UK appealing to former drivers to tackle shortage, minister says

Britain is trying to solve the shortage of qualified HGV drivers by encouraging former truckers back into the market and speeding up the testing system, because changing visa rules to attract international workers is no panacea, a business minister said.

Paul Scully, a junior business minister, told Sky News that there were hundreds of thousands of people in the country that had full or partial licences to operate as drivers of heavy good vehicles.

"How can we encourage them back, how can we increase the number of tests to get more people through the system which has been delayed because of the pandemic," Scully said, as he set out the government plans to tackle the problem.

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