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24th April 1997, Page 52
24th April 1997
Page 52
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

After a gap of seven years, opportunities for youngsters to start full-time LGV driving careers at the age of 18 are coming out of the haulage industry woodwork. Selling the idea to the kids is easy, but do hauliers want teenagers behind the wheel?

The resurrection of the Young LGV Driver Scheme in February once more provides a recognised truck driving career path for people as young as 18, leading to an NVQ Level 3 certificate.

At the same time the Irish Road Haulage Association is about to introduce its own career path. Graduates of the IRHA/Fas Driver Training Initiative will be awarded standard HND diplomas, producing what the IRIIA describes as "the first professionally trained drivers in Europe".

Both moves are designed to address a shortage of professional drivers and to attract younger people into the profession—and they are certainly an improvement over the traditional path. All too many serious candidates for careers as WV drivers abandon the whole idea when faced by an entry system which sounds more like a black comedy than a progressive selection process.

Candidates normally have to be 21 to get a provisional truck driving licence; they then pay about ..f800 for a five-day C-licence training course, Two elimination procedures in quick succession can stop this process dead in its tracks. If the driving test examiner doesn't dash the candidate's hopes, the insurance company probably will by deciding to load his premium. This often makes it uneconomic to employ an LGV driver under 25, The dedicated few continue to try and accrue sufficient driving experience to earn a crack at a permanent position later on.

However, YDS trainee Katie Young did not have to follow this tortuous route, thanks to Transport Minister John Bowis' recall of the revitalised and reinforced YDS last October. In February this year, at 19, she became the UK's youngest truck driver.

Subject to satisfying the criteria, YDS trainees can take a test and, after passing, drive a C-licensed truck operated by their registered employer at 18. The move up to a C+Eclass vehicle can be made at the age of 20 (but artic driving is only allowed under supervision). Regular driving assessments are mandatory and comprehensive supplementary training includes CPC and ADR courses if necessary. Trainees lose their right to the vocational licence if they switch companies before completing the scheme.

Large numbers

The YDS was first introduced in the early 1970s and relaunched in the late 1980s but it failed to deliver young drivers in large numbers. It proved an easy concept to sell in schools and to careers officers, but many hauliers were reluctant to get involved.

"The scheme in the 1970s was so steeped in bureaucracy that the employer was not particularly interested and the perceived risk from the insurers for the 18-year-old was quite a handicap," says Ray Glasscoo, manager director at Wiltshire Transport Training. WY]' is one of 28 specialist transport training providers approved to deliver YDS training and it also has previous YDS experience.

"This time, the YDS sounds about right," he says, "The organisers have ....400 considered the insurance aspect in advance and obtained assurances from insurers that loading will not happen. The perception in the industry that we will only take drivers over 25' could be over."

Glasscoo expects to be involved in the training of about 15 trainees this year. 'The new YDS lends itself to the Modern Apprenticeship," he explains. "'The trainees will get at least an NVQ level 2 and if they take it right the way through to NVQ level 3 there are grants from Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) in England and Wales or Local Enterprise Councils (LECs) in Scotland."

Grants in Wiltshire could be up to £5,000 but Glasscoo points out this could vary from TEC to TEC, as the funding emphasis is definitely "on achievement".

This might be seen as a problem by some trainees and employers, says Terry Loverage, training manager at Lane Group's Training Force. In the 1980s Lane Group employed several YDS trainees and still has most of them on the books. Loverage believes: "Because they join early, they understand the company culture."

"But I do have a criticism of the scheme," he adds. "If you are going for funded training, the thing against the YDS is that it is attached to the Modern Apprenticeship which takes them up to level 3 NVQ. Many drivers don't want to go that far because it takes them up to a supervisory level. Many of them are just not interested in that. Consequently, it might result in many companies not wishing to take it up because the funding will not be available. I understand that the National Traineeship, which is due to be coming on line later this year, will allow us to go through to NVQ level 2 and still be eligible for funding."

The most frequent YDS employers under the previous regime were removals companies and small family firms. Removals companies such as Abets of Watton in Norfolk were regular users because they could use non-drivers more productively in the early stages of (he scheme, as packers or porters, and then later as drivers' mates. Family operators could bring family members into the business much earlier.

Tim Brown, proprietor of Geo T Brown in Steeple Ashton, is one of WTT's first registered employers. Ile plans to use the latest scheme to bring his son into the business. "It's an excellent road into management," he says Some trainees will mirror Katie Young's initial entry to the YDS, She applied to the new scheme's administrator, the Road Haulage and Distribution Training Council, which currently receives about 150 YDS enquiries a week. Her details were referred to Kent-based Transed Europe, where managing director Bob Piercey arranged a match with Europa European Express.

RFIDIC business develop ment manager Ian Hetherington accepts that RHDTC has limited responsibilities on placement as candidiates must have a job before becoming YDS trainees. Arguably the placement issue has always been a significant YDS flaw.

Placement is very much a strength of the IRHA/Fas initiative, however. "The scheme will be launched with 20 trainees and we will be taking on 20 a week there

after. We think that we can place 500 drivers a year," says IRHA director-general Dr Christopher McCormack. "There is a shortage of drivers here and the industry in Ireland is booming at the moment."

This move begins as a normal driver training scheme and goes to include hazardous chemicals, CPC, refrigeration expertise and ferry boat dynamics, he says. Additional optional modules such as basic accounting, basic spreadsheet analysis, finance and leasing have been included using the assumption that last year's driver is next year's operator.

The IRHA will recruit trainees; others will join through member companies.

The trainees will be paid through sponsorship from companies, with the help of a government grant. Trainees start the two-year course aged 18 or 19. It offers a mixture of residential training and vocational training based at the sponsoring company, and is likely to include exchange visits through a tic-up with a French driver training organisation. "Our drivers will be eligible for lower insurance weightings and for our pension scheme which allows retirement at the age of 55," says McCormack. "We have produced a scheme that the French and Spanish drivers had to strike for."

The YDS and the IRHA initiatives both seek to recruit younger LGV drivers into a career. Both schemes are designed to reduce skills shortages and to provide recognised qualifications Both need support from the industry—but so far, this has not been easy to co-ordinate.

LI by Steve McQueen


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