Skelmersdale College is helping lorry drivers with tailor-made customer-care courses.
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Not only do they aid drivers with dayto-day operations, they also help to tackle stress.
• The loneliness of a long-distance haul, an outbreak of cones on the motorway, or a snake of holiday caravans on a leafy country lane can be frustrations for any lorry driver.
This sort of stress can easily spill into the driver's job. And just one snap or grumpy word to a customer's transport manager can cost a company its business.
Skelmersdale College in West Lancashire understands these problems and has built a customer course around the stress faced by lorry drivers.
The training course was designed almost three years ago when local haulier R Barker and Sons (Transport) approached the college at the West Lancashire Business Club. Managing director Geoff Barker was looking for a training programme which would help his drivers in their everyday dealings with people.
"We approached Skelmersdale because we wanted our drivers to have more customer awareness. We were not having any problems: I just felt it was time to brush up a little and look at things from a different direction.
"When a driver is on the road all day nobody seems to be paying attention to him. So we have to emphasise what a valued employee he is," says Barker.