“Not the fault of logistics sector!”

The UK logistics sector has hit back at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claim that the supply crunch currently hitting the country is the fault of the logistics sector. David Wells, CEO of business group Logistics UK, said that problems stem instead from the departure of 19,000 truck drivers from the UK because of Covid and Brexit and the government’s decision to suspend driving tests for 45,000 new HGV drivers during the pandemic. Wells joined the UK’s food and farming sector by calling for a Covid Recovery Visa to alleviate crippling labour shortages (35% farmworker shortfall) across the supply chain, which has resulted in empty shelves in supermarkets and food left on farms unable to be picked or processed. Brassica producer East of Scotland Growers said that as of September, it had left 5.5m heads of broccoli and 1.5m cauliflowers rotting in fields due to the lack of labour and lorries.