To add to the above post,
New drivers need 2 years experience in order to get a full time job in most instances.
So to summise, You must take a theory exam and pass, then take your class 2 and pass, then take the class 1 and pass and then take 35 hours of training with no guarantee of work at the end of all that.

Could somebody please enlighten me as to what a young driver would find attractive about all of the above only to be treated like a monkey on very questionable rates of pay and conditions once he/she passes.

The reason females don't want to do the job is because they don't want to sleep in a tin box whilst parked in a pee smelling layby with the cab rocking all night from passing traffic only to wake to slashed curtains, half the load missing and syphoned diesel tanks.

There are no youngsters coming into the industry because of the astronomical costs involved in aquiring the class 1 licence only to be told " you need 2 years experience son".

The ethnic minorities know a bad move when they see it and rightfully avoid the industry like the plague.
Why don't our so called industry experts simply ask the people who are currently doing the job why the industry can not recruit any new blood? the answers are very simple and don't require millions of pounds in taxpayers money to be spent on a consultation excercise.