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In the dole-drums
Page 26
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IT IS WITH SOME DISMAY that I read your articles,"Off the dole: into the cab" (CM 2.3 October) and "First NETT HGV driver passes" (CM 31 July).
lam a 32-year-old who has been working in the haulage industry for two years, in either temporary jobs or for agencies and mainly as a 7.5-tonne driver. I have been trying to obtain funding. or even partial funding, to sit my C and C+E licences for some time and am somewhat distressed that Albanian refugees, benefit scroungers and ex-offenders are being offered HGV training for free. Yet as someone who has refused to buckle and to go on the dole and has taken any available work.! seemingly have no chance of help, and will have to pay for this expensive training myself.
If I can ever raise the £800 required. which is doubtful given the spasmodic nature and poor wages for agency work, coupled to the shockingly expensive price of life as a poor man in Scotland, there is obviously no guarantee of passing. How could! then afford the re-sit?! have approached the RHA, the RHME the Benefits Agency, several of the industry's big players and others, all to no avail.The Benefits Agency is,so far, the only offer-as long as I spent the next six months on the dole, followed by three months working for £10 above standard benefit payments to qualify, which is something lam not prepared. or able, to do. I have asked the agencies that I work for if they would be willing to help. but not joy there either.! have also read in CM that Driver Hire in Leicester would put drivers through training if they were willing to work 65 shifts in 13 weeks, but when! called them, they were only interested in drivers who would work for them on an ongoing basis.
This is an industry that is suffering severe shortages of drivers and apparently finding it difficult to recruit new blood. Given my experience, is it any surprise?! had hopes of working my way up to a point where I could purchase my own vehicle and operate as an owner/driver. I am now considering choosing an entirely different career path.
If an decent operators out there wish to restore my faith.! am able, willing and more than ready to listen to offers.
Scott McMenemy Lathed
Stirlingshire