Currently, the regulations state that EU truck drivers may make a maximum of two trips between two places in the UK per week. Under the proposal, which is subject to public consultation as of Friday, they can make unlimited trips in every two-week period before returning to the country to deliver and pick up goods.
If approved after one week of consultations, it will enter into force before the end of the year and will last for six months.
The UK’s truck driver shortages, exacerbated by the coronavirus and Brexit pandemic, have caused delivery problems for many goods, including food, in recent weeks, and traders are warning that if unresolved, some products may be unresolved. Available before Christmas.
To address these issues, the British government announced at the end of September that it would grant 5,000 temporary visas to drivers from abroad, but so far they have only submitted a few hundred applications. One of the main reasons for the low interest in the offer is precisely the restrictions on the maximum number of deliveries, which, combined with the fact that visas are temporary, makes them unattractive in the eyes of many drivers.
However, the British Road Transport Association (RHA) expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal, suggesting that it would undermine British companies. RHA chief Rod Mackenzie told the BBC that allowing overseas carriers and drivers to come for up to six months to two weeks to do unlimited work at low wages was undermining UK carriers who face acute driver shortages and rising costs and wages.
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