Lorry Drivers Appreciation Society

[MrFoolish]

Some chap from the industry was asking this morning why young people can't access the equivalent of student loans to train to be a lorry driver. Seemed like a good point to me. There's way to many students studying for academic jobs that don't exist.

What a lazy, incompetent government we have, letting things get to this point.

[vagrantbrain]

Some chap from the industry was asking this morning why young people can't access the equivalent of student loans to train to be a lorry driver. Seemed like a good point to me. There's way to many students studying for academic jobs that don't exist.

What a lazy, incompetent government we have, letting things get to this point.

I think thats a very dangerous road to go down (no pun intended). Why take on an apprentice electrician or plumber or trainee hairdresser or any other young person then if they can train themselves at their own cost instead. You did used to be able to get Career Development Loans however they were scrapped due to this kind of abuse.

There isn't a problem getting access to training (until recently with the shortage of test spaces and medicals, which is transient) as most of the big firms will actually train drivers, but the job simply doesn't attract many because the wages are so low, and frankly the prospect of having to [expletive deleted] in a plastic bag in a layby after a 15hr shift for £9.50/hr when you can get more stacking shelves and go home to your own bed every night just doesn't appeal to many. Instead of blaming the government why not look at the employers who would rather import cheap labour than pay the market rate for drivers.

[Howard]

Interviewees from the transport industry on TV have said that it costs around £4,000 to get a full artic HGV licence. Looking it up on Google confirms this, see link below.

So it does seem logical for Government grants to be offered to young people to encourage them to qualify. From what I've read, the key driver shortages are of drivers of large trucks. Obviously it's much cheaper to get a licence to drive a van.

The link provided by Hallucigena - thanks - in the post above is very interesting. Showing not a day in the life of a milk delivery driver but his night driving job. (see viewtopic.php?p=445278#p445278). One gets an idea of the massive logistics infrastructure required to keep supermarkets supplied with food when one realises that this is just one product being delivered every day.

It also shows that, as well as the complex reversing skills required after more than 150 miles of night driving, simple things like having to phone up to get security gates opened are a pain. And the physical effort of unloading milk trolleys and marshalling the empty trolleys collected, add to the responsibilities of the role.

I've often watched a reversing artic and marvelled at the skill required but watching the video made me aware of some of the other responsibilities of the job.

Hopefully this situation is going to force improvements in the whole logistics industry. Passing the HGV test is just the first hurdle for a driver.

regards

Howard

https://www.2start-training.com/news/ho ... ning-cost/

[dionaeamuscipula]

Instead of blaming the government why not look at the employers who would rather import cheap labour than pay the market rate for drivers.

Well, my mate sold his (100 plus trucks) haulage business a couple of years ago. Big local name, many years in business. Couldn't make it pay because the competition was so fierce. New owners put it in administration within 15 months.

DM

[Hallucigenia]

Interviewees from the transport industry on TV have said that it costs around £4,000 to get a full artic HGV licence. Looking it up on Google confirms this, see link below.

So it does seem logical for Government grants to be offered to young people to encourage them to qualify.

This thread gives a bit more detail :

https://twitter.com/infofoundationx/sta ... 5575768069

AIUI one of the problems with ramping up eg with the Army is that although a lot may have the ADR ticket (Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route - originally a European thing but since taken over by the UN, a good example of how European rules become global standards) that allows them to transport hazardous loads, not many have the Petroleum Driver Passport which you need to load fuel.

I've often watched a reversing artic and marvelled at the skill required

I have seen suggestions that if there's an influx of new drivers, it may be efficient to leave them to slog up the motorway and then hand over to an old hand for reversing at a depot. Same sort of idea as having specialist harbour pilots to dock ships.

[kiloran]

I have seen suggestions that if there's an influx of new drivers, it may be efficient to leave them to slog up the motorway and then hand over to an old hand for reversing at a depot. Same sort of idea as having specialist harbour pilots to dock ships.

Does not seem like a good idea. If a new driver is incapable of reversing at a depot, what if that same driver is caught up in a tailback due to an accident or whatever and needs to reverse? Or needs to reverse out of a parking spot after a mandatory break?

--kiloran

[pje16]

I couldn't do this in my car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6_X75rfS4

[brightncheerful]

Richard Walker of Iceland (which is apparently a sort of frozen food emporium) could solve his problem, shortage of drivers, simply by closing some of his stores.

[swill453]

Richard Walker of Iceland (which is apparently a sort of frozen food emporium) could solve his problem, shortage of drivers, simply by closing some of his stores.

Is this Viz Top Tips?

Scott.

[Lanark]

Some chap from the industry was asking this morning why young people can't access the equivalent of student loans to train to be a lorry driver. Seemed like a good point to me. There's way to many students studying for academic jobs that don't exist.

The problem with young people driving lorries and trucks is that these days the insurance is prohibitive and usually limited to those 25 years and older.
Most companies don't want someone driving a £200,000 truck using third party fire and theft!