We have a dire shortage of HGV drivers you would think they would speed up licence applications but No

[Neil S]

Unlucky Neil.
I still have 6 x months on my Class 1 HGV & PSV so no medical needed yet. The online DCPC was completed and my new card arrived yesterday.
I now need to make some phone calls, but if I do go back out on the road, it will be casual, ie, on days which suits both me and the employer, and only a couple or three days a week. Apart from the odd few weekends away, we're not going anywhere far this coming winter.

Get in touch with the authorities listed at the bottom of your letter from Boris, and let them know of your situation. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Good luck,

Jock.

Jock that’s what I was intending to do 2-3 days a week leading up to Christmas then a couple of months in Spain and then back part time as and when I choose

 

[Neil S]

Contact your MP, papers, ombudsman, Bonkers Boris, to show the DVLA up for what it is a decrepit past it’s sell by date useless department and has been for years, long before covid!

I have emailed my local MP but he’s as much use as an ashtray on a bicycle

 

[mitzimad]

maybe some one can enlighten me as to where the 100 thousand drivers were short of have parked their lorries?

 

[Jaws]

Well there you have it , I had a letter from HMG asking me to help out in the driver shortage even though I surrendered my vocation
Well like a dutiful citizen I’ve been for the medical at my expense ((£90)and passed , booked my DCPC online
Sent my application away and those wonderful gems in DVLA have now told me it will be probably next year before I get my LGV reinstated on my licence .
Why did I bother

Write to your MP.. the more people who do it the more likely someone will seriously get on their case

 

[jongood]

maybe some one can enlighten me as to where the 100 thousand drivers were short of have parked their lorries?

The problem with figures supplied by ONS etc seems to be that they are based on modelling, this is the same method that assured us for years that there was only about 2-2.5Million EE workers over here but when we required them to register there were 6 million successful applications but allegedly we still have a problem because so many of them went home!!!

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[carolyn]

It’s time we changed the spelling of Covid to L A Z Y because that’s all it is. A very easy excuse for being lazy. That’s in many professions and industries not just DVLA. GPs are getting a slating in the press recently because they’re about the last profession to go back to work. It’s a good job others in health care were prepared to work through this pandemic. Now though, they (GPs) should start working again. Hospital waiting list grow every day because people cannot see their GP. A+E is struggling because people cannot see their GP. Everyone else is getting back to work. Why not GPs? It’s not doctors just GPs. Why?

I’m not sure where you get this idea that GPs aren’t working, I presume it’s from the Daily Mail or some such rubbish. GPs seem to be the scapegoats for everyone’s failures at the moment. Many areas are already back up to 74% face to face consultations.

I spent yesterday (Saturday) vaccinating at our local GP led Covid clinic. As well as us retirees there were 5 GPs , numerous practice nurses, HCAs, receptionists, ancillary staff, all working on Saturday in addition to their normal working week.

That pot of money from Sajid Javid will go to the GPs who are already doing well and achieving targets and the poor GPs who are doing the best they can in areas where there are no locums to employ to relieve the pressures will carry on underperforming and won’t get any of the money. They will feel more demoralised and this will contribute even further to burn out and early retirement.

I feel for the OP Neil S , the bureaucracy drives you mad. I was reregistered by the GMC 18 months ago and then when they started asking for volunteers for the vaccination clinics my GMC registration wasn’t adequate proof to start with! I persevered out of spite, they wanted my degree certificate which I hadn’t seen for 35 years or more. In the end the Govt saw sense and simplified the process, I hope they do for HGV drivers. Surely they could streamline that one section.

 

[jongood]

I feel for the OP Neil S , the bureaucracy drives you mad. I was reregistered by the GMC 18 months ago and then when they started asking for volunteers for the vaccination clinics my GMC registration wasn’t adequate proof to start with! I persevered out of spite, they wanted my degree certificate which I hadn’t seen for 35 years or more. In the end the Govt saw sense and simplified the process, I hope they do for HGV drivers. Surely they could streamline that one section.

The common thing here is that in both cases experienced people are sat at home because of bureaucracy, we obviously dont want poorly trained people in either job but it is somewhat exasperating, when its just down to a bunch of pen pushers its ridiculous - actually with DVLA its scandalous that they've been allowed to act this way for so long.

As has been said many times now - suspending the just as "unfit for purpose DCPC" would bring the OP and I suspect many more back into the fray and alleviate some of the current pressure by using people who already know how and what to do.

 

[jongood]

HGV crisis: Spain nightmare as driver row ripples through Europe Intro: | World | News | Express.co.uk

HGV drivers are in shortage across Europe, which, according to one Spanish driver, comes with good reason.

www.express.co.uk

 

[Paulypaul]

GP's have all but disappeared here in North Norfolk. You even have to wait a week for a telephone appointment .

Is that down to Covid cause it wasn't like that before the pandemic?

Yet the doctors car park is still full so why can't they see patients face to face?

 

[MitchandJenny]

Well there you have it , I had a letter from HMG asking me to help out in the driver shortage even though I surrendered my vocation
Well like a dutiful citizen I’ve been for the medical at my expense ((£90)and passed , booked my DCPC online
Sent my application away and those wonderful gems in DVLA have now told me it will be probably next year before I get my LGV reinstated on my licence .
Why did I bother

Pass that info back to the Gov dept who sent you the request..
They MAY not be aware of the log-jam and click some arses !!!!
Mitch

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[JockandRita]

First day back for an old employer, whom I did casual driving for, some years ago.
I'm only doing hours and days to suit me, so we'll give it a go, and see how we get on. Being casual, I can walk away at any time, if it becomes hassle.

My thanks to Paulypaul for the informative chat.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Ivory55]

Do you do rdc or farm collecting ?

 

[Colino]

Well I retired from my job last month. I offered to stay on and help them through the Xmas period (every little helps) but they declined my offer. I heard a whisper this week that they might be making redundancies next year.
So is there a shortage of drivers or is there a shortage of decent driving jobs ?

 

[jongood]

First day back for an old employer, whom I did casual driving for, some years ago.
I'm only doing hours and days to suit me, so we'll give it a go, and see how we get on. Being casual, I can walk away at any time, if it becomes hassle.

View attachment 551725

My thanks to Paulypaul for the informative chat.

Cheers,

Jock.

Nil carborundum illegitimate Jock

 

[JockandRita]

Do you do rdc or farm collecting ?

Today, its raw goods into the production plant (Bakkavor), then finished goods to the warehouse for distribution, but yes, a lot of the work is RDCs.

Nil carborundum illegitimate Jock

I had to look that bu@@er up Jon.

Illegitimi non carborundum is a mock-Latin aphorism, often translated as "Don't let the bastards grind you down". The phrase itself has no meaning in Latin and can only be mock-translated as a Latin–English pun. Wikipedia

Cheers,

Jock.

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[PaulyP]

GP's have all but disappeared here in North Norfolk. You even have to wait a week for a telephone appointment .

Is that down to Covid cause it wasn't like that before the pandemic?

Yet the doctors car park is still full so why can't they see patients face to face?

Because they still get paid the same amount whether they see patients or not !

 

[Realist]

Driver shortage my arse shame all of it specially companies looking for drivers.

Same with patrol shortage, the only reason their was a blip was because garages had to empty tanks for the new fuel e10 or what ever it’s called and caused a slight blip.

If peeps was sat in a cue that’s was due to being dumb.

 

[JockandRita]

Neil S. Any joy yet Neil, with that establishment they refer to as the "Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority?
How's the DCPC going?

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Neil S]

Neil S. Any joy yet Neil, with that establishment they refer to as the "Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority?
How's the DCPC going?

Cheers,

Jock.

Hi Jock still waiting my application being processed
The DVLA are saying 8-10 weeks
(Absolutely hopeless )
Haven’t done anything about the DCPC as of yet
did have it booked online but decided to leave it to next year
We are leaving for Sunny Spain on the 3rd of January for 80 nights so assuming I get the entitlement
reinstated I’ll do the DCPC on my return .

 

[Neil S]

First day back for an old employer, whom I did casual driving for, some years ago.
I'm only doing hours and days to suit me, so we'll give it a go, and see how we get on. Being casual, I can walk away at any time, if it becomes hassle.

View attachment 551725

My thanks to Paulypaul for the informative chat.

Cheers,

Jock.

Good Truck like the Scania’s alway my preference

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[JockandRita]

We are leaving for Sunny Spain on the 3rd of January for 80 nights

Had circumstances been different Neil, so would we. Unfortunately, another winter in the UK for us.

Good luck getting your licence back.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[JockandRita]

Good Truck like the Scania’s alway my preference

I was on this last week, which isn't a bad drive either.

The other drivers don't like the Merc Actros, which uses camera screens, in place of mirrors. I hope I don't get it.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[chaser]

Went up and down the m6 a couple of days ago, I would think the last thing we need is more waggons on the road, we ought to be finding some road of having less.

 

[Bessy765]

Sent my licence off mid June, came back ten weeks later stating they could not process it as I had not included a new photo? According to the DVLA if you have a current passport they can use that photo if you supply the passport number. Sent the forms off again 4th of Sept still no licence//

 

[Ivory55]

Went up and down the m6 a couple of days ago, I would think the last thing we need is more waggons on the road, we ought to be finding some road of having less.

And I wonder how many were actually full

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[chaser]

And I wonder how many were actually full

That's one of the things I always say.
And how many are carrying the same stuff north that the ones on the other side are carrying south.
Just think something simple, loaves of bread, bricks, cement, cakes , crisps just to name a few all things that travel the length of the country both ways.

 

[georgio]

I decided to change my 13 year old mobile telephone for one of them fancy new ones, because my driving licence was out of date by a week due to the tardiness of the dvla it could not be used as ID

 

[georgio]

Because they still get paid the same amount whether they see patients or not !

It's the same here in West Yorkshire. I Don,t why anyone should pay tax anymore.

 

[Ivory55]

That's one of the things I always say.
And how many are carrying the same stuff north that the ones on the other side are carrying south.
Just think something simple, loaves of bread, bricks, cement, cakes , crisps just to name a few all things that travel the length of the country both ways.

And their stock answer will be it’s more efficient, haha

 

[joe and sue]

Went up and down the m6 a couple of days ago, I would think the last thing we need is more waggons on the road, we ought to be finding some road of having less.

Railways

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