I've said before on a forum (I don't think this one) that those of us who passed the car test some time ago have C1 and C1E groups on the license, so can drive 7.5 tonners. Perhaps a bit of lateral thinking might reserve the artics for long haul and allow local deliveries to be done by smaller wagons?
You're quite right. Those of us who passed their driving tests before 1997 have Grandfather Rights to a 7.5 tonne (Class C1) License. The problem is that the shortage lies in those who have Class C (Rigids) and Class C+E (Artics). The Government began consulting before the crisis on merging the Class C and Class C+E tests. In other words under their proposal, if you pass your HGV driving test, presumably in an artic, you will be entitled to drive both Class C and Class C+E.
This might be controversial, but HGV drivers are required to drive to a higher standard than a car driver and for that reason, the HGV test is harder than that for a car, which explains the 50% failure rate. Indeed, perched up in the cab of a lorry, with your eyes at least nine feet above the road gives you a great birds-eye view of what other drivers are up to. I'm a relative newcomer to HGV driving, only having held my license for nearly six years, but in that short time, I've seen some god-awful driving. I swear to god that some of the motor cyclists I see, especially in Central London, were kamikaze pilots in a previous life.
As for using smaller trucks for local deliveries, I expect that's already done. 7.5 tonne drivers have yet to feel the benefit of the higher wages being paid to drivers of bigger trucks and to be honest, even now, I wouldn't get out of bed for the wages on offer for some of the 7.5 tonne driving vacancies I've seen advertised. Wages, like everything else, are driven by the laws of supply and demand. Class 1 (C+E) drivers are in shortest supply right now, especially those with ADR qualifications, so those jobs attract the highest wages.
I'm not in haulage, I'm in drainage and only need my Class C license because the machine I go to work in has a maximum gross weight limit of 26 tonnes. I have a hatful of qualifications to do my job (Class C Driving License, CPC Card, Working in High Risk Confined Spaces, Rescue from High Risk Confined Spaces, NWRSA (Streetworks), High Pressure Water Jetting, NPORS (Plant Loader and Securer), EUSR (CSCS Equivalent for Drainage), EUSR National Water Hygiene (for working on fresh water works) to name but a few. I have no wish to see those skill go to waste and can't think of anything more boring than just driving a truck from A to B and back again.