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Radio ads fall on deaf ears
Page 14
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RADIO ADVERTISING impaign for a new truck driver aining scheme has attracted wer than 70 enquiries in the first )weeks.
Alex Nelson is MD of training ■ mpany RTTT'B, which is behind e initiative. He says the response ghlights the difficulty of attractg new blood to the industry :spite the shortage of drivers. But he is optimistic that the scheme, called the RTITB Academy, will act as a trailblazer for the industry by promoting HGV driving as a career: "The industry has got an unfair reputation and we are trying to change that by creating an establishment which we think is one of the best in the country."
The academy is based in a new £1.2m site in Telford, Shropshire: wide range of truck sizes are being used to give trainees a better idea of what driving involves.
"We are trying to project a better image for the industry right from the beginning which is when they come for training," Nelson reports.
The initial capacity of the academy, which is being advertised on two local radio stations, is up to 400 people a year but Nelson says more trucks and instructors will be added once interest picks up.
He adds that one of the problems facing trainees is that banks usually refuse to loan them money to pay for the courses. "We have arranged with a bank for loans to be provided," he says.
The R I Ttli was set up in 1968 as a government-funded industry training board but it was privatised nearly 15 years ago.
Nelson says this is the first time the company, which already provides training for forklift and HGV instructors and assessors, has become directly involved in driver training.