Britain's lorry driver crisis could be easing after 'significant steps' were taken to address serious recruitment issues - but smaller fleets are still suffering, transport bosses have claimed.
Logistics UK, a sector representative based in Tunbridge Wells, said there was 'cautious optimism' following months of HGV driver shortages.
Last month ministers announced the end of limits on the number of deliveries EU drivers can make in Britain each week. It came after just 20 foreigners took up the offer of a visa extension.
A change to the driving test requirements and higher wages were among a number of measures brought in to help bring on board more HGV workers. There have since been more HGV driving tests and a threefold increase in licence applications.
Last year the sector faced the closure of testing centres for lorry drivers because of the pandemic alongside an exodus of drivers from the European continent amid Brexit.
Logistics UK, a sector representative based in Tunbridge Wells, said there was 'cautious optimism' following months of HGV driver shortages (file image)
Last month ministers announced limits on the number of deliveries EU drivers can make in Britain each week would end after the offer of a visa extension led to just 20 being issued to foreigners. Pictured, lorries at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk
The ensuing crisis saw empty shelves in supermarkets and petrol stations without fuel earlier this year.
But the Logistics UK Skills Report 2021 seemed to signal the crisis could be coming to a close.
Elizabeth de Jong, policy director at the organisation, said more needed to be done to solve the problem.
She told Kent Online: 'Although average driver pay surged 10% in the nine months to October 2021 in order to retain existing staff and attract new drivers, smaller fleet operators are still not back to full fleet capacity after the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown, and their inability to compete for drivers by offering higher wages appears to be hindering their efforts to recruit new staff.'
A Hoyer tanker makes a delivery at a Shell petrol station in Basingstoke, Hampshire
