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Truck in Dover, UK (archive picture): Up to 100,000 drivers too few
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DPA
British supermarkets are sounding the alarm over the acute shortage of truck drivers in the country.
"The bottlenecks are on a worse level than I've ever seen," said the boss of the supermarket chain Co-op, Steve Murrells, the "Times".
Because of the crisis, his company started to retrain employees to become drivers.
The reason for the bottlenecks is a significant shortage of truck drivers who transport goods from A to B.
The Road Haulage Association assumes around 100,000 drivers are missing.
This also has to do with the fact that many drivers from Europe left the country after Brexit.
Complicated and expensive visa procedures are now necessary, which is why hardly any new ones are added.
In addition, thousands of drivers retire every month and there are not enough offspring.
Tens of thousands of driving tests have been canceled due to the pandemic.
The Icelandic supermarket chain is also alarmed.
"We have to transport a lot of goods between now and Christmas and a stable supply chain is vital for everyone," said Iceland boss Richard Walker in a BBC interview.
"We already had to cancel a Christmas, I don't want this to be a problem too."
Last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson banned the British from all social Christmas plans at short notice because of the appearance of the alpha variant of the corona virus.
The Tesco chain also confirmed concerns about Christmas supplies.
ssu / dpa-AFX
