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SKILLED TRADESMEN
Page 22
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I read with interest your article regarding driver training (CM 11-17 Jan). It appears to me to be perfectly clear: a successful HGV driving test pass does not, will not and never has made an individual into a lorry driver.
As everyone in the industry is fully aware, there is infinitely more to being a lorry driver than merely having the ability to safely drive an unladen vehicle in daylight and good weather conditions.
The problem of an adequate supply of skilled drivers as opposed to labourers with driving licences cannot, and will never, be solved until the road haulage industry itself considers a skilled driver to indeed be a skilled tradesman and therefore recognises the absolute need to provide not merely initial training but ongoing training.
I fully recognise that the above statement brings much in its wake including public recognition, monetary rewards, etc, but unless and until the industry itself removes its head from the sand and acknowledges the plain facts of life, it will go in no other direction than in ever decreasing vicious circles until it finally disappears up its own... Parry Davis, Transport Consultancy Services, Whitchurch, Shropshire.