Devon councils press Government to address waste lorry driver shortage

As a shortage of lorry drivers disrupts waste collections in many parts of Devon, councillors from four local authorities are pressing the Government to take action.

East Devon District Council has been having problems for several weeks, and has issued apologies for the delays to waste collections caused by staff shortages at its contractor.

The issue made national headlines after Nub News reported on how Branscombe residents piled bags of uncollected rubbish around a badly parked car that was blocking access for the recycling lorry – should it finally arrive. The story was picked up by several national newspapers and even one US news website.

Now, Liberal Democrat councillors from three other local authorities have written to the Home Secretary Priti Patel, asking her to allow temporary visas for European HGV drivers to help fill the vacancies.

"At the time of writing, North Devon Council are attempting to fill seven vacancies, Torbay Council eight vacancies, and Teignbridge Council 10 vacancies," wrote councillors Steve Darling, David Worden and Alistair Dewhirst.

"This equates to approximately 20 per cent of the HGV workforce in driver vacancies and it is proving very challenging to fill this resourcing gap, given the dynamics of this labour market."

The letter added: "We therefore believe that HGV drivers should be recognised as an important shortage occupation with a two-year derogation to the points-based immigration rules for trained HGV drivers – allowing councils, as well as others across the economy, sufficient access to a wider pool of drivers while we recruit and train the next generation of HGV drivers."

The issue was featured on Radio Four news programme

The leader of Exeter City Council has also asked the Government to do more to assist local authorities with the lack of drivers – although he said the city council had managed to avoid disruption.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme on Friday, September 3, Councillor Phil Bialyk warned of a 'possibility' of disruption, with the ongoing threat of Covid adding to the strain on the workforce. However, he said they had managed to maintain household waste and recycling collection throughout the pandemic.

Echoing the letter by the three other Devon councils, he added: "We need to have people to deliver the services for the people in this country. It's not working at the moment and we need drivers of any nationality, to be brutally honest."

The UK has an estimated shortage of around 100,000 HGV drivers, which the Road Haulage Association blames on a mix of Covid, Brexit and older drivers retiring.

It wants immigration rules eased temporarily so drivers can be recruited from abroad. The Government rejects this idea and wants organisations to hire UK workers – despite councils warning that it takes time to train them up, if willing potential drivers can be found.