LogMark Supply Chain Benchmarking
Driver shortage crisis
In January 2015, The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport carried out an opinion survey inviting all of its members to take part. The purpose of the survey was to gauge members opinions about the current driver shortage crisis. The Institute’s aim is to establish a series of recommendations to fleet operators, industry and government.
In total the Institute had 103 responses and this report presents its findings. These findings will initiate the Institute’s ongoing driver shortage discussion.
The Institute would like to thank all of the members that took part in the survey and for their willingness to share their opinions and ideas.
Thanks to our participants.
Questions to our members…
Answers from our members…
What industry sector does your organisation operate in?
Supply chain 85%.
Public sector 3%.
Bus & coach 3%.
Aviation 2%.
MoD 2%.
Rail 1%.
N/A 4%.
Is your organisation currently experiencing a driver shortage?
Yes: 74%.
No: 26%.
Does your organisation operate in the public or private sector?
Public: 26%.
Private: 74%.
Public sector – are you currently experiencing a driver shortage?
Yes: 73%.
No: 27%.
Private sector – are you currently experiencing a driver shortage?
Yes: 74%.
No: 26%.
Do your drivers operate UK only or internationally?
UK only: 64%.
Internationally: 32%.
N/A: 4%.
UK only operators – are you currently experiencing a driver shortage?
Yes: 76%.
No: 24%.
International operators – are you currently experiencing a driver shortage?
Yes: 71%.
No: 29%.
Do your drivers have overnight/away from base stopovers?
Yes: 60%.
No: 40%.
What methods are you using to deal with the driver shortage?
See PDF for chart.
Are these methods working to deal with the current issue?
See PDF for chart.
In 2014, in which geographical regions did your organisation experience a driver shortage?
North East 6%.
North West 10%.
Yorkshire and the Humber 8%.
East Midlands 9%.
West Midlands 9%.
East of England 8%.
South West 10%.
London 12%.
South East 13%.
Scotland 6%.
Wales 5%.
Northern Ireland 3%.
Other 1%.
On average, how many drivers does your organisation employ each year?
496
How many of these are employed in each region?
North East 2%
North West 17%
West Midlands 15%
East Midlands 7%
South West 13%
East of England 3%
London 9%
Northern Ireland 1%
Scotland 7%
Wales 1%
South West 18%
Yorkshire and the Humber 7%
Throughout the year how often does your organisation use agency drivers?
Occasionally: 39%.
Regularly: 61%.
Using agencies occasionally – are you experiencing a driver shortage?
Yes: 78%.
No: 22%.
Using agencies regularly – are you experiencing a driver shortage?
Yes: 76%.
No: 24%.
Has your organisation been unable to cover driving work on any occasion in the last 12 months due to the driver shortage?
Yes: 65%.
No: 35%.
Has your organisation tried to recruit drivers at any point over the last 12 months and failed to do so?
Yes: 49%.
No: 51%.
- 19.
On average, participants had 36 vacancies for drivers in 2014.
Only 17 of these were filled.
On average 11% of drivers leave our participants organisations per year.
On average 15% of the drivers who left the organisation, went into another driving job.
The average age of the participants drivers is 47 years old.
On average, the youngest age of driver that our participants would employ is 23 years old.
Does your organisation get involved with developing and employing ex-armed forces drivers?
Yes: 57%.
No: 43%.
Is your organisation currently recruiting any trainee drivers?
Yes: 42%.
No: 58%.
If your organisation does not have in-house system, would you consider a national scheme (e.g. Young LGV Driver Scheme)?
Yes: 82%.
No: 18%.
Does your organisation provide Driver CPC training for your driving staff?
Yes: 90%.
No: 10%.
Does your organisation finance driver CPC training for your drivers?
Yes: 78%.
No: 22%.
Do you provide in-house training for Goods Vehicle Licence acquisition?
Yes: 44%.
No: 56%.
Do you finance external Goods Vehicle Licence acquisition training for staff?
Yes: 40%.
No: 60%.
What factors do you think are responsible for the driver shortage?
See PDF for chart.
Do you think the government are doing enough to highlight and deal with the driver shortage issue?
Yes: 11%.
No: 89%.
What do you think the government should do to highlight and deal with the driver shortage issue?
See PDF for chart.
Do you think it is the responsibility of businesses to find solutions to the issue?
Yes: 80%.
No: 20%.
What can the industry do to attract new drivers?
See PDF for chart.
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being very worried and 1 being not worried at all) how worried are you about negative business impact due to the shortage of drivers?
See PDF for chart.
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