Ukrainian-run truck driving school in Poznań taps into Poland's driver shortage

A post on X shows that a driving school in Poznań, run by Ukrainians, is training new truck drivers. The detail fits with the structural shortage of drivers in European road haulage.

The image circulates with a knowing smile: a truck driving school in **Poznań**, in western Poland, which according to the post is run by Ukrainians and is training new lorry drivers. There is no further context in the message, but the story has real economic substance. Poland is the largest road freight market in the European Union and has struggled for years with a driver shortage it cannot fill with local labour.

## A school filling the gap the labour market leaves behind

Road transport moves around **75%** of overland freight in the EU, according to European Commission data, and Poland accounts for a disproportionate share of that flow. Polish companies compete for drivers with wages that, although they have risen, remain below German or Dutch levels. The consequence is well known: what cannot be found at home is sought abroad.

The war in Ukraine pushed millions of people across the Polish border from February 2022 onwards. Many found their footing in sectors with vacancies that were hard to fill. Transport fits that profile: it requires training, but not a university degree, and demand is constant.

## Licences, conversions and a legitimate business

Training a truck driver is not cheap. The category C or C+E licence requires courses, medical examinations and practical training that in Poland can exceed **2,000 euros** per student. A private school attracting those students is doing two things at once: filling a market niche and tapping into a pool of workers who are already in the country.

The legal framework matters. Driving professionally in the EU requires the Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC), and Ukrainian licences have had to be recognised or exchanged under Polish rules. It is neither an automatic nor a free process.

## What is at stake for the sector

The driver shortage is not a Polish problem: it affects Germany, France and Spain. Any formula that works in one country is closely watched by the others. If a school in Poznań manages to turn out qualified drivers on a sustained basis, the model will be replicated.

It is worth not confusing a single post with a statistic. What the image shows is one specific school in one specific city. What the industry says, however, is that without drivers from outside the EU, European transport grinds to a halt. And that does have figures behind it.