Drivers and unions warn that facilities and working conditions in the UK are less good than in Europe and that the transport crisis in the UK will not ease as long as they remain worse than in the rest of Europe. Today, the UK’s driver shortage is 100,000 and job vacancies are growing faster than on the continent.
While a labour force survey in the EU has shown that the number of job vacancies in the transport sector is increasing in almost all European countries, the worst problem is in the UK, where the vacancy rate almost doubled between the beginning and mid-2021.
Several factors contributed to this deficit. For example, drivers say that they have to pay for a place to stay or have to park in places where their insurance does not cover due to the absence of petrol stations and other facilities, such as toilets and showers. In addition, roadside restaurants are reported to be less well equipped than in countries such as Germany and France.
