Young drivers problems
Page 48
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For some three years now I have been trying to get employment as a driver with some of the larger and better haulage companies using maximum g.c.w. vehicles on either domestic or Continental work. I am 26 and have held a clean licence for the past eight years during which time I have been employed by two companies using vehicles in the 15cwt to 7-ton class.
I have the benefits of a reasonable education having obtained GCE "0" level passes in four subjects and "A" level in one. I have been appointed manager of three branches in the South with my present employer and hope therefore that I might be considered responsible. However, although the letters of application I have submitted outline all these points, because I cannot state simply that I have had many years' experience at the wheel of a maximum gross weight artic I do not even get as far an an interview, and often companies do not even trouble to acknowledge my application.
With the advent of the h.g.v. test I can foresee even greater difficulties! Surely it is perfectly obvious that prospective employers, especially the smaller independents, will just not entertain the idea of a new employee using a vehicle for a minimum of 2 hours for this test. What about the thousands of non-revenue hours accumulated throughout the country. And this on top of a shorter working week!
Perhaps it is possible that in introducing the h.g.v. test and shorter working day the MoT has realized, even before the hauliers, that the status of the driver is improving, and no doubt within five years will be on a par with that of American and Continental "Operators" who are drivers and not driver labourer/mechanics. And let me point out at this stage that I do not wish to obtain a job with a company which operates outdated equipment and pays the minimum rates as governed by RHA. But surely there are good companies which wish to take on relatively inexperienced drivers in order that they might train them in a proper arid forward-thinking manner, provided that the employee shows a genuine interest and loyalty in return.
In these days of brilliant scientific and academic achievement, is it too improbable to assume that hauliers will at least consider employing drivers who do not wear greasy leather jackets and "roll their own".
MARTIN D. PHIPPARD, Southampton.