French lessons with Linkman
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• Hauliers who speak a second European language are finding that their skill is putting them ahead of the competition — and helping them to improve their safety records.
In the past British operators have been miffed when their Continental counterparts, often fluent in at least one other language, were able to jump queues and iron out problems, at borders, for example, because of their linguistic abilities. But the advent of 1992 has been a catalyst for many UK firms to introduce language training for their employees. In
the case of Linkman Tankers, the policy extends from fitters to senior management. "Britons are reasonably chauvinistic over language, so we were very pleasantly surprised by the
uptake when we offered the course," says Linkman's human resources manager Alan Paterson. Linkman has been running weekly lessons in conversational French at its Runcorn and Altrincham depots, with about 100 staff taking part in the 20week course. It plans to add German to the curriculum next year. Teachers come from the Cheshire County Council teacher placement service, the course is based on a BBC audio-visual package and costs about Wl per head, but some of this will be recouped from the RTITB, says Paterson.
He feels that the chief benefit of language courses is improving safety: "If a driver better understands the instructions, there is less probability of something going wrong."
Forifimt fnisiness contacts is another advantage: You usually get a pleasanter reception if you try to speak the language," says Paterson. "When you can be polite and understand someone else's conventions, it can start to smooth out some of the wrinkles that build up between different nationalities."
Continental drivers often drop in to Linkman's offices to ask for directions for help, says Paterson, and are glad of a receptionist who can speak their language. Linkman is owned by the Transport Development Group, which is running language courses in several of its companies, including Beck and Pollitzer and Harris Distribution. "It makes a lot of difference when a driver can ask *(n4 est le parking?' or get something interesting to eat," says Paterson.