Training for transport managers
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Courses available in Kent and Lancs
by David Lowe • When the prospect of legislation requiring transport managers to be licensed in accordance with Section 65 of the 1968 Transport Act was very imminent, a number of colleges and commercial organizations started running courses to equip prospective licence holders with the necessary qualifications.
Among the colleges which seized this opportunity was the West Kent College of Further Education at Tunbridge Wells. A course was planned to cover the Construction and Use Regulations; commercial vehicle technology; accidents. traffic offences and legal procedure; licensing; insurance; drivers' licences; hours and records; and loading and unloading restrictions. Students who successfully completed the course would receive a college certificate in Transport Management Subjects.
The course was organized by the college automobile engineering department, whose head is Mr J. Kingdon, and the course tutor is Mr P. M. Wright, assisted, for the legal lectures, by Mr M. Tarlo, a retired solicitor who is joining the staff permanently this year.
In talking to Mr Kingdon and Mr Wright I found them enthusiastic both about the results of the first course and the prospects for the course to be held this year. Last year they had only a small class of 10 students, of whom seven finished and obtained their certificates. It was expected, when it became known that the TML was not to be introduced in the immediate future, that students would lose interest but this was not so. From the inquiries received by the college it is obvious there is still sufficient interest in the subject, in terms of obtaining a college certificate of knowledge, to justify repeating the course this year.
Students on the first course included existing transport managers. a plant manager, a wages clerk in a transport company, a county council fitter and a woman director of a local haulage company. Discussion among students and lecturers was very intense, I was told, indicating a deep interest and one student used to bring in damaged vehicle parts to add to the interest in vehicle maintenance and repair problems.
This year's course will follow the same basic syllabus, with some additions to bring it up to date, and will end with two 2-hour examinations.
The course will last for one year and will require attendance on Wednesday and Thursday evenings starting on September 29. The cost of the course is £3.50. Students may be existing transport managers or those seeking management status. Enrolment will take place, before the course commences, at the college at St John's Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Another college offering specialist courses in transport subjects is St John's College of Further Education, Manchester. In addition to the normal preparatory courses for membership of the transport institutes, the college is offering a course for supervisors in road goods transport operation. It will cover the principles and practice of supervision; personnel; training; industrial and human relations; transport law; fleet maintenance and costing; scheduling and work allocation; and communications. A total of 260 hours of study is involved, 200 of which represents one day per week day release, a five-day residential period at Motec and 30 hours to be spent on a project to be undertaken with guidance from the course tutors.
A course consisting of 15 one-day sessions will be provided for transport managers covering transport law; costing and finance; management principles; and fleet maintenance.
Human relations and road transport is the title of a course on which members will study communications, management principles, industrial relations and personnel selection. It will commence in October and will consist of three one-day sessions.
A course covering the legal aspects of road transport should prove of interest to both transport managers and fleet engineers. This course will also comprise three one-day sessions in October.
Modern costing techniques in the industry will be studied on three one-day sessions in November and this course will also include a study of the calculation of rates and charges.
Also dealing with finance is a course covering the sources of finance available to transport companies.' It aims to provide managers with an appreciation of transport accounts and acquaint them with methods of budgetary control and will take place over three sessions in February.
The small operator seeking acquaintance with the problems of 0 licensing. costing and rating. vehicle selection and financial aspects of the small business is catered for by a course in March consisting of three one-day sessions.
In October the college is to hold two one-day courses. Training and personnel selection is one of them designed to give operators an appreciation of modern recruitment methods and training. The other is industrial relations and road transport, which covers the background to industrial relations in road haulage and productivity bargaining. An exercise on techniques of negotiation will be included.
One-day courses in November will cover plating, braking and testing; the 1968 Transport Act; haulage rates and quotations. This latter course will instruct managers in the methods of building up rates schedules and contract quotations.
Drivers' hours for both goods transport and pm/ operators will be covered in a one-day course in January and in February a one-day course will be held on the subject of Continental operation. This will provide information on the problems of own-account and haulage operations in Europe and will include CMR, TIR and Continental drivers' hours regulations.
The Basic Principles of Instruction is a one-day course to be held in September, and again in January, for foremen and chargehands responsible for "on-the-job" training of personnel, including apprentices.
A college diploma course in road transport studies involving attendance on two days per week for two years is provided for transport management trainees. Candidates for this course must hold at least five GCE "0" levels and preferably one or more "A" level passes.
Course fees vary between £5 for one day to £15 for three days. Applications for places on any of these courses should be made to the College at Hardman Street, Manchester M3 3FP.