Trainers slam TEC plan
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• The training industry is warning that road transport standards are endangered by the Government's proposals on training.
Bob Sturgess, director of the National Association of Training Groups, says that Government-sponsored Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) will not meet the training needs of the industry.
They will be expected to administer training in 80 regions around Britain taking the place of the RTITB in funding road transport training. But Sturgess warns that there is a danger that no funding will be forthcoming. "At the moment, smaller hauliers can spend at least 21,000 to get someone through the HGV test and expect to get some back," he says, "but that is not going to happen in the future — we will go back 20 years."
Sturgess believes the industry has to lobby locally by nominating people for representation on the TEC panels, and by joining Local Employer Networks, which will advise the TECs of local industry's training needs. He is also concerned that large companies which undertake their own in-house training will be represented on TEC panels, while specialist training companies like his own (Thames Valley Training) will be excluded, since one of the TEC's roles will be to approve the local training providers.
Sturgess says that the development of TECs comes at a time when the training industry is already concerned about European plans to alter driver licensing and training. He claims there are a number of loopholes in the EC proposals which will allow drivers to take their HGV tests within hours of passing their driving test, and which will enable new HGV drivers to take control of 32-tonne vehicles after training and passing on an 11-tonner. 0 The Transport and General Workers Union has launched a training initiative aimed at encouraging employers to train their staff.