Following a law change in 2022, teenagers may help to reduce the HGV driver shortage

The proposal to change the law around who can drive a HGV, originally laid down by Europe, and allow teenagers to drive HGVs was first mentioned in the Queen's speech on 10th May. Since then there has been a consultation by the UK Government and laws have been enacted to allow teenagers to drive HGVs.

An eighteen year-old has become the youngest person to pass the UK HGV test and become a driver. Having passed his car licence test in October 2022, Gurrajan Dhaliwal went on to train as a HGV driver, passing his Grade 1 test early in January 2023, he now plans to start driving HGV’s in February this year, 2023.

According to the statistical website – Statista there are currently around 122,000 HGV drivers (approx. 44% of all HGV drivers in the UK) in the age bracket 50 to 64 and around 60,000 drivers could be due to retire in the next 6 years. It may not be long before we see more teenagers passing their HGV tests and becoming HGV drivers, helping to fill the shortage of HGV drivers. But whilst the current HGV driver shortage persists and more are expected to leave the industry, transport operators must do all they can to improve the efficiency of their fleet operations and retain the drivers they have.

Contact Descartes to discover how route optimisation and delivery scheduling can help improve your fleet’s efficiency, productivity and driver retention.