The NYT is famous for having consistently hyperbolic negative coverage of things in the U.K.

Edit: sources for those who don’t believe me:

What’s the New York Times’s problem with Britain?

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-s-the-new-york-time...

The New York Times’ bizarre campaign against Britain

https://unherd.com/2020/01/what-has-the-new-york-times-got-a...

The New York Times is junk.

The New York Times has consistently awful UK coverage. And it certainly has an anti-Tory Remainer bias. Personally, I think the shortage is related to Brexit, and it's a short-term consequence of not being able to import cheap foreign labour instead of paying reasonable wages. We do have a driver shortage because haulage firms don't want to pay drivers a competitive salary. Plus, COVID disrupted driver testing and the issuing of new licenses. Plus, some in the media over-egged the problem and created panic buying. It's a multi-cause issue.