WYATT EARP WO/ RI ING
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
when unqualified and unprofessional instructors are in control of lethal pieces of kit?" asked one angry training school.
Another training centre told CM of a learner who failed his HGV test eight times. Two days after passing on the ninth attempt he was on the road and
working as an HGV instructor.
BRS Western asked a temping agency to send an experienced trainer: the result was a driver who admitted that he had only taught two HGV learners.
We had a fellow with a provisional car and a provisional HGV licence who had no car driving experience," said a Home Counties training school. "He passed his HGV and got both. The following week he was down the test centre as an HGV trainer."
Many HGV schools have told CM
of training establishments using public car parks for driving practice or even deliberately using faulty vehicles to help learners fail their first HGV tests so they paid the school for a second week of training and a re-test. Another driving instructor claimed to know of training schools falsely advertising that they had RTITB approval and some were allegedly using their training vehicles for general haulage work.
This is illegal as training vehicles do not fall under the same tax or operational regulations as hire and re ward fleets.
"The DTp says if there was a problem it would show through in the test results," says Bob Sturgess of Thames Valley Training. "But we in the profession argue that it is our good training which is boosting test results and hiding the effects of the cowboys." Neil Graham of Cornwall Transport Training agrees. He points out that the national pass rate for HGV test is 40% to 50%. However, many of the RTITB-approved training schools have more than an 80% pass rate.
"The Department of Transport is just putting its head in the ground over HGV training," says John Coates of J Coates HGV Services. "It is just waiting for a major disaster, For once, I think a huge headline in the Sun would do this industry a power of good."
[7] by Tanya Cordrey