GWENT MS Natasha Asghar has called on the Welsh Government to take urgent action to address the shortage of HGV drivers in Wales.

Ms Asghar, who is MS for South Wales East, said: “The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns across the UK resulted in the loss of months of driver training and the cancellation of 28,000 HGV driver tests.

“This has undermined efforts to grow the pool of 300,000 qualified lorry drivers in the UK that is needed urgently, as a third of those drivers are over 55 and heading for retirement.

“Sensible short and long term solutions needed to tackle the driver shortage working in a sustainable way to recruit and train homegrown workforce so that the UK reliance on foreign labour lessons over time.

As well as the pandemic, changes to self-employment tax reforms and Brexit halting driver recruitment from the EU have all been blamed for the current shortage of HGV drivers.

The Road Haulage Association has published a 12 point plan to combat the situation, including putting HGV drivers on Government’s skilled worker shortage occupation list and the establishment of a "return to HGV driving" scheme.

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“The Road Haulage Association has proposed an SME focussed HGV driver training scheme which would be a shorter, tighter scheme than the main apprenticeship schemes and would deliver skilled, qualified drivers more quickly," said Ms Ashgar

“The scheme would allow operators to obtain payment for training lessons with Driver CPC and tests funded by a loan along the lines of the student loan scheme.

“The Road Haulage Association also claims there appears to have been an obstructive and hostile approach from the educational establishment over several years to HGV apprenticeships and has called for increased funding for apprenticeships for drivers.

“The Welsh Government must address this problem as a matter of urgency to ensure HGV driver apprenticeships are given the funding and support they need".