As the UK supply chain crisis rages on, transport secretary, Grant Shapps has temporarily set aside trading rights to allow foreign/EU drivers make more deliveries.
Under the altered stipulation, EU lorry drivers on British roads will be allowed to make unlimited pick-ups and drop-offs, a measure Shapps hopes will help ease the snarled supply chain.
The transport secretary, who is currently consulting on “cabotage” rights which govern the transport of goods between countries is hoping the changes will have an immediate impact on fuel and food shortages.
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The alteration will give license to foreign drivers to pick up and drop off goods an unlimited number of times over a two-week period before heading back to their country of origin.
However, the Road Haulage Association (RHA), has criticised the move, noting that the new rules would undercut British drivers. “We don’t want cabotage to sabotage our industry,” said the RHA’s Rod MacKenzie.
“I spoke to some of our members last night and they were appalled – ‘ridiculous, pathetic, gobsmacked’ were some of their more broadcastable comments,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday.
“The government has been talking about … not pulling the lever marked ‘uncontrolled immigration’, and to them this is exactly what it looks like.”
McKenzie added: “Allowing overseas companies and drivers to come over for perhaps up to six months on a fortnightly basis to do unlimited work at low rates, undercutting UK hauliers.”
If the plan scales through consultation, the new changes would be implemented before the end of the year and will last for six months.
According to Shapps: “The long-term answer to the supply chain issues we’re currently experiencing must be developing a high-skill, high-wage economy here in the UK.
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“Alongside a raft of other measures to help the road haulage industry, we’ve streamlined the testing process and announced thousands of skills boot camps to train new drivers.
“These new measures are working – we’ve been seeing up to three times more applications for HGV driving licences than normal as well as a deserved rise in salaries.
“The temporary changes we’re consulting on to cabotage rules will also make sure foreign hauliers in the UK can use their time effectively and get more goods moving in the supply chain at a time of high demand.”
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