Paul Emms (pictured), MD of Doncaster-based Emms & Sons, calls on the government to relax driver testing rules to help with the current shortage
I am MD and owner of a family-run road transport company with an operator licence for 65 trucks.
We also have our own in-house HGV training school and provide third-party commercial vehicle engineering and maintenance to many blue chip companies in our area and have been trading for over 50 years.
I have an HNC in Mechanical Engineering and have had my C+E or Class 1 licence for over 45 years so I think I know a thing or two about our industry and need to be listened to.
The chronic driver issue is caused by one thing only and that’s the double testing farce imposed upon us by the EU in 1997 and it just gets worse.
Prior to this ridiculous situation an applicant could apply for a provisional licence, train in an articulated vehicle with an instructor, book a test, pass in two or three weeks and be able to commence on-the-job training in a full-time new driving position shortly after. If they failed they could usually book a re-test on the day - usually for a few days later.
The process was quick, relatively simple and affordable. It was safe because examiners passed or failed candidates relative to criteria set down by the DfT. So no problems and no driver shortage. Our school was busy and were able to supply many local businesses with quality trained HGV Class 1 drivers.
But now they’ve really screwed it up with miles of red tape driven by the EU and implemented by our own government.
After 1997, an applicant was forced to start with a C licence, a C course and a C test, then start all over again with a C+E licence a C+E course and a C+E test. Big problem! The process now takes many months, the cost has multiplied fourfold and delivered zero privately funded applicants and a driver shortage. Well who would have thought it?
We saw this dramatic cliff edge in 1997 and I wrote an article in 2001 to MT shouting from the rooftops about how this mess was going to gum up the works and create a driver shortage. Our school had only employer-funded applicants and zero self-funded people and the time and cost was simply prohibitive.
Government officials claim the new way is far better as it’s all about road safety. Wrong! They either pass or fail - going direct to Class 1 C+E.
The DfT don’t have a clue and say the applicant has to first get some experience driving a C before embarking on C+E. But the few applicants we process go straight from C to C+E with no break because they’ve been taught good test technique skills and have more chance of passing if they then do the same test with the same examiner on the same test route. If the candidate waits it will cost much more. They have to re-learn the test technique and de-learn all their bad habits.
The entire mess requires root and branch reform now that we are out of the EU. This would once again open the flood gates to new, young indigenous blood who may have lost their job due to Covid.
Add to this the fact we cannot obtain test dates, and that the candidate usually needs four test dates if he fails each test first time, and one can see how it can easily take half a year to produce one solitary Class 1 driver. The system is crazy and it has to change.
Yes, improve facilities. And yes, do all of the things being suggested, but the dam that is holding back the tide is the farcical mess requiring two tests whilst test dates are like hen’s teeth.
A simple analogy is to impose change such that new car drivers must pass their first test in a Mini then start all over again with the cost and time of a second course in a saloon car and make the test inaccessible. Guess what you get? A saloon car driver shortage – it’s not rocket science.
Then when the new Class 1 truck driver is finally out on the road we have the authorities issuing £200 fixed penalties because the new guy failed to press the rest button after his day and spent 11 hours all night asleep doing “other work”, so he quits!
Doctors, surgeons and airline pilots sometimes make errors in their time management but they are not issued with fixed penalties.
The EU Driver CPC is a joke which is not funny anymore and should be abolished as it just compounds the mess.
Another point is that the driver 15-hour day should be reduced to 12 hours maximum and the EU speed limiters, which I recall having to retro fit years ago, cause highly dangerous 10-mile car snakes where an empty truck tries to overtake a loaded truck. If someone sneezes we get a pile up. Let the driver drive the truck and overtake a loaded truck safely and eliminate all the danger, stress and hassle of rolling road blocks.
So please, let’s all get on the same page and sort this mess out. If we all bang the same drum someone might just wake up and listen. Trust me, it hasn’t always been like this and it all started when the ridiculous new double testing rules were imposed.
I have written to Grant Shapps and my MP detailing exactly how to solve this crisis. Indeed I wrote to Grant Shapps two years ago with a letter entitled 'Ticking time bomb.' My recent letter to my MP was entitled ‘ticking time bomb exploded.’ But as Diana Ross sang, I’m still waiting...