News / EU votes to examine lowering driver training age and address sustainability challenges

© Sue Martin

Hopes of addressing Europe’s driver-shortage crisis increased after the European Parliament today voted for negotiations in support of industry pleas for training ages to be lowered.

Negotiations will commence between the European Parliament, Council – which has already thrown its support behind the haulage sector’s calls – and the Commission on the revision of driving license rules and the weights directive, which will also ease hauliers’ greening process.

Director of EU advocacy at the IRU Raluca Marian said: “This vote marks a crucial step towards balancing the transport industry’s needs and the EU’s sustainability goals.

“We are encouraged by the European Parliament’s commitment to align these key directives with industry realities while supporting the green transition. We hope that the Council will also support this pragmatic line.”

From industry’s perspective, one of the biggest hurdles in attracting new prospective drivers are minimum-age restrictions surrounding not just driving, but driver training.

In Europe, truck drivers must be at least 21, with training permitted for those aged 18 and above, but, together with hauliers, the IRU has been urging regulators to drop the minimum permitted trainee age to 17, claiming this will allow new school leavers into the profession.

And, with an average driver age of 47, attracting younger talent is considered essential to addressing the bloc’s 600,000-strong driver shortage problem.

Hauliers who have spoken to The Loadstar over the years have not been shy in slamming the regulatory impediments to addressing a crisis that is being seen across not only Europe but in North America and the UK.

However, for smaller firms, many will be watching more closely changes to the weights and dimensions directive, which may alleviate some of the headwinds in the green transition.

Typically, as well as costing more, greener vehicles are larger and weigh more, and thus find themselves in breach of regulations limiting weights and length, leaving hauliers in a catch-22, in which they are penalised for fossil-fuelled trucks but cannot use eco-friendly ones.

One driver told The Loadstar that as far as the regulation surrounding haulage went, it is “clear no one writing the laws understands the industry”.

Contending with additional costs for using fossil-fuelled vehicles, many smaller firms have struggled with the green transition, and in the UK – which has a less severe driver shortage issue – the last five years have seen a sharp decline in the number of new firms surviving.