Waitrose is offering lorry drivers the same salaries as senior executives after a national shortage caused widespread supply chain issues across the UK.

The supermarket told Yahoo News it is prepared to pay Large Good Vehicle (LGV) drivers an average salary of £45,000 for a 45 to 48 hour week.

It comes as the same salary for roles like a senior SEO executive in London, which is currently being advertised for up to £45,000.

A specific shift pattern in Bracknell will even be paid £53,780 a year, which would be higher than senior executive roles, a pension specialist and a finance analyst roles at Waitrose.

Read: Politicians and military 'culpable' for going into war without 'thinking fully about the consequences', former RAF officer says

In a statement, Waitrose said: "The salary increases - which follow a review of LGV driver rates in the Partnership - are designed to ensure that both retailers can continue to recruit LGV drivers at market competitive rates." 

In July, the NHS contact tracing app caused mayhem as hundreds of thousands of workers were "pinged" so that they had to self-isolate. 

The disruption was among several factors that has led to a shortage in lorry drivers, causing delays to supermarket deliveries with photos showing empty shelves in stores across the UK.

Waitrose said that 900 drivers already employed by the supermarket will benefit from the up to £5,000 pay increase. 

Meanwhile, new drivers will get a £1,000 joining bonus as it tackles the staff shortages. 

In a statement, Mark Robinson, Director of Supply Chain for the John Lewis Partnership, said: “There’s never been a better time to get behind the wheel for Waitrose and John Lewis. 

"We’re responding quickly to the national driver shortage by ensuring our drivers are paid competitively and by investing in training for the future.

“These changes will mean that we can continue to serve our customers well and get them the products they need.” Yahoo News

A bomb attack at Kabul airport in Afghanistan yesterday made an already difficult evacuation operation even harder as it entered into its final hours.

Evacuation flights have been taking place since the Taliban took hold of the country two weeks ago, but Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said it is likely that people eligible to be resettled in the UK will be left behind as the effort is in its "final hours".

The final British flights out of Afghanistan were set to leave on Friday.

Wallace told Sky News: "We at 4.30 this morning, UK-time, closed the Baron Hotel, shut the processing centre and the gates were closed at Abbey Gate.

"We will process the people that we've brought with us, the 1,000 people approximately in the airfield now and we will seek a way to continue to find a few people in the crowds where we can, but overall the main processing is now closed and we have a matter of hours.

"The sad fact is not every single one will get out.

"The threat is obviously going to grow the closer we get to leaving."

Many countries have been involved in the evacuation process, desperately trying to repatriate their citizens and offer refuge for Afghans who have worked with them during the 20-year occupation. 

The United States, Great Britain and Germany have enabled the most amount of people to flee the country. But it has been a global effort.

Here are the details of the evacuation effort by country:

UK

So far, Britain has evacuated more than 13,700 British nationals and Afghans, representing the second biggest airlift by the country's air force after the Berlin Airlift in 1949, the ministry said.

US

Around 105,000 people have been evacuated by the US since 14 August the White House said on Friday.

Germany

The German military evacuated 5,347 people, including more than 4,100 Afghans.

France

The French Defence Ministry said that more than 100 French nationals and more than 2,500 Afghans had reached French soil after being evacuated from Kabul.

Italy

Italy said that 4,832 Afghans had been brought out of Afghanistan by their military.

Watch: Interpreters unable to escape describe terror as they hide from Taliban

 

 

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Sweden

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Friday a total of 1,100 people had been evacuated, including all locally employed embassy staff and their families.

Belgium

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said just over 1,400 people were evacuated by Belgian forces.

Ireland

Ireland's foreign ministry evacuated 36 Irish citizens but is aware of approximately 60 Irish citizens and family members plus a further 15 Afghan citizens with Irish residency who are still in the country and have requested assistance.

Canada

Canadian forces in Kabul ended evacuation efforts for their citizens and Afghans on Thursday.

|cting chief of the defence staff General Wayne Eyre said they had evacuated or facilitated the evacuation of around 3,700 Canadian and Afghan citizens.

Turkey

Turkey has evacuated at least 1,400 people from Afghanistan, including around 1,000 Turkish citizens.

Spain

Over the course of its rescue mission Spain evacuated 1,898 Afghans who had worked with Western countries, the United Nations or the European Union.

Poland

Poland has evacuated roughly 900 people from Afghanistan, including around 300 women and 300 children.

Hungary

Hungary airlifted 540 people, including Hungarian citizens and Afghans and their families who worked for Hungarian forces previously.

Denmark

Denmark has airlifted around 1,000 people from Afghanistan including diplomatic staff, their families, former interpreters, Danish citizens and people from allied countries, its defence ministry said.

Netherlands

The Dutch government said it had evacuated 2,500 people from Afghanistan.

Austria

Austria relied on Germany and other countries to help with its evacuation. So far 89 people with Austrian citizenship or residency have been airlifted out, while another two to three dozen people are still in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told national broadcaster ORF on Wednesday.

Switzerland

Switzerland, also relying on Germany and the United States to help with its evacuation efforts, has got 292 people out of Afghanistan, but 15 Swiss citizens remain in Afghanistan with no more Swiss evacuation flights planned.

Qatar

Qatar said on Thursday it had so far helped evacuate more than 40,000 people to Doha and "evacuation efforts will continue in the coming days in consultation with international partners."

UAE

The UAE said it had helped evacuate 36,500 people to date, including 8,500 coming to the UAE via its national carriers or airports.

India

India has airlifted 565 people, most of them embassy personnel and citizens living there but also dozens of Afghans including Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, a government official said on condition of anonymity.

Australia

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that Australia had evacuated 4,100 people, including over 3,200 citizens and Afghans with Australian visas. Morrison acknowledged some Australian visa holders remain in Afghanistan, though he said Canberra did not know exact numbers.

New Zealand

New Zealand’s Defence Force (NZDF) ran three flights out of Kabul and according to preliminary numbers, at least 276 New Zealand nationals and permanent residents, their families and other visa holders were evacuated, it said. Yahoo News

JUBA – The IMF has loaned $334 million (284 million euros) to South Sudan, the country’s central bank governor said Tuesday, as its ailing economy teeters from a currency crisis and soaring inflation.

It is the third time in a year the Washington DC-based lender has extended financial aid to the troubled country, which ran out of foreign exchange reserves last year when oil prices fell sharply.

The price slump, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, deprived the fragile government in Juba of much-needed revenue and sent its currency into freefall.

Earlier this year, one US dollar was fetching 700 South Sudanese Pounds on the black market – the weakest exchange rate since independence a decade ago.

Central Bank Governor Dier Tong Ngor said the IMF loan would “substantially boost” foreign reserves and allow room to try and recover in the midst of the pandemic.

“The increase in reserves will help build external resilience and sustain the current reforms in the foreign exchange market,” Ngor said in a statement seen by AFP.

South Sudan is emerging from five years of civil bloodshed that left 380,000 dead and shattered its economy, which is almost entirely dependent on oil.

When it split from Sudan to the north in 2011 following a decades-long war of secession, it took over three-quarters of the oil reserves.

But years of civil conflict after independence, including for control of key oil fields, deprived the country of vital income and the chance to diversify its economy.

The coronavirus pandemic drove oil prices sharply downward, gutting state coffers for a fragile new unity government that took office in early 2020 at the end of a tortured peace process.

The government has not been able to pay civil servants on time, while the price of basic goods remains stubbornly high.

In April, the IMF approved $174 million in emergency support to South Sudan. The previous November, it extended a $52 million loan.

Devastating flooding has deepened the economic pain and worsened a humanitarian crisis in the world’s newest country, which is enduring its worst hunger levels since independence a decade ago.

Corruption and mismanagement are also often blamed for South Sudan’s economic troubles. - Sudans Post