The boss of supermarket giant Iceland has given a bleak warning to anyone who shops in its stores.
Richard Walker, managing director of the frozen foods retailer, has said price rises for customers are 'inevitable' due to HGV shortages affecting business, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Mr Walker went on to explain how wages are being increased for lorry drivers by supply companies to attract more workers.
This combined with various other factors could lead to a price hike, with consumers paying more for their weekly shop.
Speaking to Sky News, he added: “I think inevitably it will lead to some form of inflation because this driver issue is affecting the whole supply chain.
"It's not just affecting our part of it, which is from the depots to the shops.
“It's also affecting the suppliers into the depots or the produce from the fields into the supplier.”
The comments from Mr Walker come just days after he warned how ongoing delivery issues could effectively "cancel" Christmas this year.
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Supermarkets including Tesco and Asda have also started introducing a £1,000 starting bonus for new recruits, while M&S is advertising a £2,000 incentive - according to the Mirror.
Waitrose, meanwhile, this week started offering a salary of up to £53,000 for new lorry drivers.
Companies are also struggling to meet demand due to the lack of workers, with McDonald’s, Wetherspoons and Nando’s all hit by shortages in recent weeks.
About 14,000 European lorry drivers left the UK last year and only 600 have returned, statistics suggest.
There is also understood to be a large backlog in HGV driver tests, again because of the pandemic, meaning it's been harder to get new drivers on the road.
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