Farms dump milk due to lack of lorry drivers
Farms dump milk due to lack of lorry drivers
A dairy farm in the Moorlands has had to tip away a whole days worth of milk due to a shortage of lorry drivers. As the nation continues with its apparent shortage of HGV drivers, a farm in Ipstones, run by the Gould family, was apparently not the only one in the area which had to dump litres of milk due to the driver shortage at the weekend.
A dairy farm in the Moorlands has had to tip away a whole days worth of milk due to a shortage of lorry drivers.
As the nation continues with its apparent shortage of HGV drivers, a farm in Ipstones, run by the Gould family, was apparently not the only one in the area which had to dump litres of milk due to the driver shortage at the weekend.
Müller Milk & Ingredients purchase the milk from the Gould’s farm and use SJ Bargh hauliers to collect it.
Farmer’s wife Sue Gould posted on Facebook on Saturday (September 4) about the issue. She said: “For those of you who don’t think the driver shortage is affecting anything – a whole days milk down the drain, because there’s nobody to collect it.
“When you think of how much has gone into producing it – it’s sickening. Yes, apparently we’re getting compensation, but that doesn’t make it any better in my eyes.
“By down the drain, I mean into the dirty water tank, not entering the water course.”
Sue further told the Times & Echo: “My Facebook post was originally just to show the general public what’s happening, but having read lots of comments, it seems lots of drivers feel they’re not paid well enough, or treated properly. Something needs to change.
“The supermarkets are mainly to blame, in my opinion. They want the haulage for the cheapest price, the farmers get paid a pittance, and they make all the profit.”
Sue added: “This is the first time it’s happened at our farm, which is my husband’s family farm, but obviously we are now concerned that it could happen again if nothing is sorted.
“Yes, Muller have promised to compensate up to the value of the milk we had to dump, but I still think it’s just a terrible waste.”
Another dairy farm in the Moorlands area also posted about the issue on Facebook, they stated in a post at the weekend: “We have 1,600 litres of fresh unpasteurised milk to give away.
“Due to driver shortage, the dairy cannot collect. If you don’t come and pick it up, it will be dumped.”
The Times & Echo contacted Müller Milk & Ingredients to which a spokesperson said: “Thanks to the commitment and loyalty of our colleagues, our inbound milk and outbound distribution logistics teams continue to perform very well, despite the industry wide driver shortage.
“The vast majority of our logistics operations are in-house, and this model is helping us maintain service levels, with 99.8 per cent successful deliveries to customers in the last few weeks.
“Due to higher than anticipated sickness absence at one of our third-party hauliers, it was unable to pick up raw milk from a handful of farms over the weekend. This was a localised issue and all farms who have been affected have been contacted.”
The Times & Echo also contacted the haulier firm SJ Bargh, which Muller uses to collect milk from the Gould’s and other farms in the area. A representative at the company replied stating that they had “no comment at this time.”
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