EXCLUSIVE SURVEY by Juliet Morrison • Britain's truck driving schools
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are turning out poorly trained drivers, according to an exclusive Commercial Motor survey.
Our poll of 100 hauliers found that 55% think newly qualified LGV drivers fall below required standards. Respondents blame the quality of driving schools and the test itself, which does not include roping and sheeting or controlling a loaded vehicle.
The results add weight to lfs campaign for compulsory registration of WV driving schools, which has already received the support of two MPs (CM 1-7 December).
The survey also seems to dash reports of a driver shortage and reveals that the most popular recruits for hauliers are drivers between the ages of 30 and 40.
A massive 78% of respon
dents say they have not experienced problems finding drivers, despite recent stories about companies having to place jobs ads nationally and bus in employees from other regions (CM 24-30 November). Many operators may also be guilty of "ageism". Only 17% say they tend to recruit someone over 40 and only 3% would favour a recruit of 50-plus. At the other extreme, just 7% go for a driver in his or her 20s and 51% said they would not give a job to a 21year-old. Even those who said they would, qualified it by adding: "I would have to know him or the family." The survey also confirms that this year's recovery in truck sales is accompanied by an increase in employed drivers.
But the rise may be more muted than many will have been hoping for. Two in five road hauliers increased their driver workforce during 1994 but 54% kept it the same—only 7% have cut driving jobs.
SCHOOLS