JD Wetherspoon has become the latest victim of the supply chain crisis with bosses yesterday confirming a nationwide beer shortage due to a lack of delivery staff fuelled by Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
The pub chain was forced to issue a public apology on Wednesday after admitting a number of its 837 outlets had run short of popular brands, including Carling, Coors and Heineken.
The shortage is linked to both a 90,000 shortfall in lorry drivers triggered by Brexit and industrial action. Put simply, a lack of staff means the chain is unable to receive deliveries – which in turn halts the supply chain.
Wetherspoons, which is led by the vocal Brexit-supporter Tim Martin, confirmed yesterday that some stocks of Carling and Coors were depleted.
Have you seen a shortage in your local pub? Get in touch: emma.munbodh@mirror.co.uk
It came after customers flagged the issue on social media with many sharing images of ‘no stock’ signs on barrels inside branches. Others said they were turned away at the bar.
Spokesman Eddie Gershon said: "We are experiencing some supply problems with both Carling and Coors, which means that some pubs do not have the products available. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused. We know that the brewers are trying to resolve the issue."
The company said it had initially run short of products supplied by Heineken, which provides six of its 23 draught beers, as a result of industrial action by the brewer's drivers.
It said those shortages had put pressure on other beer brands which had then run out in some pubs.
The Heineken strike is part of a wave of threatened action over pay and conditions by unions who say Brexit-related shortages of drivers should prompt a long-overdue pay rise.
But Molson Coors, the brewer for Carling and Coors, blamed it on a "HGV driver shortage".
Molson Coors confirmed that driver shortages had led to difficulties in supplying Wetherspoon's. "Like many in our great British brewing and pub sector we have been hit by the HGV driver shortage," it said.
"While overall our availability is good, there are intermittent pockets of pressure in our supply network that are unfortunately affecting a number of Wetherspoon's pubs."
Difficulties in getting visas to work in the UK post-Brexit have combined with the pandemic and tax changes to prompt some drivers to leave the trade or return to the EU.
Supermarkets and other businesses have been offering sign-on bonuses of £1,000 to tempt qualified drivers.
In June Martin, who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU, called on the UK government to introduce a "reasonably liberal immigration system" to help bring in workers in from Europe.
It came despite the pub boss calling time on several popular drinks on its menu to make way for British-made brands.
Driver and factory staff shortages, attributed to Brexit employment rules and the pandemic, have also impacted supplies at McDonald's, Nando's and KFC in recent weeks.
Bosses at the Road Haulage Association warned last week that there was a shortfall of around 90,000 drivers, as thousands of Europeans left during the pandemic and have not returned.
They have called on the Government to add drivers to its Shortage Occupation List to make it easier for overseas workers to address the shortfall.
Why is there a shortage of HGV lorry drivers?
- Covid: Many drivers returned to their home countries during the pandemic and haven’t returned. This issue was exacerbated by a sudden surge in self-isolation alerts from the government’s Track and Trace app known as ‘pingdemic’.
- Brexit: Brexit has effectively ended recruitment from the EU, with the government so far rejected the case for providing temporary visas for EU truck drivers.
- Retirement: Long periods of inactivity has resulted in many older drivers retiring early.
- Test shortage: The complete shutdown of vocational driving tests resulted in 30,000 cancellations which meant new drivers weren’t joining the market.
- IR35: New tax rules in the private sector on contracted staff has resulted in a fall in agency labour because it's become too expensive. To put it simply, IR35 legislation prevents drivers from operating through limited companies in order to save tax and NI Contributions.
