Warning over drivers’ hours

The Department for Transport’s decision to relax regulations on the maximum number of hours lorry drivers can work won’t resolve the problem of a shortage of drivers in the industry, unions warned last month.

They are deeply concerned the relaxation could force lorry drivers to work considerably longer hours and cause significant health and safety risks to the drivers themselves and other road users.

The government’s change to the regulations — which establish how long drivers can drive for and how often, and how long they must rest — were introduced last month in response to supermarkets’ fears that shelves will be left empty due to the ongoing shortage of lorry drivers.

It is estimated there is currently a shortage of around 75,000 lorry drivers in the UK.

“Asking an already exhausted workforce to work even longer is likely to make an already difficult situation worse,” said Adrian Jones, national officer for road transport for general union Unite.

RMT transport union general secretary Mick Lynch said the government has known for a long time that labour shortages were affecting the sector.

But, he added, “as usual they have inexplicably waited until the situation is posing significant risks to our supply chains and have been forced to react with a dangerous, unworkable, and unsustainable sticking plaster”.