Folk sat in tight rows for the full house of master class, RTITB launched their blue book standard for good practice and better performance in truck driver training. There were words from traffic Commissioner Nick Jones, Manpower driver agency and Maritime Transport who talked about mentoring new drivers. Certificate time; Terry Rose picked up the first award of approval for the new RTITB standard for Denby Training.
Mike Williams RTITB CEO opened,
We want to engage with industry, launching this standard is important to the sector. Good trainers are fed up of competing with poor quality providers who are not judged by any standard. The best providers need to be distinguished from the rest.
Laura Nelson RTITB MD,
Why LGV driver training standards? Employers want guidance, new LGV trainers want training materials. Our standard will create one voice. Our logos for these standards will become a signpost for quality. We have developed the standards to add measurable improvement. We want to move the LGV pass rate for 55% to 75%. More than a DVSA test, we also want drivers to be work ready, ready for the real world of driving. Our package will have extra driver training skills, a trainer toolkit, we will keep a register of those trainers who have passed, and we hope to see 40 centres recognised in the first year. Audits of our standard will include announced and surprise visits, we will also have mystery shoppers.
Nick Jones, traffic Commissioner for Wales and the West Midlands focused on driver conduct and detailed consequences of non-compliance.
Ministers have made it clear we should increase quality in driver conduct. There should be consistency in the guidance to the driver on their conduct. The new version of driver conduct is about to go live, we need to make learner drivers aware of it. There is a 47-page driver conduct document available for download; I strongly recommend you all look at this document. (Case example 21 – a driver caught using a mate's digi card; guidance is to revoke) A TC is not a court, we take action, drivers must be made aware of the consequences of their actions. I expect employers to dismiss drivers who have falsified documents.
[This document is available for viewing in the IoC Standards Archive under Senior Traffic Commissioner's Statutory Guidance - as document No. 6]
Steve Reynolds Maritime,
Over 2000 employees, 13,500 container moves a week, we look for a driver with a desire to build a career. In the last six months we have focused on mentoring, putting an experienced driver in the cab of a new driver for the first whole week. This is proving very beneficial.
Mick Skerritt Manpower driver agency,
My task is to retain and recruit drivers’ Hermes DHL, TNT and Royal mail were amongst the Manpower logos. ‘We need a wide message, Think Logistics developed by Abbey for schools is a great example of cradle to grave attraction of future drivers. We must then not forget that the drivers are ambassadors of our clients and brands, driver shortage has never been as important as expansion of retail home delivery expands.
Andy Frost, Merlin / Knights of Old, ‘Merlin act as a feeder for Knights of Old, we support a pool of 400 drivers’ Andy reported he was talking to Hull College about a logistics gateway.
During an interactive Q&A, Mick McGee DVSA, ‘We are in discussion to develop a standard for trainers on our register.’ Hauliers voice concern over two registers’ ‘two registers are going to be a problem’. Discussion remained focus on the need for a qualification for the heavy vehicle trainers.
Tracey Worth IOC with UPS trainers Andy Louden and Gary Swift
Lisa Smailes, Pearson Edexcel with Traffic Commissioner Nick Jones & Andrew Hartley from System Assist.
