WETHERSPOONS is facing a shortage of some beer brands amid a UK-wide shortage of HGV drivers linked to Brexit.
The pub chain is the latest company to struggle with shortages caused by the lack of lorry drivers, as McDonald’s couldn’t offer any Milkshakes and Nando’s was forced to close restaurants due to having too little chicken in recent weeks.
The boss of the Co-op described shortages as at a “worse level than at any time I have seen” as supermarket shelves were left empty too.
Last week Richard Walker, the managing director of Iceland, said shortages were a “self-inflicted wound” that would worsen and explicitly linked them to Brexit.
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Despite the shortage of HGV drivers after workers returned to their home countries after Brexit – the UK is about 100,000 short according to some estimates – the UK Government appears reluctant to implement changes to the visa system.
Shortages are now affecting Wetherspoons, run by Brexiteer Tim Martin. The company chairman was a keen campaigner for leaving the EU and even printed out beer mats calling on punters to “take back control” ahead of the 2016 referendum.
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Images on social media showed signs in one pub warning there was no Carling, Coors or Bud Light “due to supply issues regards to lack of lorry drivers and strike action which are out of our control”.
A Wetherspoons spokesman told Metro: “We are experiencing some supply problems with both Carling and Coors, which means that some pubs do not have the products available.
“We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.
“We know that the brewers are trying to resolve the issue.”
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