Warning over Christmas shopping supplies as trucker crisis in Britain deepens    

Supermarkets, processors and farmers have warned that a shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers was straining supply chains to breaking point – making it harder to get goods on to shelves

The British haulage industry says it needs about 100,000 more drivers after 25,000 drivers returned to continental Europe before Brexit and the pandemic halted the qualification process for new workers. File picture

Britain's retail industry has warned the UK government that unless it moves to alleviate an acute shortage of truckers in the next 10 days then significant disruption was inevitable in the run-up to Christmas.

As the world's fifth-largest economy emerges from Covid-19 lockdowns, a spike in European natural gas prices and a post-Brexit shortage of truck drivers have left Britain grappling with soaring energy prices and a potential food supply crunch.