Verum had a food craving! She wanted to eat some caramel custard. She thought, “Oh, the feel of caramelized sugar on my tongue! How yummy!”
But unfortunately, today, there was no caramel custard to be found in MysticLand. Verum thought of asking Orak to summon some from the human realm. But he was busy with an important assignment. So, Verum did the next best thing. She went to her crystal ball for the daily dose of news.
“Oh, this news is kind of relatable,” said Verum, “According to the United Kingdom’s (UK) Road Haulage Association (RHA), Britain is experiencing a shortage of 100,000 truck drivers. Due to this shortage, it’s becoming difficult to supply food to the supermarkets.”
“Why does the UK have a truck driver shortage?” said Scorch.
“UK moved out of the European Union (EU) on 31st January 2020. This move is called ‘Brexit’ (a combination of the two words: Britain and exit). A transition period followed which ended in 2020,” said Verum, “With Brexit, new rules, regulations, and a whole lot of extra paperwork have come into effect. Several reasons such as drivers leaving the industry, the consequences of Brexit, and the Covid-19 pandemic have led to this crisis.”
She added, “And many of these drivers have opted to work for online retail companies like Amazon and Tesco. The hours are better and these jobs pay more.”
“Okay,” replied Scorch, “What about the food shortages in the UK?”
“Food and Drink Federation’s Chief Executive Ian Wright has warned that a labor shortage in the food industry could mean that consumers may not be able to find the products they want in the supermarkets,” said Verum, “And this food shortage might be a permanent issue.”
“What if the UK runs out of food?” said a shocked Scorch.
“No, that won’t happen,” said Verum, “UK’s supply system has responded to these challenges. One of the solutions they are looking at is the Seasonal Workers Pilot. It’ll be expanded to 30,000 visas for workers to come to the UK for up to six months.”
“That’s a good step,” said Scorch.
“Along with this, the UK is looking into making the process of getting a heavy vehicle driving license much easier,” said Verum.
“Okay, good,” said Scorch.