Driver training set up to fill skills gap
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• Two driver training schemes have been launched this week to try and combat the shortage of experienced drivers.
High-street agency Manpower and Kent Training and Enterprise Council have both set up training courses designed to enhance the skills of recently qualified or prospective drivers.
Manpower says that in recent years experienced drivers have left the industry and that there are fewer opportunities for recently qualified drivers. The company's driving specialist Graham Sellors says: "The old days of an employer training up and then taking on a driver have largely stopped. It is more difficult now for new drivers to get a foot on the first rung of the ladder."
Danny Bryan, the Transport and General Workers Union's National Secretary for Commercial Road Transport, says: "There is an astonishing number of drivers who don't reach normal retirement age and much of this is due to the demanding nature of the job in terms of hours and conditions. This has created a premium on quality experienced drivers."
Bryan says there is a particular shortfall in the petrol, oil and logistics sectors where drivers frequently earn more than the average 15.33 per hour but where experience is at a premium.