TRADE unions dismissed the Tory government’s “sticking plaster” proposals to solve the ongoing shortage of lorry drivers today.

Haulage chiefs had already said that the government’s emergency programme to issue temporary visas to thousands of European lorry drivers was unlikely to work.

Union leaders representing transport workers in Britain and Europe have now said that the shortage, which has contributed to chaos at British petrol stations for days, follows years of suppressed pay and conditions in the industry.