CALLING IN THE PROFESSIONALS
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• Agency drivers tend to be viewed as second-rate substitutes for employed drivers: a stigma that the major agencies are working hard to erase.
One agency, Driving Force Logistics, has gone out of its way to recruit drivers who are guaranteed to project a professional image.
Sussex-based DFL went all the way to Kathmandu In Nepal, and Its new drivers have a fearsome reputation for ruthlefficl former soldiers from Gurkha Transport Regi t.
Once Gurkhas havoc leted a tour of duty with the r I sh Army they return to Nep r I I) where job opportunities
poor and the skills they a red In the Army are often w "We felt that these men ye earned the chance to work the UK, through their servt our country," says DFL managing director Nick Coll! "They are multi-skilled, Isciplined and reliable."
The Gurkha drivers are high trained; many of them hold current ADR certificates and they all have UK licences and extensive UK road experience. Some are even qualified drivertraining instructors.
Negotiations with the UK and Nepalese governments have resulted in contracts for about ; 30 Gurkhas who will start work for DFL later this month, mainly driving for major supermarket and petrochemical clients,