Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

Sarnia

Boris needs to forget about temporary visas and just get the Army in. No one being exploited then or companies feathering their own nests.

Except the poor bl**dy infantry

Callistemon

Does that sound like an excuse JaneJudge?
If the Council employed garden waste vehicle drivers last week where have they disappeared to this week?
Our Council doesn't collect garden waste in the winter so presumably the drivers are employed in other areas eg driving gritting lorries in icy weather.

They haven't collected them for months Callistemon, in a period where they needed collecting. They also changed the original wording...hang on, I'll see if I can find the original statement. I think they withdrew it as it upset a lot of people...

Surely at this stage, garden collections are truly the last and least of your worries.

Right, I actually found one of my old posts through google.....

JaneJudge Fri 13-Aug-21 15:38:34
I may have the wrong thread, so apologies if I have but our waste collections have been disrupted and the council blamed isolation of staff due to covid 19. Now it seems garden waste wont be collected at all for the foreseeable future. This is the explanation they have given to one of our town councillors. I just thought people might be interested;

It also seems the Council has changed its tune as it has now admitted that isolation is no longer the issue and has provided a statement which blames the continuing issues on Brexit saying "Brexit has reduced the availability of both skilled and unskilled workers and this is impacting FCC’s ability to secure qualified drivers in particular." It went on to say that "As a sector, waste services have been historically reliant on agency staff but even this route is problematic as agencies are also facing the same challenges." and also blamed "the substantial backlog of outstanding LGV tests due to COVID and recent changes to the HMRC rules concerning individual limited companies (IR35), all leading to a reduction in the number of qualified LGV drivers available."
Which is frustrating for the contractor (FCC) but residents who have paid their Council Tax and expect a service might argue the contractor should have done more to prepare for this.
The council says the contractor "are exploring ways to improve staff availability" which include "reviewing pay and conditions for drivers and developing new ways to attract people into the waste sector"

Kali2

Surely at this stage, garden collections are truly the last and least of your worries.

They have always been the least of my worries but we are having a discussion about disruption to services aren't we? Services which we pay for through council tax.

I am NOT making stuff up Alegrias. But because my reading of articles doesn’t fit in with your viewpoint I can understand why you think this is so.

JaneJudge

Our council cancelled garden waste collections. I will C&P the council statement for you to read.

Garden Waste Collections Update:
Unfortunately, garden waste collections remain suspended due to the ongoing national shortage of HGV drivers. At present time, we anticipate the suspension continuing throughout September, unless driver availability changes. We appreciate this is not ideal and we are sorry for the disruption to the usual service.
We are exploring all possibilities with our contractor to enable us to restart a garden waste collection service, even if it is less frequent as an interim measure.
Driver shortages are affecting many businesses that rely on HGV drivers. Whilst, we have needed to suspend our garden waste collections temporarily, we are continuing to prioritise the drivers we have to ensure we continue to collect your black bins, food waste and recycling from over 120,000 households every week.
We are also doing everything we can to recruit drivers and upskill existing staff where possible. Unfortunately, resolving the shortage of drivers is not a quick fix. Our ability to source qualified drivers, who are seeking employment, and agency staff has been dramatically reduced. Our contractor is offering increased hourly rates and fast-tracking new drivers through the training programme. However, a national backlog of driving tests and processing of driving licenses is impacting the duration of this process significantly.
We will update you as soon as possible to confirm when we can resume collections, via our 'waste disruption' webpage: You can also find information on this page about:
➡️ Applying to become an LGV2 waste vehicle driver
➡️ Recycled garden waste at any of the Council’s Household Waste Recycling Centres, which currently have good availability
➡️ Ordering a subsidised 220-litre compost bin to compost your waste

I ordered two compost bins fwiw through their scheme on BOGOHP

So the question should be, why have the council lost all their drivers, have they all walked out at once, or are they on holiday, or are they self isolating, or do they have Covid.??? Council HGV drivers have good terms of contract and pay, and of course pension. Wonder which council this is?..

Ah yes- but some services are more important than others in a crisis, surely.

"EU lorry drivers will not come back to help the UK “out of the s* they created themselves”, a trade union leader has warned.
Edwin Atema from the Dutch FNV union issued the stark message to UK Government leaders as they formulate plans to offer emergency visas to foreign workers in a desperate bid to solve a critical shortage of haulier"

Be honest, if you had been treated so badly, spent hours in Dover without facilities, got stuck there away from family last Christmas, and were abused and insulted day in, day out - would you come back for a 3 months' contract, only to be kicked out again- and again without enough time to even get back to family for Christmas? Would YOU?

You'd have to be truly desperate! Plenty of jobs in Europe, with good conditions, better pay, roadside facilities, Schengen and very little paperwork.

Kali2, I know you don't know me from Adam but my daughter has to rely on adult social care, so I don't really need to gain perspective. I was merely posted what my council had put in the public domain as the the whys and hows of why the service had been disrupted.

The DVLA has become a byword for inefficiency, and does need sorting out. Partly due to the covid policies of the Welsh government, (Swansea) of course, the DVLA has allowed a large backlog of work to fuel this fuel problem and leave some supermarket shelves bare.

Instead of bringing in the army to drive trucks (or at least alongside) the government needs to find ways of bringing in resources from elsewhere to clear the DVLA backlog and to rue their own excessive lockdown policies for causing it.

posting not posted. It's my council Lincslass. I don't think you need my address

DD applied for a replacement driving licence nearly three months ago, still hasn’t arrived.

JaneJudge

Kali2, I know you don't know me from Adam but my daughter has to rely on adult social care, so I don't really need to gain perspective. I was merely posted what my council had put in the public domain as the the whys and hows of why the service had been disrupted.

I am very sorry to hear that and hope those services will not be affected and prioretised. Your post does indicate very well that in a crisis some services will have to be protected more than others. Courage.

If DVLA staff are unable to issue licences from home then they are unable to do their job from home.

It’s high time the government stopped calling this working from home and told the truth. It’s called being off work.

Urmstongran

If DVLA staff are unable to issue licences from home then they are unable to do their job from home.

It’s high time the government stopped calling this working from home and told the truth. It’s called being off work.

Your reactionary hat seems tightly on today

Urmstongran

I am NOT making stuff up Alegrias. But because my reading of articles doesn’t fit in with your viewpoint I can understand why you think this is so.

Your read articles, I worked in an industry that supports the haulage industry across Europe and beyond.

Who shall people believe?

Whitewavemark2

On radio 4

EU lorry drivers union said “we will not go back to England to help them get out of the shit they created themselves”.

Yes he said shit.

Oh dear but are we surprised who can forget the scenes last Christmas?

Actually he said the UK but I think your interpretation is better WWM2.

This man perhaps Alegiras?

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, said the Government was “going backwards” by “importing” labour from Europe. He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that people living in inner city communities across the UK which had been “left behind” should be recruited instead, but on decent pay and conditions. “Instead, they want to bring people here from all over Europe, on poverty wages and poor terms and conditions,” he said.

Adrian Jones, Unite’s national officer for road transport, said “paying and treating overseas drivers differently from UK drivers is immoral and unjust”.

Urmstongran

If DVLA staff are unable to issue licences from home then they are unable to do their job from home.

It’s high time the government stopped calling this working from home and told the truth. It’s called being off work.

Yes, in a wy ay it makes sense. Do you think it will help solve the petrol shortage crisis, to force people to drive to work?

Perhaps.

But even so, it would take months, not days or weeks. So for everyone who says this is just a blip, and all will be back to normal as soon as people stop panic buying- I think it is time for some reality to creep back in.

Urmstongran

This man perhaps Alegiras?

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, said the Government was “going backwards” by “importing” labour from Europe. He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that people living in inner city communities across the UK which had been “left behind” should be recruited instead, but on decent pay and conditions. “Instead, they want to bring people here from all over Europe, on poverty wages and poor terms and conditions,” he said.

Adrian Jones, Unite’s national officer for road transport, said “paying and treating overseas drivers differently from UK drivers is immoral and unjust”.

Yes, definitely a crisis of understanding here....

Why do the haulage companies get away with paying poverty wages? Oh, yes, because the government lets them.

I think they should recruit people on decent pay and conditions too. What shall we do in the interim?

MaizieD what are you insinuating?

Would you rather I lie? I know I am fortunate inasmuch as so far we are relatively unaffected by food shortages and waste collections.

Not insinuating anything, and certainly not saying that you're lying. It's just that it always seems that in GG13 world there is never anything amiss. Not just now, but in the past, too.

And, to Alegrias, I don't think the country is in meltdown, just slow decline.

Bring in the Army to help get things moving? They are excellent at logistical solutions.

I live mikes away from GG13 and all’s good our way. Can the glum buckets on here not accept that their are some problems relating to supply and demand (which is not helped by panic buying) in some areas. Honestly, some posters on here think the end of the world is nigh! Or at least in Brexit Britain. Oh wait .. maybe that’s the reason for their gloomy posts?
?

MaizieD not everything, the panic buying of fuel at the filling station in my road was a pain..

You really are very insulting Urmstongran. Using words like a three year old isn't funny or endearing.

I really try to be fair but you make it very, very difficult.