Lancashire school dinners affected by lorry driver shortage

You might have heard about how petrol has been affected by the shortage of lorry drivers - and now school dinners at some Lancashire schools are also feeling the impact.

About 500 schools in the county will be offering a reduced lunch menu from next week due to food deliveries being disrupted.

But education bosses have promised that each child will have a healthy meal every day while they are waiting for food deliveries to arrive.

It is hoped the changes will only be in place for a couple of weeks, with a full menu back up and running after half-term.

Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers transport items between different locations. They move goods using huge lorries and spend lots of time on the roads - but at the moment there are not enough of them to keep deliveries going.

It's estimated that the UK currently needs about 100,000 more HGV drivers to be able to carry out the deliveries needed across different industries.

This includes petrol, and food deliveries - not just to schools but also to places like supermarkets.

There are worries that lots of older drivers are now looking to retire and the industry isn't attracting younger people.

The coronavirus pandemic has also meant that lots of drivers from Europe went back home due to travel restrictions, and very few have returned.

Changes brought in by Brexit have also made travelling through UK borders more difficult and time consuming for drivers.

Senior government ministers say they have been working hard to find a solution and have agreed to allow 5,000 temporary visas for foreign fuel tankers and food lorry drivers.

This means they will be able to work in the UK for three months, until Christmas Eve.

From Monday, some of these Lancashire schools will focus on providing jacket potatoes, soups and sandwiches rather than a full menu.

Fresh fruit will still be available, as well as yogurt, daily dessert options, organic milk and drinking water.

Lancashire Country Council (LCC) normally provide around 65,000 school meals a day.

Councillor Jayne Rear, Member for Education and Skills at LCC, said they were reducing the menu for all schools in the area to make it fair for everybody.

She said it had been "so, so difficult to recruit drivers" but that they "are doing all we can".

As the fourth largest authority in England, LCC procures a large amount of food and drink, with 80% of meals freshly prepared and cooked in school kitchens.

The authority said it has strict specifications for its school meals, and that all of its suppliers are classified as "local" while 75% of the food it purchases is produced in the UK.

Julie Goodwin, headteacher of St Lawrence CE Primary School in Barton, said: "I'm happy the menu we are providing meets all the nutritional requirements.

"We are going to try and jig it around a little bit.

"The bottom line is that they are going to get a warm meal and there will be a variety. We know our children well and we will be able to cater for everybody."