In the letter, the haulage bosses wrote: “We urge you to act urgently and decisively or risk further damage to not only our businesses and livelihoods, but the UK’s integrated and finely balanced supply chains. 

“Put simply, we will not be able to build back better and recover from the pandemic without a thriving haulage industry and we urge you to take the necessary action to ensure that we can continue to play our essential role underpinning the UK economy, both now and in the future.”

Rod McKenzie, the managing director of the RHA, said the Government was “simply not addressing the short-term severity of this crisis” and said it would take 18 months to solve.

The Government has launched a series of initiatives such as a three-month temporary visa, with around 5,000 visas for non-UK drivers.