£20million Fund To Develop Roadside Facilities
Heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers will benefit from £20 million of funding for better roadside facilities.
The facilities include improved security, lighting and shower rooms at roadside services.
The investment aims to improve driver welfare and to tackle the effects of the driver shortage.
Users and Communities Fund
The funding is part of National Highways’ existing Users and Communities Fund. This £169 million fund is aimed at improving security, showers and eating facilities as well as exploring increasing parking spaces for lorry drivers.
Roadside service operators are being encouraged to apply for the multimillion-pound fund immediately.
How is the driver shortage being tackled?
The Logistics UK Skills Report 2021 revealed the steps that have been taken by both government and industry to help identify and rectify recruitment and retention problems within the road haulage industry.
Among other measures already taken to support the haulage industry:
- £34 million investment in the creation of HGV Skills Bootcamps
- a 90% increase in driving test availability
- faster processing of provisional HGV driving licences
- widening the pool of health professionals to increase the speed of application processing
Has it worked?
- In the last 6 months, the DVLA processed more than 240,000 vocational (bus and lorry) licence applications.
- In December 2021 they issued 150% more provisional vocational driving licences (14,210 in total) than in the previous December.
- Delays in the processing of vocational driving licences were minimised, with normal turnaround times of 5 working days.
- The DVSA carried out 27,144 HGV driving tests between October and December 2021.
Comment
Roads Minister Baroness Vere said:
“HGV drivers play a key role in keeping our nation running and contributing to the economy, and it is vital they feel safe and comfortable wherever they stop.
That’s why we’re allocating £20 million to ramp up security and improve amenities for drivers – building on the raft of measures we’ve already taken to support the industry.
We’ll continue to work closely with the sector to boost professional driver numbers even further”.
Nick Harris, National Highways Chief Executive, said:
“We want all road users to reach their destination safely and encourage everyone, from those who drive as a profession through to people travelling on holiday or for leisure purposes, to plan before setting off and to take regular breaks.
We are dedicated to improving the experience of everyone using our roads and remain committed to working closely with operators of roadside facilities to help improve the standard of parking and other amenities they provide on motorways and major A-roads”.
Ken McMeikan, CEO of Moto hospitality said:
“This announcement is a welcome boost for the UK’s hardworking HGV drivers and the sector. It is encouraging to see that the input provided by Moto and other industry figures has been acknowledged and acted upon by the Department for Transport.
Moto continually invests in refurbishing and cleaning the services we provide for HGV drivers and has been investing £12.5 million in upgrading all our showers and toilet facilities.
We look forward to making an application to this £20 million fund, which would allow us to accelerate our plans for enhanced security and increase the physical number of showers we can offer”.
Mags Simpson, Logistics UK’s Head of Policy Engagement:
“The announcement of an additional £20 million to boost HGV driver facilities is a positive step forward for industry, and Logistics UK is now calling on roadside service operators to urgently apply for funding.
Logistics UK members have previously cited the lack of available lorry parking and suitable roadside facilities as one of the main barriers to recruitment and as a result, an increase in funding for this vital sector of the economy is much-welcomed news. Lorry drivers are required by law to take regular rest periods, including overnight mandated rest breaks.
It is vital that these key workers, who are charged with keeping the nation stocked with all its required goods, have a safe place to take these breaks, where they are also able to make use of much-needed bathroom and catering facilities”.
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£20million Fund To Develop Roadside Facilities