Co 2

We went to a talk about this, just before Covid, some of the mechanisation is impressive but is ongoing. It is a practical solution in an age where we have a smaller working population generally. Probably better than expecting everyone to work till they're seventy. 

Given the shortage of staff across the board, I wonder if we are still shelling out 'jobseekers allowance' other than for very short periods?

Like everything ,nothing happens until the s... hits the fan.

I have family in the construction industry, which is a bit more reliable than your ‘neighbour’ JV. They are happy with their wage, although one is seriously considering Truck driving👍🏻

I have never seen as much new build happening, in all the areas we visited, from Scotland down to Lands End. Construction industry is indeed booming. 

I’m afraid some of the rest of the shambles happening at the moment was predictable. And whilst efforts have been made to blame Covid for most of it, it simply isn’t the case. Covid has had a huge impact in some ways, but not entirely. HGV drivers retiring was top of the list. But Brexit and its impact is a very close second in terms of the Hauliers Association figures. 

The Government is desperately seeking to replace HGV drivers. I cited the letter my BIL received two weeks after retiring from Fire Service. Another little gem is something to do with German license holders. They  have some sort of clause that allows them to drive higher weights. Lovely tale of a German chap and his wife in London who were sent a letter asking if they would be interested, offered a big bonus. German gent declined, decided he was better off sticking with his Merchant Banker career. His wife wasn’t interested either. You couldn’t make it up......🤷‍♀️
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/germans-uk-government-lorry-hgv-drivers-293241/

There is a shortage of HGV drivers in many parts of EU

It's not just Lorry Drivers shortages. That makes nice headlines.

I was reading an interesting article in the i today about all of the shortage problems affecting us at the moment.

One thing which stuck out more than any other was the fact that a Farmers Co-Op in Fife, representing 15 local Brassica growing farmers have had over 7 million heads of Broccoli and Cauliflowers left to rot as they can't get the pickers or the packers. They've lost over £2m between them.

There was a comment from a different grower that whilst Lorry drivers may suddenly appear from nowhere it wouldn't make any difference to them if they can't get the produce from the field to the lorry. This is just one relatively small operation in the grand scheme of things. 

The Irony is that we'll now have to import fruit and veg from Europe to make up the shortfall. I've been noticing more of my cabbage purchases come from Spain these days.

There are a good number of jobs/type of work that this Island’s population don't  fancy doing, field work, abattoir work, vets who work in abattoirs, endless hours on the road not least. All were predicted at least a couple of years ago. 

We try and avoid stuff grown in Southern Spain WN, conditions for migrant workers are appalling. Not easy though, many of the businesses out there are British owned.

Just had a look at some of my veg purchases this week, spring greens from Lincs, lettuce from Cambs, carrots from Worcs, not too bad really.

Just goes if they are jumping ship to go goods driving when their hourly rate was about £11.20 how poor some pay is in the construction industry  ,where my neighbour is also employed , so I think would be quite capable of knowing his wage

OHs son on about.  £31per hour is amazed we can do what we do on our pensions