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Grinding the axe
Page 28
Page 29
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Chris Harwood of LGV Trainers has issues with training funds, agencies and driving schools. Tim Maughan gives him the opportunity to get it all off his chest.
It's Friday. but there's no end-of-week cheerfulness about Chris Harwood. The operations manager of LGV Trainers has serious issues on his mind. There's something wrong with Britain's truck driver training industry, he feels, and he wants to talk about it.
Harwood is also operations manager of the Judith Hearn Agency, a driver hire outfit with 50 drivers on the books, which shares offices in Northampton with LGV Trainers. Both sectors, says Harwood, are being infiltrated by disingenuous types out to make easy money.
-LGV Trainers is 10 years old. We have concentrated on the Northamptonshire area for the past few years, but then you realise just how small the county is. Now we're spreading our wings." The firm relies on word-of-mouth recommendation. "Sometimes, people can't grasp that we are not out there seeing potential clients," he comments.
However, there is no shortage of driver trainers eager to thrust themselves into the limelight. The trouble,says Harwood,is that some of them peddle misleading information. They get the funding, and say they will provide operator CPC tuition, on a home-study basis free of charge... if the students pay for C+E training."
Frustrating Customers are unwittingly drawn into ongoing programmes when they could actually press on with their training and part company with the provider. -It's frustrating. They are not being honest with the customer," says Harwood.
As for the funding process, that's a thorny issue in its own right."We have found it difficult to win funding, yet other people are fleecing it
left, right, and centre. Middle men approach trainers and charge a consultation fee. If there is £140,000 available, they will take a 140,000 cut, but there is no need for a consultant."
Hanvood, a CPC holder, wants to see a more streamlined application process. Firms which persevere with the funding applications can get bogged down in the process, only to find they do not get a penny. "They can fall flat on their faces. The government should approach us, rather than make us jump through hoops," he says In four years LGV Trainers has received just £3,000 in training funds.
Funding llarwood also wants to see some regulation of driver agencies, pointing out: -Anybody can start up an agency, but not anyone can make it work." He challenges agencies to put their money where their mouths are by providing a quality service, instead of making unfounded boasts. Rubbing his forehead in frustration, Harwood says he is baffled by how agencies can legally put a driver in a 44-ton ner without even interviewing him.
"Not all agencies personally interview a driver, and they may be pulling a fl m load. It's the classic story of bums on seats, but many agencies don't bother whose humor whose seat it is The key thing to establish is, how do we know if a driver is any good? At LGV Trainers we assess every potential driver, in a truck, before we take him on."
Now well into his stride, Harwood moves on to another pet hate: medicals. This lottery-like system ensures that aspiring drivers pay myriad fees, he contends."The cheapest we have seen is 08. But with that, there are service problems:a doctor may not he available. One of our drivers was charged E145 for a medical — by a GP So where is the set-fee regulation?" he asks.
Delays It takes 20 minutes for a medical, but sometimes a doctor doesn't fill in the form properly. so there can be delays in the LO V licence application.I would like to see set prices, like with the DVLA."On the subject of regulation, Harwood would also like to see more courses made available, over and above straight C÷E training.
LGV Trainers provides a banksman course, as well as shunter tuition.Training is sometimes seen by hauliers as an afterthought, he says, but the costs of extra tuition can easily outweigh those incurred after an accident caused through insufficient appropriate education.
One thing he does approve of, though, is the Driver CPC, which operators must implement by 2009."Im really glad they are bringing it in, because it will regulate the standard of drivers. You are not going to have a driver who has been there 30 years, j ust because he's a good old boy. We need this to keep the standards high."
But hack to the topic that really riles him — driver agencies. The bad eggs need to be dealt with, he says."Why don't we have a compulsory operator CPC for the branch managers? It is practical and possible — what a great idea." •