Britain | Driving: a hard bargain

The shortage of HGV drivers in Britain is getting worse

Even more money isn’t hauling them in

|Birmingham

BIG DAVIE MALCOLM stands six foot four in his socks. But when he climbs into a lorry cab, he moves carefully, spreading a large rag before placing his feet on it, delicate as a dancer. He doesn’t like, he says, “to dirty a man’s carpets”.

Today, he is driving coffee from Tamworth to Holyhead. The company he works for, Virginia International Logistics, carries everything from the nuts and bolts of the trucking industry (they take nuts and bolts from Birmingham to Ireland) to food, car parts, clothes and, naturally, the kitchen sink (kitchens go to Dublin).

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Driving: a hard bargain"

Biden’s China doctrine

From the July 17th 2021 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Britain

Why so many Britons have taken to stand-up paddleboarding

It combines fitness, wellness and smugness

Why Britain’s membership of the ECHR has become a political issue

And why leaving would be a mistake


The ECtHR’s Swiss climate ruling: overreach or appropriate?

A ruling on behalf of pensioners does not mean the court has gone rogue