't true-blue British. Now maybe that's not what it meant to you, but that's what it meant for the people I worked with.

Did you really think voting to separate ourselves from the EU wouldn't cause EU nationals to feel "othered"?

Incidentally, it was a company related to the haulage industry. Two points to me.

GrannyGravy13

Daftbag1

As I understand things, BREXIT is only one part of the issue, Covid has meant that trainees have been unable to take tests, and existing license holders have found it very difficult to access their GP for medical sign off.

Absolutely correct

The elephant in the room is that covid19 was an unplanned, unanticipated catastrophe, whereas Brexit was the very opposite.

Rosina

There are probably a thousand different opinions about this situation - but I also can't understand, like several other posters, why some are saying that drivers have gone home because we 'voted to say we didn't want EU people here'. I don't remember that being as issue at all - we thrive on tourism and foreign visitors, and have always depended upon foreign workers for hospitals, transport, fruit picking etc. It was never suggested that workers should go home and never come back.

well I don't know what you based your vote on, but an awful lot of Brexit voters did 'suggest that workers should go home and never come back'. Have you been reading about the difficulties in getting permission to stay where you have raised your family, paid taxes, bought a home? There are enough reports in the public domain.

Yes, a planned anticipated catastrophe!

Rosina I am having difficulty getting around the idea that you really didn't realise that Brexit was very much about encouraging EU immigrants to return home so that British jobs could go to British people . Farmers in particular were very vocal about their fears that the entry of seasonal workers would be restricted and they would not be able to get local people to do the jobs - and their fears have proved well founded. Framers have been giving soft fruit away free to anyone who wants to pick it because they cannot recruit enough pickers. Others have been ploughing crops into the ground for the same reason.

The Brexit campaigners also talked of lists of exempted occupations, how much immigrants would have to earn to be allowed in and so on and so on.

I get my fruit and vegetables from Oddbox and in their email this week it said they had been due to pick up a load of pears but they weren't able to get the transport to get them so instead of being able to save them as would be normal, they were wasted.
It was also saying about it being harder to even book transport because of companies not knowing if it will be available or not.
Oddbox is a good place to buy from though as they save so much from being wasted and it is all so lovely and fresh

Here in the US our shelves have remained full, save for things like toilet paper, bleach wipes, and masks, because these were massively hoarded by John Q. Public. Veterinary Surgeons are now reporting shortages of horse de-worming medications ?. There is something of a shortage of long-haul lorry drivers. Many of them are Mexican and with Trump (some of us were contemplating asking Her Majesty to take us back, but being governed by Boris may not have have been a great improvement) there were plenty of keruffles with our neighbour to the south. It is true that with the certain development of self driving trucks in a shorter rather than longer time frame, young people are not interested in a career in this industry. If the Democrats remain in power, we will surely see major investment in railways.
I hope my grammar, spelling and punctuation are up to snuff. I am a French woman who learnt British English to start with, went to University at Columbia University in New York City and met during the Student unrest in 1970, and married a Law Student from Chicago. We are still together. His grandparents on his father's side were from Canterbury. His entire family are still tea drinkers!

"Whitewavemark" half of your comments are untrue. Especially the one about internal borders. Australia has. South America has. The only real border we have is Ireland and that's the only one been affected. Even that is only affected by EU stupidity and vengeance. I voted to remain but we have to live with the consequences of the result and try to make it work. I'm sure it wouldn't have been so bad if the blinking virus hadn't raised its head.

South America is a continent, with many countries.

This is getting to be fun ?

The dog food is missing from my Ocado order and it's the only one my dog can eat. So now I am inconvenienced. I have been to the wholesaler who has massive trays of the stuff so I have stocked up. I am now also part of the problem

No bog standard granulated sugar in my delivery this week, no problem and my friend in North Wales told me yesterday she has been unable to get tomato juice for weeks now, something mentioned up thread.
I suppose as it comes from Italy that could be Brexit or drivers.

Why do we keep bringing in workers who we expect to pay a pittance to? It never solves the problem of shortage of workers long term. In the 60’s we brought in black Jamaicans to do jobs like bus conductors, cleaning and nursing. Why should we expect their children and grandchildren to do the same jobs?They have the right to want to better themselves. So we bring in Eastern European’s to do jobs because they will accept lower wages here to send home where the money is worth more. Now they are less. Who do we bring in now? Some suggest the Afghan and other migrants can do these jobs so let’s welcome them for that purpose. Why should they? And again we are just pushing the problem further down the road.

I think there was a problem with a tomato crop failure which has added to shortages there. In Southern France unusual weather conditions earlier this year has meant poor crops with a lot of fruit.