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JOHN BELL Transport manager Huntapac Transport Preston, Lancs John Bel
Page 28
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agrees that the impact on older drivers could be considerable and is something that is in danger of being overlooked.
"It's not an issue now," he says. "But by 2014, when periodic training comes in, some of our older drivers will be in their 60s.
John Bell
"There's no way they are going to do the training. They'll just take early retirement. They are just too long in the tooth and some have been driving for 40 years."
Bell sees a problem looming for proactive big firms that instigate in-housetraining well ahead of the deadline: they risk losing their trained staff to smaller operations that have not funded their own training and prefer instead to poach qualified staff at a higher wage.
Lawyers have suggested that employers write a clause into staff contracts stating that employees must pay back the cost of training if they leave within a certain period of time.
"It won't work," warns Bell. "Most drivers are paid weekly. "It could cost £1,500 to train a driver, yet the most you could get back if they're paid weekly is about £400.
"Basically, whoever pays the best wage will get the qualified drivers," he says.