round a roundabout, stay behind. but this haulage firm fears it will make lorry driving a less attractive job, and the boss says his industry has strict safety rules. they re strongly controlled, and there s big penalties for not complying with those things. the emphasis should be on making people that are at risk think about themselves more, rather than passing the burden of that risk to someone else. motoring groups say it s vital people take time to understand updates which are aimed at driving safer roads for everyone. katy austin, bbc news. downing street has announced plans for the prime minister to travel to eastern europe next week, as the uk steps up diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis between russia and ukraine. borisjohnson s also expected to speak on the phone with russian president vladimir putin, whose forces have been gathering at the border with ukraine in recent weeks. simonjones has this report. preparing for a possible war.
15,000 are european drivers who left the country in the last year. through the pandemic a lot of drivers wanted to go home to be closer to their families, and they really, since the effects of brexit, they haven t wanted to come back. they can earn just as much in places like germany or france, there s no real need to be in the uk. on top of that, during the pandemic, many new drivers couldn t take their hgv licence test. 30,000 tests were delayed last year. at this family owned haulage firm near bristol, the boss is out when i arrive, back behind the wheel. and if it wasn t for me doing the interview today i d be driving myself, because it has become the case, mainly, we re both driving weekly. competition for drivers is fierce, supermarkets paying double rates to keep their trucks moving. and small firms like this have had to put their wages up, too. as of 1st ofjune this year, we had to give our drivers, across the board, about a 25% pay increase,
across most issues relating to the northern ireland protocol, that s the part of the brexit deal designed to avoid a hard border on the island of ireland. the uk and the european union have been holding talks to try to ease the row about trading arrangements for northern ireland, with european from brussels, jessica parker reports. the uk may have left the eu, but britain is still here talking. morning, everybody. because of issues with the treaty that both sides signed up to. our preference is to see if we can find a negotiated way through this problem. if we can t, article 16 remains on the table. that means potentially suspending parts of the protocol. so, how are discussions going? i wouldn t expect any breakthroughs on anything today, but there are some issues that we are making better progress on than others. thanks very much. then in for those talks, which happen in private. a haulage firm in county antrim. they ve had to adjust a post brexit changes, extra paperwork for goods c
more freight around in the uk before returning to their home country. the move is designed to increase deliveries which have been held up as a result of the shortage of hgv drivers. but not everyone is happy with the plans. nina is at a haulage firm in cheshire for us. it s about talking to people who do the job, it s about talking to people who do thejob, so it s about talking to people who do the job, so what is the picture there? it the job, so what is the picture there? ., , , ., the job, so what is the picture there? . , , ., ., ,, there? it really is, and you talk about moving there? it really is, and you talk about moving freight there? it really is, and you talk about moving freight around i there? it really is, and you talk| about moving freight around the there? it really is, and you talk i about moving freight around the uk and i want to show you it s not that straightforward. this is one truck, and they don t know what is there until they pulled back the curtain and the
containers is easing. 0ne majorfirm, maersk, has diverted its largest ships to ports in belgium and the netherlands. the port blamed the shortage of haulage drivers, brexit border changes, and the pandemic. graham satchell reports. a logjam at felixstowe, the uk s biggest commercial port. the situation is so serious some larger ships are being re routed to other ports in europe. morning, mate. how are you doing? morning. i m 0k. you? adam searle runs a haulage firm with 85 lorries. instead of taking empty containers back to felixstowe as normal, he s had to take them to liverpool as there is no space. there is a massive backlog of deliveries created by the driver shortage, brexit and a number of other things. it has just all created a perfect storm. in normal circumstances it takes two or three days for a container to be collected and driven away once it has been unloaded to the dock. the so called dwell time is now closer to ten days. the worry now is what impact