Ten Regions most affected by the shortage of lorry drivers.. Is yours one of them?
The whole of the UK is facing a shortage of lorry drivers, but some regions were affected more than others.
The shortage of HGV drivers is due to numerous reasons. These included lack of HGV licence testing because of covid-19, as well as ageing workforce going into retirement, reports the Mirror. Brexit also led to many foreign drivers leaving the UK.
The HGV driver shortage has seen vacancies in the sector to jump by nearly a third across the UK compared to pre-pandemic levels, with some areas particularly hit.
Overall, the number of vacancies in the UK have increased by nearly a third compared to pre-pandemic numbers, from 5,500 in February 2020 to 7,200 in August 2021.
According to the Mirror, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that nationally, around 313,000 people in the UK worked as HGV drivers in the last quarter of 2019.
That number went down by 11% to 278,218 in the last quarter of 2020.
UK areas most affected by lorry driver shortages
| Region | HGV Driver Vacancies (February 2019) | HGV Driver Vacancies (August 2021) | How affected was it (Per cent) |
| Wales | 196 | 567 | 189.3% |
| North Wales | 49 | 130 | 165.3% |
| Central Bedfordshire | 30 | 79 | 163.3% |
| Cumbria | 21 | 54 | 157.1% |
| Black Country | 134 | 334 | 149.3% |
| Worcestershire | 63 | 155 | 146% |
| Somerset | 82 | 201 | 145.1% |
| Sussex | 58 | 127 | 119.0% |
| Coventry | 48 | 98 | 104.2% |
| North and North East Lincolnshire | 77 | 154 | 100% |
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