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Trucks with job application: Many UK transport companies are desperate for staff.
Photo: Dominic Lipinski / dpa
"They are migrating in droves", with these words, Bobby Morton of the British trade union Unite complained on Sunday in an interview with the broadcaster Sky News about the change of numerous bus drivers to the truck industry.
Because drivers are urgently needed there, wages for truck drivers in Great Britain have risen significantly.
Long working hours with periods of enormous fatigue and a lack of toilets and sanitary facilities are nothing new for bus drivers, said Morton Euros) drive a truck an hour instead of a bus for ten pounds an hour. "
The Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, an association of bus companies, estimates that there is a shortage of around 4,000 bus drivers in Great Britain.
Connections have already been canceled on some routes, and timetables had to be adjusted.
There are 90 vacancies at Trentbarton alone, a bus company from Heanor, England.
"Right now, the transportation and logistics sectors are literally throwing money into drivers," Jeff Counsell, Trentbarton general manager, told Sky News.
The UK Department of Transport said it had already accelerated the procedures for driving tests and provisional bus driving licenses.
The British military had to help out to alleviate the situation
The massive shortage of truck drivers has been causing significant problems in the UK for weeks.
At times it was no longer possible to fill up at petrol stations because the fuel had not arrived.
Supermarket shelves also remained partially empty.
It is estimated that the UK is short of 100,000 truck drivers.
After Brexit, many foreign truckers returned to the European continent.
Because of the new visa regulations, they cannot easily live and work in the UK.
In addition, the corona restrictions meant that training came to a standstill.
The British military had to help out to alleviate the situation.
The UK government plans to issue thousands of temporary visas and has written to nearly a million potential truck drivers - including Germans who have never driven a truck.
Vice Prime Minister Dominic Raab even suggested recruiting prisoners and offenders as drivers.
However, there is no real easing of the situation in sight.
dpa / vet