‘I will never go back’: Eastern European truckers not returning to UK after Brexit
-Working conditions, tax changes and Covid also contribute to labour shortage

“我永远不会回去”：东欧卡车司机在英国脱欧后不再回到英国
——工作条件、税收变化和新冠疫情也导致了劳动力短缺


(Rush hour on the UK’s M1 motorway.)

（英国M1高速公路的交通流量高峰期。）
新闻：

After 14 years working as a lorry driver in the UK, Zsolt Gabor hung up his keys at the end of March and went back to Hungary for good.

在英国干了14年的卡车司机后，若尔特·伽柏在3月底交掉了钥匙，永久地回到了匈牙利。

Conditions had become unbearable during the coronavirus pandemic, which along with the effects of Brexit has left Britain at least 90,000 truck drivers short, manifesting itself in growing supply chain problems.

在大流行期间，情况变得难以忍受，再加上英国脱欧的影响，英国至少缺少9万名卡车司机，供应链问题日益严重。

Gabor said the shortage of drivers, and problems trying to find a flight back to Hungary because of pandemic restrictions, effectively meant his final shift in the UK lasted three months with only the mandatory minimum breaks. He was never off for more than 45 hours.

伽柏说，司机短缺，以及由于疫情限制而无法找到航班返回匈牙利，实际上意味着他在英国的最后一次轮班持续了三个月，只有强制性的最低休息时间。他从未休息过超过45小时。

At the height of the pandemic that meant his lorry’s cab was his home. The final straw came when a policeman ordered him back into his truck citing lockdown restrictions. “I was not even allowed to take a walk at the end of my shift,” he said. With a bad back and a family waiting back in Hungary, Gabor decided he had had enough.

在疫情最严重的时候，他的卡车驾驶室就是他的家。“最后一根稻草”是：一名警察以封锁限制为由命令他回到卡车上。他说：“他们甚至不让我在下班后下车散步。”背伤缠身，又有家人在匈牙利等着他，伽柏觉得自己已经受够了。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Logistics UK, the trade body for hauliers, said Britain had a chronic driver shortage for many years, but the problem was now acute. Industry leaders have called on the government to add heavy goods vehicle drivers to its shortage occupation list, which would give foreign hauliers an exemption from post-Brexit immigration rules that bar them from being hired.

英国物流协会表示，英国多年来一直存在司机短缺的问题，但现在这个问题很严重。行业领袖呼吁政府将重型货车司机列入紧缺职业名单，这将使外国货车司机免受英国脱欧后禁止雇佣他们的移民规定的限制。

The government has not completely ruled out taking action but late last month Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, wrote to business leaders urging them to hire UK-based workers instead, pointing out that foreign labour offered only “a short-term, temporary solution”.

政府并未完全排除采取行动的可能性，但上月末，英国商务大臣克瓦西·克瓦滕致信商界领袖，敦促他们转而聘用英国本地的员工，并指出外国劳工只能提供“一个短期、临时的解决方案”。

Even if an exemption was granted, it seems unlikely many of those that have left the UK will return so readily. The Financial Times has spoken to dozens of eastern European HGV drivers who used to work in Britain but have gone elsewhere to work.

即使获得豁免，许多已经离开英国的人似乎也不太可能如此轻易地再回来。英国《金融时报》采访了数十名东欧货车司机，他们曾在英国工作，但现已前往其他地方工作。

Many cite similar tales of poor working conditions for quitting but other reasons include poor wages compounded by a tax reform, known as IR35, that prevented most drivers from operating as limited companies, resulting in a significant cut to take-home pay.

许多人提到了类似的辞职原因，即工作条件差，但其他原因包括工资低，再加上一项名为IR35的税制改革，该改革阻止大多数司机以有限公司的形式经营，导致实得工资大幅下降。

Add to that Brexit. For truckers, that meant endless paperwork, including customs procedures they were never trained for and queues at the border. Other issues included the need to take UK driving exams that many truckers did not have the language skills for, along with a more hostile attitude to foreigners in Britain.

再加上英国脱欧。对卡车司机来说，这意味着没完没了的文件手续，包括他们从未接受过培训的海关手续和在边境排队。其他问题包括需要参加英国的驾驶考试，而许多卡车司机不具备这方面的语言技能，以及英国对外国人的态度更加敌视。

Moreover, Europe as a whole is short of truckers. “It is a global driver shortage across Europe, not an isolated problem of one country,” said Zsolt Barna, chief executive of Waberer’s, one of eastern Europe’s largest hauliers based in Budapest.

此外，作为一个整体，欧洲缺乏卡车司机。“这是整个欧洲的全球司机短缺问题，而不是一个国家的孤立问题，”总部位于布达佩斯的东欧最大货运公司之一Waberer 's的首席执行官佐索特·巴纳说。

He pointed out that Romania, an important source of truckers for the UK over the years, was 20,000 drivers short — out of a population of 20 million.

他指出，多年来一直是英国重要的卡车司机来源国的罗马尼亚，却少了2万名司机——该国只有2000万人口。

For the EU drivers that have left but still have the right to return and live in the UK, the prospects of higher pay that some UK companies are now offering was not enough. Many said they had already found work elsewhere on higher wages and in a better working environment.

对于已经离开但仍有权返回英国并在英国生活的欧盟司机来说，一些英国公司目前提供的更高薪酬前景是不够的。许多人表示，他们已经在别处找到了工资更高、工作环境更好的工作。

Peter Kovecs, another Hungarian, lasted two years in England. After inheriting his family’s farm he came to the UK to earn money to reinvest in the business and had planned to stay for longer. But after his experience he said nothing would tempt him back.

另一位匈牙利人彼得·科维奇在英国呆了两年。在继承了家族农场后，他来到英国赚钱，再投资于企业，并计划在英国呆更长时间。但在经历了这些之后，他说没有什么能再吸引他回来了。

“They bullied us while the drivers kept coming,” Kovecs said. “Now they are begging us.” Once he had saved £60,000 he decided to go home even though that was below the target he had set himself. “I will never go back. I like England, it’s a great country, I will take the family there one day, but to work, the way they treat people? Never again.”

科维奇说：“在（欧盟）司机不断过来的时候，他们欺负我们。现在他们在求我们。”当他攒下6万英镑后，他决定回家，尽管这低于他为自己设定的目标。“我再也不回英国了。我喜欢英国，这是一个伟大的国家，有一天我会带我的家人去那里，但至于工作，还有他们对待人的方式？没有以后了。”

Krzysztof, who declined to give his surname, worked for four years in the UK before returning to Poland in 2020. His wife became pregnant and they decided they wanted the child to be raised in their homeland.

拒绝透露自己姓氏的克日什托夫，他在英国工作了四年，于2020年回到波兰。他的妻子怀孕了，他们决定让孩子留在他们的祖国长大。

He drives trucks in Poland and Germany and has no plans to return to the UK permanently, even if the pay was better. He said IR35 was the final straw for him and many Polish drivers he knew.

他在波兰和德国开卡车，并没有永久返回英国的计划，即使工资更高。他说IR35改革对他和他认识的许多波兰司机来说是“最后一根稻草”。

“From what I know, many drivers came back [to Poland] because they could no longer work as independent contractors. Most of the people that I know [in the UK] want to come back, invest their money in Poland.”

“据我所知，许多司机回到（波兰）是因为他们无法再作为独立承包商工作。我认识的（在英国开车的）大多数人都想回来，把钱投资到波兰。”

In contrast, after living in the UK for eight years, where he worked mostly in warehouses, Jakub Burzykowski had intended to return after going home to Poland to obtain an HGV licence.

相比之下，雅各布·伯兹科夫斯基在英国生活了8年，在那里他主要在仓库工作，他本打算在回到波兰考到卡车驾照后回英国（开车）。

“I heard that the wages [of truck drivers] in the UK were great and there was a shortage of drivers so there shouldn’t be any problem with finding a job,” he said.

他表示：“我听说英国（卡车司机）的工资很高，而且司机短缺，所以找工作应该不成问题。”

But on his return earlier this year he was refused entry and deported due to a mix-up over his right to work in the UK, known as EU settled status. He now works in Germany. “What would make Polish drivers choose the UK instead of Germany? Simplified visa procedures. From what I read, there was some pressure on the British government to simplify it, but they said no.”

但今年早些时候，他回国时被拒绝入境，并被驱逐出境，原因是他搞混了他在英国工作的权利，即所谓的“欧盟定居身份”。他现在在德国工作。“为什么（以前）波兰司机会选择英国而不是德国？因为签证手续简单。据我所知，（现在）英国政府受到了一些要求简化手续的压力，但他们拒绝了。”

He added: “I really wanted to work in the UK, I have some friends and a part of my family lives there... I miss it.”

他补充道：“我真的很想在英国工作，我有一些朋友和家人在那里生活……我想念它。”

Dan Myers, managing director of transport in UK and Ireland at XPO Logistics, urged the government to reconsider adding lorry drivers to the shortage occupation list. “As a short-term, interim solution, it’s a sensible, pragmatic way,” he said.

XPO物流公司英国和爱尔兰运输部总经理丹·迈尔斯敦促政府重新考虑将卡车司机列入短缺职业名单。“作为一个短期、临时的解决方案，这是一种明智、务实的方式，”他说。

But Kieran Smith, chief executive of Driver Require, a recruitment agency, disagreed. “If we work on the basis of bringing back foreign workers as the solution, then we are grievously misguided,” he said, noting that it was better to focus on attracting back some of the 300,000 Brits who hold HGV licences but have quit.

但招聘机构Driver Require的首席执行官基兰·史密斯这么认为。他说：“如果我们的工作基础是把外国工人带回英国作为解决方案，那我们就被严重误导了。”他指出，最好把重点放在吸引回30万持有卡车驾照但已经辞职的英国司机当中的一部分。

He pointed to Office for National Statistics data that showed at the start of the pandemic about 40,000 of the 300,000 truck drivers in the UK were from the EU. By the end of March 2021, that figure had halved to around 20,000, but about 5,000 had returned since April.

他指出，英国国家统计局的数据显示，疫情开始时，英国30万卡车司机中约有4万名来自欧盟。到2021年3月底，这一数字已减半至约2万人，但自4月以来约有5000人返回。

The ONS also found that 50,000 UK-based drivers had left the profession since the pandemic began, mainly those over 45. “My hypothesis is that these older drivers had been stood down during the pandemic, or were isolating from Covid-19, and then realised they didn’t want to come back to it at their age,” he said.

英国国家统计局还发现，自疫情开始以来，有5万名英国司机离开了这个行业，主要是45岁以上的人。他说：“我的假设是，这些年长的司机在大流行期间被禁止驾驶，或者被隔离以防感染，然后意识到他们不希望在这个年龄再次上路驾驶了。”

For Gabor, his decision to quit trucking pushed him into driver recruitment back in Hungary after his former British employer asked him for help to find a replacement. Ultimately, though, the post-Brexit immigration rules have meant his agency, RightDriver, ended up focusing on Ireland.

对于伽柏来说，在他决定退出卡车运输业，而他的前英国雇主请求他帮助寻找替代人选后，促使他回到匈牙利招聘司机。然而，英国脱欧后的移民规定最终意味着他的机构RightDriver最终聚焦于爱尔兰。

He has begun tapping drivers in non-EU Balkan states, including Serbia and North Macedonia, and said if they could not work in Ireland they would be available to work in the UK. “They would just have to lift the restrictions already.”

他已开始接触塞尔维亚和北马其顿等非欧盟巴尔干国家的司机，并表示，如果他们无法在爱尔兰工作，可以到英国工作。“但他们必须先取消这些限制。”