Funding for HGV licenses has been refused

DFT minister Lord Ahmed has announced that the government will not be funding the HGV license acquisition in order to ease the HGV driver shortage in the UK.

The cost of the HGV license ranges from between £1,500 – £3,000 and the industry is currently facing a shortfall of about 40,000 drivers.

Due to this the haulage industry had been campaigning for the government to provide funding for the training so that people were more inclined to join the trade.

Lord Ahmed informed the Transport committee: “The principle remains that we won’t look at funding HGV licences. That has been a principle established since 2005 and that is a position we will not be changing.”

This news comes as a blow to the industry which after a recent survey of HGV qualified drivers showed that over a third claimed that they felt poorly treated by their employer.

Lord Ahmed has made further comments regarding the industry stating: “There needs to be a lot more work on drivers’ conditions. This has to be industry-led. The government’s role is to facilitate and look at recruitment, but the retention element is something the industry needs to lead on,”