Comments by "Dale Crocker" (@dalecrocker3213) on "" video.

I'm surprised even 27 applied. Mind you, there could be more now that drivers' wages are soaring - by more than 30% on average! Some firms are now paying £56,000 a year while another has upped its hourly rate from £11.40 to £15. Increased wages for workers under the Tories! And because of Brexit! Who'd have thought?
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Drivers' wages have increased by up to 30% practically overnight. There was never really any need for EU drivers. The visa thing is only a gesture.
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@edwardbernthal160 It didn't. A long-term shortage of tanker drivers was exacerbated by the disappearance of EU drivers, certainly. But the situation would have been entirely manageable without media-induced panic buying. The "crisis" is already over in most parts of the country and we can only hope that people will have learned from their silliness.
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@mrdaveythebaby Small haulage companies are in for a difficult time in the short term, undoubtedly. They will, of necessity, have to pass their increased costs onto their customers, ie the supermarkets. I'm afraid this will result in a situation where haulage firms with low credit availability might go bust as the supermarkets shop around for the cheapest suppliers. The same may apply to smaller supermarket chains and a certain amount of absorption will probably occur. While unwelcome in many respects I cannot see this leading to either monopolies or price rises. Retailers have to balance profits against turnover and they will never price themselves out of the market. The wealthy will continue to have Waitrose and the rest of us will have Aldi.
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Who is to do the educating though? Education these days (and perhaps forever) is mostly a matter of brainwashing, notably in the inexact sciences. The instincts of the "uneducated" often have more practical validity than the mad theorising of academics and "intellectuals."
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No, foreigners are merely branded with a large "F" in the middle of the forehead in these enlightened times.
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@susansantapola Why unsustainable? What desperate times?
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@BigHenFor I agree with all you say. It's not just the money and £56k a year isn't really enough to counterbalance these difficulties. £70k is more like it.
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@jlcTTT Wages will find the appropriate level. Drivers' wages represent only a relatively small proportion of food costs, and with supermarket chains turning in profits of £200 billion + a year any wage increases will be easily absorbed. Indeed, it is quite probable that food prices in some areas will decrease as the supermarkets compete for dominance in a changing market. Those companies which pass on the increased costs to customers are likely to do worse than those which choose to absorb them. Although an increase in the minimum wage has certain attractions, it has to be offset by substantial tax and regulatory concessions to small businesses which would otherwise not survive if forced to pay it. By contrast to the changing situation I outlined in my post, truck drivers' wages in Europe remain static at an average of around £31,000pa. The food and fuel shortages in the UK, such as they are, have undoubtedly been precipitated by the sudden removal of quite substantial numbers of foreign workers all at once, but at least this means that the necessary adjustments will have to be rapid also.
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@edwardbernthal160 Not yet but...
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@7ookee I agree that 30% is not enough, and conditions of employment have to be addressed also. The problem is, however, capable of solution. The drivers are there- they just need sufficient incentives to get back behind the wheel. This is the employers' job and they must face up to it if they wish to survive.
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@roberttaylor5997 I'm not at all sure, but one Essex firm is offering a basic wage of £56,000 a year which sounds quite attractive to me. What's that in Euros and how does it compare with German and Polish wages, say?
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@mrdaveythebaby Eventually - and I have to say that in my personal experience these shortages have been intermittent and minor and seem more or less non-existent now.
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@globalist1990 Obviously no-one is going to get back behind the wheel unless wages and conditions are improved enough to persuade them to do so. So wages and conditions will have to be improved sufficiently. And they will be.
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@edwardbernthal160 My personal experience of going shopping. Mind you, I live in a village where there is a small Tesco and a small Sainsbury's both of which seemed to experience shortfalls in a few products up until about two weeks ago, since when I have noticed no particular shortages. Perhaps the situation is different in large towns and cities.
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@edwardbernthal160 Exactly so. I can only imagine that the lorry driver shortage predominantly affects larger stores for some reason.
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@globalist1990 What devaluation? The pound is currently riding high and there is no reason this should not continue. The exchange rate with the Euro has remained constant and the effect of Brexit on markets has been less than expected. Furthermore it is widely predicted that the UK recovery from the pandemic will be quicker and stronger than in Europe.
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@mrdaveythebaby I admit I don't get out much! Still, my children who live in the East Midlands say the petrol shortage is over there, and the latest information suggests that it is only prevalent now in the South. It was the result of panic-buying and did not reflect an actual shortage of petrol, of which there is a plentiful supply.
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@edwardbernthal160 Hysteric over-reaction to a minor difficulty created this fuel "crisis".
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@mrdaveythebaby Your arguments are exactly the same as those of any Victorian sweatshop owner bemoaning wage rises. In this instance, drivers' wages represent only a relatively small proportion of food costs. Furthermore, supermarket chains are still turning in profits of £4-5 billion a year at least and can easily absorb the extra expenditure. Improved wages for drivers are just as likely to result in reduced food prices as the supermarkets compete for customers. It will clearly be seen that adjusting to a new reality makes economic sense, and the first to so will be the ones who will win.
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@roberttaylor5997 Average HGV drivers' wages in Europe are around £30,000 pa, rising to £37,000 max. (Yes, £ not Euros) In the UK salaries of £70,000 are immediately foreseeable. This is a direct result of removing cheap foreign labour.
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@edwardbernthal160 I suppose there are advantages to living a somewhat secluded existence. Nonetheless when I do go out into the big, bad world I see little evidence of the dystopian gloom which seems to afflict so many adherents of this channel.
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@mrdaveythebaby As I suggested earlier, there is no reason to suppose that increased costs resulting from increasing drivers' wages will be passed directly or proportionately on to customers. Our membership or non-membership of the EU does not affect this situation. The lack of seasonal migratory workers due to the ending of free movement is another issue, and probably more significant than the sudden drop in lorry driver numbers. It is difficult to sensibly predict a solution. Prior to EU membership much of this work was done by travellers (as we must now call them) and even by students! I know, because I did it myself! It's piecework and deregulation allowing anyone, employed or not, to take part without any registration or taxation might help. Equally well Europeans could be offered temporary visas. As for imports, when I look in my vegetable box I find much of it comes from Africa, South America and Israel anyway.
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@mrdaveythebaby I don't know about callous. The employees of the small firms will continue in employment at higher wages. The owners will hopefully gain enough from the sale of vehicles and premises to cover their debts. I don't see anyone begging on the streets. As for the rest - I sometimes still see bunches of cherries when I close my eyes! As I said, finding people prepared to do backbreaking, tedious work for a pittance is increasingly difficult in an increasingly prosperous society. Anyone prepared to do it should be welcomed with open arms.
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@globalist1990 And has remained more or less the same ever since. If the forecasts are right, then the UK should recover from the pandemic more quickly than the Eurozone, but I doubt this will greatly increase the value of sterling. Probably it is imminent fluctuations in the value of currencies unaffected by Brexit which will have a greater impact.
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@mrdaveythebaby I don't think I'm twisting anything. If a company goes bust its assets are absorbed. In this instance the assets of a haulage company are of considerable value, especially its employees. In any case I don't think the number of such failures will necessarily be that large. My direct knowledge of the haulage industry come from a firm owned by my sister and her husband. It's had its ups and downs over the years but by diversifying it has managed to survive very well. Any failures that there are will, as I say, result in little real hardship. Haulage doesn't have suppliers as such - apart from those who supply new trucks and spare parts and none of these are likely to suffer. Any setbacks that there are must be offset against the elevation of the status of HGV drivers to one which more reflects their skills and importance to the community than that which obtains at the present.
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@edwardbernthal160 The UK is not in deep trouble. It is certainly experiencing more difficulties post Brexit than would have occurred with better planning, but everyone knew that the split would inevitably result in various short-term problems and indeed, many major adjustments of policy. Brexit is a done deal. I didn't vote for it, as it happens, but now it is upon us we must make the best of it. Any economic disadvantages which may occur, either in the short, medium or long term, have to be balanced against the fact that a federal Europe, towards which the EU is remorselessly headed, is a very, very bad idea indeed in terms of geopolitics as a whole and particularly so for the UK.
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@mrdaveythebaby Let's be clear: I am no fanatical Brexiteer. My problem is that the EU, by politicising what was originally a trading bloc and attempting to create a federalised Europe, has exceeded its original brief. No good will come of this - for the world, for the member countries and certainly not for the UK. It is inevitable that Brexit will create hardships and difficulties, but these must be endured for the sake of freedom and national autonomy. In the meantime we must take advantage of the opportunities created by the new situation, especially in light of the economic chaos created by the largely hysterical and ill-considered responses to the pandemic. Compared to the coming storm, Brexit is but a ripple on the surface of the waters. It could well be that in the long run a separate Britain will be better equipped to survive it than the EU.
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There are. This is the number of people waiting for HGV tests. Nothing to do with EU applicants.
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HGV drivers' wages have increased by an average of 30% in recent weeks and could go higher. One firm is now offering a basic £56,000 a year.
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It is a Europe-wide problem created not by Brexit but as part of a major shake-up of the gas supply industry created by the completion of Russia's latest gas supply pipeline which ought to lead to significant price reductions in the coming months. Prices are going up so that supply companies will still see a profit when these reductions come on line.
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