Iceland’s managing director has claimed the government is not “willing to listen” to warnings about Britain’s lorry driver crisis.
Richard Walker said ministers were “mad” to resist industry calls for a European visa to tackle the shortfall of 100,000 hauliers.
“There’s a very simple solution actually, which is… to add HGV drivers to the skilled worker lists,” he told Sky News.
Walker noted that ballerinas and musicians could get into the country, but not hauliers, “who have literally been keeping the show on the road through the pandemic”.
READ MORE: Iceland hits £60m profit after lockdown sales boost
“I think it’s madness,” he said.
Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng has dismissed retailers’ entreaties for a driver visa scheme, arguing that firms should train British workers instead.
However, experts point out there is a backlog of HGV licence tests from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Walker argued that hiring UK drivers was “absolutely the right way to go, but that’s going to take time that will take anywhere between six and nine months.”
“We have Christmas between now and then,” he said.
Sources have identified the festive season, when demand traditionally soars, as a potential powder-keg for the supply chain.
British Retail Consortium boss Helen Dickinson this week said that disruption had been limited, “but in the run-up to Christmas the situation could get worse.”
“Customers may see reduced choice and increased prices,” she claimed.
Walker believes the rise in driver wages to attract new recruits means price hikes are “inevitable”.
“We’ve done double-digit wage increases now across our depots, and I think that that will lead to inflation in the market,” he said.
The Iceland boss recently claimed some of its drivers were earning £950 a shift, or £250,000 a year.
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2 Comments. Leave new
This attitude from Central Government that matters will “self correct” is a complete nonsense. They need to listen to those who know (the spectrum from Iceland to Next) and perform a simple U turn. This is becoming a self inflicted wound.
I was a driver for Iceland s, not an agency worker but I contacted them myself got an interview and became a core member. I was sacked because a roller cage which had been loaded top heavy tipped over whilst pulling it off the tail lift at Waltham Cross store! that is why you have a driver shortage, depots ban people from sites (meaning they cant go back to work there) for the most ridiculous reasons, we are made to sit in pokey little rooms while the lorry is being unloaded instead of letting us rest or sleep in our cabs and you wonder why we don’t want to drive for you! the whole industry is run by graduates that don;t have a HGV license but dictate how other people should drive etc I would not drive for another super market ever again having driven for Tesco’s M+s Sainsbury.s Icelands, Bookers all via agency’s because non of them take on full time staff only agency staff on zero hour contracts! you are suffering from your own greed! and long may it continue!