Fears that an unprecedented shortage of lorry and van drivers may threaten Christmas deliveries deepened today when online supermarket Ocado admitted it had been unable to recruit enough to meet demand from shoppers.
The grocer’s chief financial officer Duncan Tatton-Brown said the problem had been most acute in London and the south east because of “low levels of unemployment” and had held back sales growth.
Mr Tatton-Brown said the company was considering an increase in pay if the crisis - dubbed the hummus panic - intensifies.
He said “we had a shortage because we’re growing strongly and we need a lot more drivers,” although he insisted the problem has now been largely sorted.
The warning came after reports that intense competition for truck drivers has driven up pay rates to more than £20 an hour, as well as bonuses of up to £100 a shift, compared with typical rates of £12.50 to £15 an hour.
Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, even warned of a possible “nightmare scenario for many families of no presents and crying children on Christmas Day.”
European drivers returning to their home countries after the Brexit vote and a long term failure to recruit and train qualified HGV drivers are believed to be behind the problem.
Consumers are choosing to do record levels of their Christmas shopping online with latest official retail figures today showing online spending up 10 per cent year on year in November to account for 17 per cent of all retailing,
This far outsripped the relatively sluggish 1.6 per cent rise in overall retail sales.
Richard Lim, chief executive, of consultants Retail Economics said: “These figures confirm that online won the Black Friday battle. Online sales growth dwarfed that of in-store as shoppers took advantage of Black Friday discounts, particularly in electricals.”
However, the surge in orders has put huge pressure on online retailers with warnings that the driver shortage is the worst on record this year.
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Andrew Waldron, managing director of lorry driver supplier Agency Drivers Network, said: “It will be worse — if you look at unemployed drivers this year and the number last year, there’s been a reduction . . . it is virtually zero in England.”
In September just 520 HGV drivers in England were out of work and claiming job seekers allowance, the lowest since the Office for National Statistics began collecting data in 2005.
The Freight Transport Association has estimated the national shortfall at 52,000 drivers.
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