etting good value
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Right from the start the Road Transport Industry Training Board has emphasized that it is not in business to administer a levy and grant system but to get training going. While this theme may once have been propounded partly to take the heat out of the contentious situation surrounding levies, the Board was certainly sincere in its views. And the RTITB's policy has been to involve itself in training only to the extent that road transport could not fulfil the needs.
As an earnest of this, the Board can claim that by the middle of this year 15m of the total 1 7m collected in levies will have been returned to the industry in grants. Has it all been money well spent? One begs leave to doubt it. In some cases the standard of training provided by the industry has been extremely high, inspired as much by the awakening of operators to their needs as by the promise of a grant; in many cases the training has just about reflected the grant's worth; while in many more the grant has probably been paid for results of only marginal value.
Fortunately this situation is changing fast, and grant applications are now very carefully assessed. But in such a vast and fragmented industry it is natural that individual training schemes should vary in quality. In these circumstances a visit to the Board's first Motec, described this week, inevitably arouses the thought that the RTITB's income might be better employed if a much larger proportion were devoted to direct training of this type.
At £4m to establish, and as much again per year to run, a Motec is not cheap. But it has the great advantages that training is to a consistent (and very high) standard; the numbers and quality of those trained can be related directly to the cost of training them; the industry can immediately see how and where a specific part of its levy is being spent; training facilities can be used intensively on a planned scale; and operators can avail themselves of a wide range of specialized training which they have neither the means nor the desire to provide. To us, the arguments seem very persuasive.
By their deeds
There is an old saying that the millionaire is the man who not only had the right idea at the right time but the courage to put it into action. Something of the sort might be said about the latest entrant into the heavy-duty p.s.v. field. Several concerns have talked of the possibility of entering this market; Seddon is doing it. Seeing the opportunity provided by the grouping of most of the major bus builders, this Lancashire independent has combined commercial enterprise with engineering skill, and tempered these with business prudence to set its sights at a realistic target.
Competition is an irreplaceable stimulus; when it brings increased variety of choice for operators it is doubly welcome to the transport industry.
Points of contact
Failure to communicate effectively is at the root of more problems than people care to admit. This is as true in the transport industry as anywhere else, and indeed one of the reasons why CM introduced its annual Fleet Management Conference was to provide a forum for operators and manufacturers. One more step towards breaking down the barriers has been taken by the Freight Transport Association in setting up teams of members to meet individual vehicle manufacturers regularly. It is this sort of approach which will most quickly solve problems without recrimination.