'Department of mischievous statistics'
Page 72
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Continued from page 12
The Birmingham Training Association, he said, had just completed the training of its 1,000th trainee.
Later in the evening instructors from the group in discussion with CM voiced opinions on both training and testing. They believed the test was not demanding enough and consequently a driver was trained to achieve only the very basic requirements.
The instructors felt that sheeting and roping, night driving and roadside repairs should be included both in the instruction and in the test. One instructor said: "When these men leave here they are certainly ready to drive the vehicles, but few of them can be considered heavy goods vehicle drivers in the true sense of the word. It's all a question of expense I suppose."
Certainly expense appeared to be the main theme of the evening because the instructors then turned their attention to the imbalance of salaries between themselves and their products. The bone of contention here is that heavy goods vehicle drivers allegedly earn twice as much as the men who trained them. According to the Birmingham instructors their concern is shared by their colleagues around the country.
The instructors appreciate that group training associations and the RTITB can only work within their budgets which they receive from either levy or members' payments. One man estimated that to give the trainee the full treatment would take twice as long and cost twice as much, but he thought that the additional money required for the training and to improve instructors' salaries could be obtained through the Department of Employment Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS).
The Birmingham meeting displayed a concern for training not only at its present level but at an even more advanced stage and to a more intensive degree. Whether or not the industry or the Government will heed Mr Neely's words to train now at the bottom of the trade cycle remains to be seen. However, the discussion which followed the chairman's address certainly indicated that there was no lack of enthusiasm for it among his audience.