The Transport Committee is to examine the progress made on improving facilities for HGV and coach drivers almost four years after the previous Committee wrapped up its inquiry into the road freight supply chain.
The inquiry by the Transport Committee in the last Parliament was prompted by difficulties in supplying essential goods to the UK’s supermarkets, petrol station forecourts and other marketplaces during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It found that rest facilities for HGV drivers were often lacking or poor quality, and it made a number of recommendations relating to these facilities.
Wednesday’s one-off session with five expert witnesses will see Committee members looking to establish whether the situation has improved or worsened since the previous Committee’s report in 2022, and whether the Government has acted on any of its recommendations
MPs will try to pin down the biggest issues that HGV drivers experience when trying to access parking or rest facilities and they will ask about the variation that exists between different types of stopping facilities.
They will also explore the impact that lack of proper rest facilities could have on drivers’ health and wellbeing, and they could ask about how has this affected the number of drivers joining or leaving the industry.
The previous Committee’s Road Freight Supply Chain report was published in June 2022 and recommended that the Government should set a minimum standard for drivers’ facilities. The Government responded in September 2022, saying that the case for minimum standards was still under consideration and it was gathering evidence on the appropriate level. The Government has not taken any action on minimum standards since then.
Witnesses:
- Maddi Solloway-Price, Head of Road Freight and English Regions Policy, Logistics UK
- Nikki Rogers, Trading Director Retail and Fuel, Moto Hospitality
- Declan Pang, Director of Policy, Road Haulage Association
- Alex Robertson, Chief Executive, Transport Focus
- Adrian Jones, National Officer for Road and Transport, Unite the Union
Spotlight on HGV and Coach Driver Facilities takes place on Wednesday 11 March at 09.15 in the Committee Room 16, Palace of Westminster.
(Picture: Slovan Haytov/Dreamstime)
