Impact of UK Lorry Driver's Shortage on Supply Chains and Consumers

Research Methods in
Business Practice

Table of Contents
Topic: The impact of UK lorry driver’s shortage to supply chains and general public consumers during
the last 2 quarters of 2021 and beginning of 2022.......................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Define the business problem....................................................................................................................3
Literature Review covering the concepts, models or theories..................................................................4
Identification of a dataset sourced from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) website that will enable
you to address your chosen business research problem...........................................................................5
Quantitative analysis of the dataset using tools and techniques from the unit with the submission of the
spreadsheet along with your individual written Report............................................................................6
Visualisations of data drawn from your quantitative analysis (e.g. tables, charts, graphs)......................7
Findings.......................................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................11

Topic: The impact of UK lorry driver’s shortage to supply chains and general public
consumers during the last 2 quarters of 2021 and beginning of 2022.
Introduction
Lorries are a crucial vehicle of transportation which is used for the purpose of
transporting the good from one place to other. Here, lorry drivers play an imperative role in order
to maintain consistency in supply chain. They used to transport necessary raw material from one
place to the other so that the customers can receive the goods in timely manner. However, the
customers are facing issues in terms of shortage of supply due to lack of lorry drivers. This is
creating issue for general public (Shen and Sun, 2021). Due to this, consumers are facing
shortage of food & beverage items. During the last quarters of 2021 and beginning of 2022, the
COVID-19 was on the peak which affected the number of lorry drivers within the country. The
study will cover impact of shortage of lorry drivers on the supply chain and general public
within the nation.
Research Question: To analyze the impact of UK lorry driver’s shortage to supply chains and
general public consumers during the last 2 quarters of 2021 and beginning of 2022.
Define the business problem
Lorry drivers play an integral role during transportation. They are likely to perform the
duties of transporting raw material and finish goods from one place to other. Due to the COVID-
19, the country is facing shortage of lorry drivers that will affect the supply of food & beverage.
The UK is facing shortage of 100,000 lorry drivers which is directly affecting the supply chain of
the industry. This issue will affect the business in profound manner. For this purpose, driver
retention scheme is being implemented by several container hauliers so that they can attract new
lorry drivers (Soleimani, 2021). The COVID-19 has been created significant issue in terms of
shortage. Haulage drivers are key workers during pandemic but the crisis affected them
significantly. It is found that the logistic sector was facing the issue related to transportation
before the COVID-19. They were facing the issue in terms of keeping the traditional staff with
the company for longer duration. In addition to this, the limited number of young drivers were
likely to enter within the industry. The respective business problem affected the food and

beverage industry in a profound manner. This affected the supply of food & beverage within the
country (How will the shortage of UK Truck drivers impact businesses, 2022). The general
public was not able to get the timely supply of necessary raw material and finished goods in an
efficient manner. This has become the major business issue in the current period of time.
Literature Review covering the concepts, models or theories
According to Bhattacharyya, Maitra and Deb, 2021, it is analyzed that the current
uncertainty have been enhanced as the drivers are not able to provide the necessary services to
the customers. The professional drivers are older hence they are unable to bear the excessive
work load. Professional drivers are recognized as older and less healthy, workforce. During the
pandemic time, people were facing serious health related issues in terms lack of exercise,
exposure, stress, disturbance and more. In addition to this, the older individuals are likely to get
exposed with different health related issues that affect their working potential significantly.
Apart from this, lack of drivers will cause lack of availability of raw material and finish good
(COVID-19 and the effect on haulage drivers, 2022). Further, it enhances the delivery cost in
significant manner. This will profoundly affect the small retailers as they are not able to offer
timely supply of good to the end users.
Fast model of supply chain
The fast chain model is used by such business entities that are likely to produce finish
products a and offers trendy products to the customers. It is basically a suitable model for such
entities which make changes in their offerings frequently and launch such products in the market.
Basically, they introduce products in the market before trends. In this context, customers are
likely to consider the updation introduce by the company in their products and services(Sheel,
Singh and Nath, 2020). In addition to this, it is about meeting with the fast fashion trends so that
the company can address the need & requirements of buyers in significant manner. The main aim
of implementing such idea is to shorten the launch of idea to launch the product in market.