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Improve to tune of 11.7m
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• The government has launched a £l.Tm training scheme to help truck drivers improve their skills behind the wheel.
The programme, which is being funded as part of the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund, will see over 4,000 truck drivers and 200 instructors benefit from in-cab training, based on the Department for Transport-sponsored Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving standard (SAFED).
Transport minister David Jamieson says:
Improving on the existing skills of driver can have real benefits for the haulage industry. There are financial savings to be made through fuel savings, reduced accident damage and staff retention. There are also benefits for the driver too, through improved training and enhanced skills."
Geoff Dossetter, the Freight Transport Association's director of external affairs, welcomes the move. "It will be a helpful addition to improving the driver shortage, yielding 500 newly-licensed drivers. We hope that the Dff will repeat the process in the coming months."
However, Pat Whitbread of Bletchleybased Advance Training Service disagrees: 'The money would be better spent improving the efficiency of the Driving Standards Agency.
"It is all very well improving training but it is no use if drivers cannot follow up their career development because there are no examiners and a two-month wait for a test," she adds.
The Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving standard (SAFED) consists of classroom-based instruction coupled with practical and theory assessments on a range of factors including braking and accelerating.
The trainee is given instruction on best practice in safe and fuel-efficient driving, and is then reassessed to see how new techniques have improved performance and fuel consumption.