About 250 HGV drivers at Northampton supermarket warehouse set to get more than 25 per cent pay increase

Around 250 HGV drivers at a supermarket warehouse in Northampton are set to get more than a 25 per cent increase to their pay packet.

Wincanton Sainsbury's in Swan Valley and the USDAW union are currently thrashing out the deal which would see the drivers receive a base line hourly rate of £18.

David Thom, who is spearheading the negotiations on behalf of USDAW, has described the deal as 'significant' and 'positive'.

He said: "What we negotiated is a two-year deal with Wincanton Sainsbury's which has meant that drivers there are due to receive a 25.7 per cent pay rise.

"It's a significant increase in working terms and conditions that members positively voted in favour of.

"The reason for the deal is there has been a significant slump in availability of HGV drivers and Wincanton Sainsbury's needed to recruit another 100 drivers [which would take the total to 250]. So to do that, we negotiated an increase to get drivers on to the site.

"Sainsbury's has also had a successful pandemic and are looking to expand.

"It's a very positive agreement between the company and ourselves."

The deal is still awaiting implementation but is thought to be put in place soon.

Some drivers could see themselves on an annual salary of £49,000, according to USDAW. A pay increase for the 500 warehouse workers on the site has also been negotiated by USDAW, he said.

Wincanton has declined to comment on the deal.

HGV driver issues across the UK

There has been a lorry driver shortage across the UK reportedly brought on by the effects of Covid and Brexit.

The shortage of lorry drivers has recently caused havoc to petrol stations which caused shortages at forecourts both in Northampton and across the country.

Just this month (October 4), ministers deployed armed forces personnel to plug gaps in the petrol supply chain.

There have also been warnings that disruption to festive preparations will be “inevitable” if progress is not made to solve the shortfall of around 90,000 lorry drivers.