A shortage of tens of thousands of drivers is affecting McDonald's and many other businesses after scores of European truckers left the U.K. in the aftermath of Brexit.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

More unintended consequences of Brexit are emerging in Britain, and they're affecting a very American company, McDonald's. The global fast-food chain has found it impossible to get supplies of one of its more popular products to its restaurants there. As reporter Willem Marx reports from London, many European truck drivers have left the U.K., and the pandemic has only made things worse.

WILLEM MARX, BYLINE: It's a busy afternoon in the center of the British capital, high time for a nice cup of tea, or at least some kind of liquid refreshment.

ALON WILLIAMS: I do like milkshakes, but, I mean, the chocolate one and vanilla is the best.

MARX: But McDonald's customer Alon Williams will be disappointed since the company has been out of milkshakes most of this week.

WILLIAMS: It's a real shame you can't get a milkshake if you need one because McDonald's are the best that milkshakes.

MARX: But don't blame the cows or the cream. A lack of truckers is responsible.

TOM HOLDER: There's a shortfall of around 90,000 HGV, or heavy goods vehicles, drivers that get food and other items from farms or from factories to warehouses, distribution centers and ultimately out to shops.

MARX: Tom Holder is from the British Retail Consortium.

HOLDER: This shortage means that there is some deliveries that simply aren't able to happen, or the cost of deliveries is going up.

MARX: Last week, a well-known chicken restaurant chain, Nando's, ran out of, well, chicken and closed 50 stores. And in recent months, supermarkets and gas stations have reported supply problems, too. Experts say the causes for these shortfalls include Brexit and the pandemic that prevented people from getting new licenses.

ALEX VEITCH: Forty-five thousand people were unable to get a test to drive a truck in the U.K. since the pandemic started.

MARX: Alex Veitch oversees public policy at trade body Logistics U.K., and says tens of thousands of European drivers also left the country.

VEITCH: What would've been a solvable problem if it was just Brexit have become a very troubling and difficult-to-solve problem because of coronavirus.

MARX: The drivers blame pay and conditions.

TOMASZ ORYNSKI: For many years, nothing was done to improve drivers' lives because Britain relied on cheap drivers from Eastern Europe.

MARX: Polish trucker Tomasz Orynski lives in Scotland but spoke to me from a vacation in his native Poland.

ORYNSKI: I've seen Polish truck drivers going back to Poland because they can have a better life in there.

MARX: Last month, the U.K. introduced a temporary measure, allowing truckers to work longer hours, and says it will consider plans to streamline licensing, boost testing capacity and improve working conditions.

For NPR News, I'm Willem Marx in London.

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Tags: milkshakes  Brexit  mcdonalds