HGV Driver Shortage - Driver Survey 2016

Published: 02 March 2016

HGV Driver Shortage - Driver Survey 2016
Last month we carried out an opinion survey inviting HGV drivers acorrs the country to take part. The purpose of the survey was to get the drivers opinions about the current HGV driver shortage.

Our aim was to establish whether the results 
of the drivers survey could help haulage operators, industry and government understand the issues that are currently facing them.
 
In total, Returnloads.net had 412 responses from HGV drivers. The link to the full survey results can be found at the bottom of this article.

This survey has resulted in some interesting findings. In contrast to what is generally perceived as the factors contributing to the driver shortage, the drivers have highlighted the poor wages, poor facilities and the way that they are treated as the top three factors.

Question 7) What factors do you think are responsible for the driver shortage, or are deterring people from working as HGV drivers?

Question-7-HighRes.png
 
Less than half of the drivers surveyed actually think there is currently a driver shortage and nearly all the drivers surveyed felt that the best way to attract new drivers or retain existing driverswas by increasing wages and improving driver facilities.

Question 6) Do you think there is currently a HGV driver shortage in the UK?

Question-6-HighRes.png

What is quite worrying is
 the 36% of drivers who say they are not treated well by the companies they are driving for, that is over a third of drivers who feel this way.

Question 9) More often than not, would you say the company you drive for treats you well?

Question-9-HighRes.png

Even more worrying is the 
78% who would not recommend becoming a professional HGV driver.
 
The survey results have highlighted issues which, if not addressed, could result in more HGV drivers leaving the industry and less drivers coming in.
 
Recently published figures from the ONS show that nearly 80,000 qualified HGV drivers with valid driver CPC are choosing not to work as HGV drivers, this coupled with results from this survey shows that perhaps there is not a shortage of drivers but just a shortage of appealing work.

Read the full survey results here. HGV Driver Shortage Survey 2016

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