Due to a shortage of delivery drivers and industrial action due to Brexit, the bar chain Wetherspoon’s is facing a shortage of some beer brands, including Carling, Coors and Heineken.
parent company JD WetherspoonLed by Brexit supporter Tim Martin, confirmed on Wednesday that some of its bars had no beer in stock after customers flagged the issue on social media.
One such post included a picture of a notice posted by a bar chain accusing it of “lack of truck drivers and strike action.”
The Molson Coors Beverage Company, which owns the Carling and Coors brands, confirmed that the shortage of drivers is causing difficulties in the supply of Wetherspoons: “Like many in our great British brewing and bar industry, we have also been hit by a shortage of HGV drivers,” it said.
“Although our supply situation is generally good, there are intermittent pressures in our supply network. Unfortunately, these pressures have affected some of Wetherspoon’s bars. We work with customers and third-party logistics partners around the clock to ensure that The customer’s impact is minimized.”
Eddie Gershon, spokesperson for Wetherspoon, said: “We have encountered some supply issues with Carling and Coors, which means that some bars have no products available. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience caused. We know that the brewer is working hard to resolve this. problem.”
The company later added that due to the strike of the brewer’s drivers, Heineken’s products were initially in short supply, and Heineken provided 6 of the bar group’s 23 draft beers. It said these shortages put pressure on other beer brands, which subsequently ran out in some bars.
The Heineken strike is part of the union’s threatening action on pay and conditions. The union said that the shortage of drivers associated with Brexit should prompt the long-awaited pay increase.
Stuart Gilhespy, the regional organizer of GMB, stated that the union has sent a letter to Carling and Coors’ delivery partner GXO Logistics, asking for a raise in the wages of the drivers who deliver beer in the next few days, otherwise the company will face a strike.
“After Brexit, there is an extreme lack of qualified HGV drivers in the UK. The demand is that such drivers have real power, know their value, and if they don’t get their skills guarantee, they will go elsewhere,” he said.
Wetherspoon’s is the latest in a series of companies to admit that the supply disruption was partly due to a shortage of truck drivers. The difficulty of obtaining work visas in the UK after Brexit, coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic and tax changes, has prompted some drivers to leave the industry or return to their homes in the EU. The demand for home delivery has also intensified competition for drivers.
Grocery chain Iceland says there may be insufficient supply of truck drivers Ruined christmas. Also have McDonald’s cut milkshakes interfere with other restaurants From the menu, and Nando’s Close about 50 restaurants Because of the shortage of chicken.
Supermarkets and other businesses are forced to offer a £1,000 signing bonus to attract qualified drivers.
The British logistics company, which represents cargo owners including supermarkets, estimates that there is a shortage of 90,000 HGV drivers, of which about 25,000 are from the European Union, who have returned home since Brexit. Most importantly, there was a backlog of 45,000 truck driving tests due to Covid-related delays. It is expected that these tests will produce approximately 25,000 drivers.
For JD Wetherspoon, the shortage is particularly embarrassing, it controversially spent nearly 95,000 pounds on purchases of more than 2 million pounds Beer mat And other devices to support vacations during the 2016 referendum.
However, in June, Martin called on the British government to introduce a “reasonable and free immigration system” to help bring in workers from the European Union, because the hotel industry has encountered difficulties in recruiting.
