The majority of parents don’t want their child to become a truck driver, according to a Twitter poll conducted by the Freight Transport Association (FTA).

Out of the 52 followers that voted, 71 per cent said they would not encourage their son or daughter to pursue a career as a trucker, with low wages, inadequate roadside facilities and poor public perception believed to be behind the current driver shortage.

Sally Gilson, the FTA’s skills development policy manager, agreed that the poll’s findings reflected the unfortunate public perception of the haulage industry.

She did, however, suggest that some of the progress made in recent years probably wasn’t acknowledged by many of the survey’s respondents.

“Things have moved on and modern day trucks are technologically advanced and probably not what the public imagines,” she said.

A lack of vocational training for drivers and the cost of licence acquisition are also major put-offs for people interested in the freight industry, with the FTA lobbying the government to introduce a loan system to help young people gain their licence.

Ms Gilson believes that strong action is needed to turn around the current decline.

“Logistics is vital to the UK economy and we need to ensure that we have enough professional drivers to fulfil the industry’s needs,” she added.