The Department for Transport (DfT) has sent out one million letters to HGV licence holders across the UK urging people to leave their jobs to become a lorry driver.
NHS paramedics have been sent the letter which has urged them to leave their front line roles to drive lorries which will help to ease the fuel crisis.
Government Minister’s are being accused of trying to “poach” qualified paramedics away from the NHS which already has a shortage of staff and is heavily underfunded.
The starting salary for a paramedic is £12,00 the average salary for a paramedic is £27,312, whilst HGV drivers can earn up to £24,000, but many companies are paying over £70,000 for new staff.
You just never know where or when the next career development opportunities will arise…..#ambulancedriver pic.twitter.com/MuhNERAXrY
— James Yates (@heli_med_james) September 29, 2021
A student paramedic said, “Yesterday, I joked about the HGV letter I received from the Government.
“Today I do not have enough money to cover my rent, for the first time in my adult life.
“This week I have worked a total of 52 and a half hours over four days. And I cannot afford to pay my rent.
“I am so close to throwing the last three and a half years of study and hard work away.
“With my class 2 HGV licence I could earn three times my current salary and never have to worry about paying my rent again, in fact, I would be in a better position for a mortgage.”
The DfT letter says, “If you are no longer working in this sector, we would like to take this opportunity to ask you to consider returning.
“Your valuable skills and experience have never been more needed than they are now.
“There are fantastic HGV driving opportunities in the logistics industry and conditions of employment and pay have been improving across the sector.
“As well as attractive pay rates, we are seeing more options for flexible working, fixed hours, fixed days, full-time and part-time.”
A spokesperson for the DfT said, “The letter was automatically sent to almost one million people with HGV driving licences, and it was impossible to narrow the copy-list by profession due to personal data protection.”
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