BUCHAREST, Sept 29 Reuters - For 32-year-old Romanian international trucker Nicolae, British driver crisis could be just what he needs to keep his small business afloat.
The shortage of about 100,000 truck drivers, the result of workers leaving the industry, Brexit and the Pandemic, has caused havoc with supply chains, with gas station pumps running dry in cities across the country.
In response, the British government plans to issue temporary visas for 5,000 foreign truck drivers to help with the shortfall as well as using the army to drive tankers.
The offer is attractive, said Nicolae, who owns three trucks and whose business could face a squeeze from a tax levied on drivers' daily allowance in Romania.
For me, taxing our daily allowance means bankruptcy because transport-related profits are pretty modest, he said. Britain is an option earning there are way higher.
On Wednesday, Nicolae and about 100 other drivers parked their trucks outside government buildings in Bucharest building with horns blaring, to protest against the tax and spiralling prices for mandatory insurance policies.
The tax watchdog from Romania earlier this year decided to treat drivers as taxable income and also to tax transport firms retroactively over five years on the allowances.
Radu Dinescu, secretary general of the UNTRR national association of transport employers, said on average a driver could end up paying up to 90,000 euros in back taxes.
Late on Tuesday, before the protests, the ruling Liberal Party unveiled a draft bill to scrap the back tax payment. This measure may stumble in the country's fragmented legislative structure, but this proposal might be an anomaly.
Other drivers, including some of them who are close to retirement, said the higher pay on offer in Britain was tempting.
61-year old Gabriel Bazga said: I have a younger, good friend who wants to work as trucker in England. It takes about one month for all official documents to complete. Payment is very tempting there. Let's wait and see, I am also pondering it if per diems impact me as more than 1,000 pounds $1,368 pay the week in Britain looks good, is good money.