Barnsley East MP Stephanie Peacock has criticised the Government’s ‘sheer incompetence’ over their failure to tackle the HGV driver shortage, which has left shelves bare and petrol forecourts empty.

Parliamentary enquiries by the Barnsley East MP have revealed that the government is not only failing to attract enough new drivers, but existing drivers are being lost due to the Government’s failure to process renewal applications within the DVLA.

The MP’s questions uncovered that the processing time for a renewal application has increased over five fold since 2018 – with 54,191 HGV and bus driver renewal applications currently stuck in a backlog at the DVLA.

It was also revealed that the DVLA still has 308 fewer staff than when the Conservative-led coalition came into power.

The MP accused the Government of ‘having no plan to deal with this crisis.’

Stephanie commented:

‘Whether it is their failure over gas storage; their failure over HGV drivers; or their failure to protect working families from their tax rises and Universal Credit cut – this Government’s sheer incompetence is hammering working families across the country. 

‘Their cost of living crisis is serious. We need a competent Government that will step up, but this administration is failing.’