NIffis introduced
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• Industry calls for a nationally recognised career structure in road haulage were answered last week with the introduction of the first national vocational qualifications for transport. The NVQs currently cover operations staff only, but early next year supervisory and management levels will be brought in. The Road Haulage & Distribution Training Council, examination co-ordinator, says hauliers will be able to recoup around 50% of an NVQ's cost by obtaining tax benefits and grants from Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and their equivalent in Scotland.
And it hopes to give hauliers a further incentive to use the on-the-lob assessments by persuading insurance companies to give premium rates to customers which have NVQ-trained staff.
Van Hee Transport, which operates 30 trucks from Gateshead, plans to put most of its staff on NVOs following a successful pilot scheme.