A truck company owner hired a barely-dressed woman to stand on the side of the road and use a billboard to recruit drivers. She said this was a "serious" campaign.

Adam Giles, who runs the BWN Driver Management Group in Felixstowe, Suffolk, hired the two women to advertise for new truck drivers.

"It conveys the message. I think it's great," Mr. Giles said.

However, the Road Transport Association (RHA), an industry body, criticized the move and called it “inappropriate”.

Last week, these women in black stood at a roundabout near the A14 highway, holding a placard that read "Wanted Driver" and the company's phone number.

Mr. Giles said that he came up with the idea after talking to a local advertising company to try to solve the problem of the shortage of truck drivers, and they proposed women.

"We rely heavily on European drivers, and we have been for a while-with Brexit, the rules have changed, we already have Covid and a tax law called IR35, which prevents large companies from hiring limited liability companies Driver, so the time has changed," he said.

Mr. Giles said that he has tried other advertising methods, but this is "a serious marketing campaign-it is how you stand out from what other people are doing."

Mr. Giles said that he received 40 to 50 response calls, in which drivers from Liverpool and Ireland contacted him, but also received some abusive messages.

However, Mr. Giles said that women who advertise for his business: “Choose what to wear, they run their own business, they are very happy, they are educated women.”

But RHA’s Kate Gibbs said: “We don’t think it’s appropriate.

"We think the era of this sales method is over, and the methods that worked 15 years ago are no longer effective-this is the so-called progress."

She added that although women accounted for only 1% of British truck drivers, technological advancement means that this is not a "heavy" job, making it a suitable career, especially for mothers returning to the workplace.

"There is a shortage of drivers, men and women are needed."

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