Redundancies hit fitters
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• The recession has caused a surplus of trained fitters, and a lack of recruitment means that those made redundant face long periods of unemployment.
Falling truck sales have forced many dealers to cut workshop staff in an effort to remain in business. One manufacturer says: "It's our mainline dealers that are suffering most; the service and repair workshops are faring much better."
BRS Southern's Mike Donnelly says: "We have not been recruiting for some time and there have been major redundancies in the marketplace with dealerships shedding staff."
Further north, at Leyland Daf dealer Kays of Mackworth, the story is similar. As part of the Arlington group it had to make six staff redundant in November, one of whom was a fitter. "It took him until about three weeks ago to get another job," Kays' service manager, Ken Massingham has told Workshop.
He is worried about the effect on the industry when the economy improves: "Many of those being made redundant will go into other industries — they won't come back," he says.
Massingham believes that the recruiting of high-quality school leavers is another problem that will be exacerbated by the recession, Over 80% of employers in the business don't train in the good times, let alone now when they can recruit easily, he says.