Skip to main content

Brexit-Fuel Scarcity: UK launches special visas for truck drivers and farmers

The United Kingdom has launched a special visa scheme for immigrant lorry drivers, farmers and poultry workers as the country faces labour shortages.

UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, says the scheme would ease the effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s haulage and food industry.

The UK is presently suffering a severe shortage of lorry and fuel tanker drivers, which has disrupted fuel and goods deliveries. Supermarkets and petrol stations have complained over low supply due to the unavailability of lorry drivers to deliver fuel and goods.

According to the BBC, lengthy queues were spotted in some petrol stations on Sunday morning in London while other stations put up signposts saying they had no fuel.

There are reports that the shortage of truck drivers was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an ageing workforce, Brexit, low income and poor working conditions. And the situation may worsen with Christmas festivities in view.

To solve the shortage of truck drivers, the UK government is now offering three months visas to drivers from Nigeria and other nationalities. More than 10,000 drivers and poultry workers are to be recruited ahead of Christmas to avert disruption in the deliveries of fuel and other goods.

The recruitment process starts in October, and successful applicants would work in the UK until Christmas Eve when their visas expire. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Alleged Lagos deadly cult leader "okoko danger" arrested

The Lagos State Police Command says it has arrested a suspected leader of the Aiye confraternity, a secret cult group in the state, who it identified simply as Shola. The suspect was said to be widely known in cult circles in the Mile 2-Badagry expressway axis as Okoko Danger. The Command announced it also arrested four other suspected members of the dreaded gang, namely Idris Musa, 19; Oluwaseyi Oguntobi, 23; Ramon Adebimpe, 18; and Saheed Kareem, 19. The police alleged that Shola, who they described as “’a deadly and notorious armed robber”, was behind the many killings in the Okokomaiko, Igando, Isheri-Osun and Ikotun areas of the state. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, told journalists yesterday at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, that on February 27, 2020 at about 4.20pm, police operatives from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, acting on credible intelligence, stormed a hideout at Iyana-Iba, where Shola and his gang members were said to be hibernating. “Four l

Lekki Tollgate incident can be equated to a mas*acre — Lagos ENDSARS Panel

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Ab*ses and Other Matters (Lagos EndSARS Panel) has reported the Lekki Tollgate sh*otings of October 20, 2020, as a mas*acre. The panel indicted soldiers and implicated Nigeria’s security agents in the k*lling and forced disappearances of harmless and unarmed youths protesting at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020. The Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel made the revelation in a 309-page report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Monday, November 14. According to the report, nine protesters were confirmed d*ad while four others were presumed d*ad. The report listed 48 names as those who were casualties of the Lekki incident. Among the 48 casualties listed, 24 sustained g*nshot injuries, while 15 others were as*aulted by soldiers and police. “At  the  Lekki  Toll  Gate, officers of the Nigerian Army sh*t, injured  and k*lled unarmed helpless and defenseless protesters, with

EFCC releases Obi Cubana after three nights in custody

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has finally released businessman Obi Cubana.  He was arrested and taken to the headquarters of the anti-graft agency, Jabi, Abuja, on Monday, November 1, following allegations of money laundering and tax fr*ud. He was, however, released on Thursday evening, November 4, after he had spent three days in detention undergoing interrogations. According to the spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the release to reporters on Thursday night, Cubana was allowed to go after the crack detectives of the commission completed their questioning.