D oug Brown explodes the myth that only youngsters are fit
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to drive trucks. He's clocked up 62 years behind the wheel and, two months after his 80th birthday, has no plans to give up working for Richard Read Transport in Longhope, Gloucestershire. "Some people are bloody old at 50," he remarks. "It's just the way you're made. I had a good physique and played top grade football until my late forties."
Brown drives 38-tonners throughout the South-West and the Midlands. Before joining Read six years ago he ran his own haulage business, and Brown reckons he is never tired at work, even after a 10-hour day. "If I sit around at home, I get tired straight away," he adds. His boss, Richard Read, describes him as an excellent employee, adding:"! wish I had a dozen like him."
There can't be many HGV drivers as old as Brown, but there are plenty of hauliers like Read who prize age and experience.
David Gibbons, managing director of K&M Hauliers, says his nine in-house drivers based at Hucknall, near Nottingham, are aged between 45 and 60. "When you're sending them out on the road in a £75,000 rig, you want someone who has some experience and is going to look after it," he points out. Gibbons believes that drivers over 50 are more prone to long-term sickness but adds that their attendance record is generally as good as that of their younger colleagues.
John Holt, transport manager of Laser Transport's head office depot in Hythe, Kent, believes that employing older drivers encour The Government's voluntary code of practice to help employers eliminate age discrimination at work follows a consultation exercise on a draft code which included the following recommendations: • Ban age limits or age ranges from job adverts; • Use people of mixed ages to interview job candidates; • Make sure that age is not used as the basis for making oeople redundant; • Make sure the ass of skills and abilities is fully evaluated when operating early retirement schemes.
The code says establishing good practice needs "a genuine commitment from top management to its implementation, which is communicated clearly throughout the organisation and beyond".
ages a more stable workforce. "If you take on _someone in their fifties who is capable, most probably they will see their time out with you," he says. "A 22-year-old may stay with you for two or three years and then start looking for greener pastures,"
If anything, hauliers are more likely to discriminate against younger drivers than veterans because experience is so highly valued. Doug Curtis, spokesman for the United Road Transport Union, says insurance policies also narrow down opportunities for the under-25s. "You can get your LGV when you are 21 but it's still not easy to get a job," he reports. There's certainly discrimination at the bottom of the age band."
Pressure group The pressure group Age Concern published a survey last year which suggested that no fewer than eight-million people have experienced age discrimination in employment. The Government is due to publish a voluntary code of practice for employers early this year but Age Concern believes it will probably need legislation to stamp out this type of discrimination.
Apart from being unfair, age discrimination is likely to become increasingly counterproductive for business as the age profile of the workforce changes. By 2000, 35% of workers will be over 45 and by 2010 they will account for 40% of the workforce while only 17% will be under 25. By imposing restrictions on the age of their employees, companies are increasingly limiting the pool of skills and talents they can recruit from.
The benefits of a mixed-age workforce are already being promoted through the Employers Forum on Age (EFA). Unigate, whose subsidiaries include Wincanton Distribution and employment services company Manpower, was among the EFAs 18 founders in 1996; it now has more than 100 members.
Irene Greener, who represents Unigate on the EFA, says one change the company made last summer was to create a flexible retirement age. Until this change employees could stay on until 65—but they could only remain part of the company pension scheme until 62. "This puts everyone on an equal footing," says Greener.
Nick Peligno, national driving manager for Manpower, says the average age of its 3,500 drivers is now over 40. "There has been a gradual ageing of the driving workforce," he reports. "The very expensive entry levels, changes in the licensing laws, pay rates and a lot of other things mean driving is not an attractive life for many people these days."
This view is supported by Ray Tucknott, managing director of Newhaven-based jpouglimei Tomsett's Transport with only two drivers .„. under 25 out of a team of 44. "It is not inten
tional,” he adds, "it's just a reflection of which
tito
group are applying for vacancies" Danny Bryan, national road transport officer for the Transport & General Workers' Union, agrees that age discrimination is not a big issue in road haulage but argues that this is probably more a reflection of driver shortages than enlightened employers. if you're 50-plus it's more and more difficult to find employment," he warns. "A lot of driving jobs are more suitable for young people. If you take the home delivery, parcel delivery sector, it is very physically demanding. If you ask what the average age of a petrol tanker driver is, it's remarkably young compared to the rest of the workforce."
Debbie O'Halloran, assistant manager of driver agency North West Temps, says clients never request drivers of a particular age: "They say try and get us a fit lad' but they are not fussed as long as they can do the job. We will tell our older drivers exactly what they'll be doing and see if they feel up to it."
Perceptions about the age of people best suited to driving lorries are probably becoming outdated.
Brown may be 80 but says that in some ways his job has never been easier: "Lorries were rough and ready years ago. Now you don't need a clutch and have got electric windows and mirrors and a screen in front of you telling you when to change gear. I think it's wonderful."
CI by Guy Sheppard