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river training and hire companies are finding it nigh on impossible to attract recruits. "Three, four, five years ago we had 50 drivers; now we are struggling to maintain 30," says Andrew Eburne, sales and marketing manager of driver training firm J Coates (HGV Services) in Leicester, talking about the company's driver hire division.
It is this driver shortage that prompted CM's Driver Drive 2001 campaign—but there is a lot of work to do. As Eburne says, driving simply does not have the
appeal that it once did: "You could virtually earn the same per hour working in the warehouse on a forklift, knowing you'll get home that night."
That is not the only problem. You have to be 21 to take your C+E. Assuming you leave school at 16, that's five years to start another career, which might be followed quickly by a mortgage, marriage and children. So keeping a link from school to C+E is going to be vital, says Ian Ware of Driver Hire, which has 4,000 drivers on its books and 90 locations nationwide.
"We need a career structure that maintains people's interest," he adds. "They can't come straight from school and be a driver.' An improved image must also be part of the package, says Ware: "We'd love it to be a sexy profession, but it isn't. But what I can offer through my business is a job for life." He laughs: At least until we get into matter transfer, but thankfully that's a long way off."
Whatever the developments in e-commerce and the like, goods will still need to be transported. Ware stressed this last month in a meeting with Malcolm Wickes, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Lifelong Learning. The response to his argument—which included using figures from CM's coverage
of the driver shortage—was "positive", he says. "What we need is some slack in the line—subsidy, grants, some duty off fuel— something. To get from non-car driver to Class i driver is never going to be less than 12,500. And we've got to respond unbelievably quickly...we haven't got months to get going."
Ware sums up the driver shortage with a simple statistic: every day Driver Hire has to turn down Soo shifts across the country because it cannot got enough drivers. The company represents about 5% of the UK hire market, which gives some idea of the scale of the problem. "I hope we can move things forward; I just despair of the time it will take," he adds.
So has the industry ever had it so bad? Ted Watts, director general manager of J Coates, doesn't think so. "If you go back three to five years, there were so many around you could pick and choose who you want to employ," he says.
"Now the youngsters at as-plus aren't coming into the industry. It costs them £2,000 to get a C+E licence and you can go and do a computer course for that. There is a lot more IT taught in schools."
This is a large part of the problem, Watts believes: "It's easier than throwing an artic up and down the motorway. Drivers' wages have risen but it will never match the IT side. Haulage has always been a cut-throat business and has never been that well-paid."
This is reflected in those leaving the industry, he reports. "Three to five years ago, 55-60 year olds were coming out of driving to work in the warehouse; now they are 40-45. There are easier ways of making a living and people don't want to be drivers the rest of their lives."
Message
With 400,000 drivers needed in the next five years, this message must be heeded. Jason Van Heels area manager for Van Hee, which is both a haulier and a trainer. "What needs to be put over to employers is that now is a good time to take people on—attract people now and it won't be a problem in two years' time. All the national operators are thinking ahead but unfortunately the smaller hauliers are slower to bite the bullet. The make-up of the industry is such that we're used to the short-termist approach. People don't react unless they have to."
But there is a bright spot on the horizon, Van Hee believes: "There have been subsidies and grants for some time and funding for transport has been moved from the lowest cost bracket to the highest." He expects this to give training a boost from next April. "Training providers will be able to access funds on behalf of the operator," he says. "And you can join the programme at i6— you can't drive but you can do the NVQ part."
Geoff Janes, managing director of Weston-super-Mare haulier C&G Janes Transport, is less optimistic; he believes more has to be done by the state: "The government has got to give us more of an incentive; go halves with us like with the Investors In People scheme or ISO. It's crazy. You've got these young lads wanting to come into the industry but they can't because of the terrific cost. Perhaps you could have full funding at the moment and then perhaps reduce it later on. I know I've got to dip into my own pocket, but you need funding."
Another insider with a downbeat view is Bruce Wicks, business development manager for Apex Training Services: "The industry has got to lose the image it has of poor wages and poor conditions. We hear about government funding, but I can't believe the government's going to put that much into it, to be honest. And haulage companies can't afford it." He believes that concentrating on 7.5-tonner drivers might be a way forward: "After all, they have the roadcraft."
Market
Ware reckons it's time for some imaginative thinking. "We are also not aiming sufficiently at women," he suggests. "That is a massive untapped market and we have to show that tattoos and hairy arses are a thing of the past.
"It's also a question of getting the people who are working for McDonald's to come and work for us. We need sensible, vocational, tiered training, with progressive prog ianunes, getting people school through logistics trai schemes; not necessarily b completely on driving."
But Ware doesn't uncle] mate the problems: "It won any better and youngsters o want to come into the indus wouldn't want one of my ki it. It's a lot safer sitting beh: desk, knowing they'll get h and getting paid more."
For those still in any doubt Hee concludes with a wan "There is complacency in industry, but those who are placent won't get through it. time of awakening for all of