Anyone else get a ‘thank you’ letter from the government also checking to see if your using your hgv license? 
Last year during the lockdowns when things went nuts in the pallet network and I complained about the workload I was told by my TM that if I didn’t like it I could bugger off somewhere else.
Now I get a letter from the high and mighty checking that I feel appreciated
Bloke I worked with got his yesterday, his wife wasn’t best pleased, the fact that he passed away two years ago brought it all back. Guess the amount of licences not being used is not as accurate as their figures suggest.
Yeah, I got a letter encouraging me back to the industry, but thinking of adding this:
How to attract more HGV drivers to the profession, according to drivers:
Work/life balance is wrong, recommend 72 hours continuous rest per week (three days), but four days work, four days rest should be industry norm. In other words; ‘we accept lorry driving has long hours. So in return we ensure you have a reasonable weekly break to see friends and family’.
Bring back 7.5t max weight for B (car) licence. Include vocational apprentice schemes with subsidised training and assessments/exams to progress to class one (C+E).
Accept heavy goods vehicle driving as a semi-skilled profession. Give it work visa status as an ‘at need’ profession. Allow online driving assessments with examiners watching via webcams driving over 4G, as an ‘online assessment’ accept any driver that can demostrate excellent and safe driving skills, regardless of race, location, ■■■■■■■■■, gender or religion. Do not default to employing Eastern European drivers, give all that have an acceptable standard apply. Any work visa must be at least two years, in length and ‘Leave to Remain’ should always be possible always given the right criteria are met.
It should accepted that any company that is worth in excess of a billion dollars (eg BP or Amazon) should pay full-time lorry drivers £50,000 per annnum as industry norm (as of 2021 and subject to inflation) and give at least 28 days paid leave and in a four days on, four days off rota or at least 72 hours rest every week.
Provide more and safer and cleaner places to park. A rubbish bin is an excellent start, running water, recycling bins and even a toilet are even better!
Encourage women and minorities into the profession.
Fast-track experienced drivers, especially those with two years of Class C driving or proven farm tractor/trailer experience to upgrade to C+E with minimum training.
Make CPC (certificate of professional competence) more vocationally useful with an actual curriculum and nationally recognised certificates.
Got the letter ,I don’t think they have thought it through ,as a HGV mechanic.If X amount of the decent ones who actually know what they are doing leave to drive .You may end up with an abundance of drivers as there will be a large amount of vehicles off the road as there is no one to fix them lol…So we will stumble from 1 crisis to the next
norb:
Got the letter ,I don’t think they have thought it through ,as a HGV mechanic.If X amount of the decent ones who actually know what they are doing leave to drive .You may end up with an abundance of drivers as there will be a large amount of vehicles off the road as there is no one to fix them lol…So we will stumble from 1 crisis to the next
I got “the letter” yesterday, I’m 74 and although I still have a current licence and dcpc I won’t be going back to work. I did look on one or two websites who were advertising just out of curiosity, but the rates and conditions being offered were nowhere near the earnings being touted in the press.
I wouldn’t be interested in full time work anyway, so what I could earn in one of two shifts a week ( based on an 8hr day) isn’t worth considering by the time I paid tax. Regards Kev.
Gavv8:
I was told by my TM that if I didn’t like it I could bugger off somewhere else
And?
Jimmy McNulty:
Gavv8:
I was told by my TM that if I didn’t like it I could bugger off somewhere elseAnd?
And what?
Apparently according to bbc news there sending them to Germans , yes got one , not sure why , thought it was to get drivers to return to job , or do they class agency as having left job
Gavv8:
Jimmy McNulty:
Gavv8:
I was told by my TM that if I didn’t like it I could bugger off somewhere elseAnd?
And what?
“I didn’t bugger off, as I wouldn’t be seen dead at agency?” 
Gavv8:
TM that if I didn’t like it I could bugger off somewhere else.
I just mention “Constructive Dismissal”… when the planners or TM have said that in the past, that shuts them up!!!
I’ve got twenty years service in so I don’t give up that easy and anyway…
Every dog has his day.
I am a fan of continuous professional development, but the current driver CPC system is widely seen as unfit for purpose and I tend to agree. It is on the one hand a box-ticking exercise whilst on the other it is perceived as a major disincentive to getting behind the wheel. My strong recommendation is that DCPC is suspended for a period, allowing drivers to be employed immediately and then given specific induction training and monitoring, by the employing company or agency, over the first three years. Thereafter, if it is still seen as essential, it should be properly re-developed on a national basis based on national need with a full supporting training needs analysis and proper monitoring of achievement standards. For now though, park it.
Driver Training.
DVLA need to be gripped. Whilst covid has been prevalent managing many issues has been tricky, but everyone else seems to have overcome, many institutions commendably so. The noteable exception has been DVLA and the current backlogs, be they processing of new applications, testing of vehicles, renewal of licences, or managing medicals and medical queries, have been terrible. In my time I have been responsible for the driver training for all 3 of the armed services, doing so at the height of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Training was being done on a truly industrial scale; the same sort of approach needs to happen now. Doing the same-old-same-old is not good enough.
Driver facilities.
Drivers just need to be treated “right”. Not molly coddled, but just treated properly, individually and collectively. Short term and overnight parking should be free at service areas and the like; trucks parked in dirty laybys with no facilities and the risk of being robbed in the night simply is not good enough in the 21st century. No new road should be built, or existing road updated, without the inclusion of proper rest areas for trucks with toilets etc – for both sexes. Local authorities should be charged with providing for trucks and their drivers. And this change needs to be shouted right now and repeated loudly and regularly. Look after the people and the people will look after businesses, and the nation.
In summary there will be no reversal of the growing shortfall unless some real things, with real impact, are announced then quickly followed up. This will not be solved by inviting people to click on some website links."
RogerOut:
I am a fan of continuous professional development, but the current driver CPC system is widely seen as unfit for purpose and I tend to agree. It is on the one hand a box-ticking exercise whilst on the other it is perceived as a major disincentive to getting behind the wheel. My strong recommendation is that DCPC is suspended for a period, allowing drivers to be employed immediately and then given specific induction training and monitoring, by the employing company or agency, over the first three years. Thereafter, if it is still seen as essential, it should be properly re-developed on a national basis based on national need with a full supporting training needs analysis and proper monitoring of achievement standards. For now though, park it.Driver Training.
DVLA need to be gripped. Whilst covid has been prevalent managing many issues has been tricky, but everyone else seems to have overcome, many institutions commendably so. The noteable exception has been DVLA and the current backlogs, be they processing of new applications, testing of vehicles, renewal of licences, or managing medicals and medical queries, have been terrible. In my time I have been responsible for the driver training for all 3 of the armed services, doing so at the height of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Training was being done on a truly industrial scale; the same sort of approach needs to happen now. Doing the same-old-same-old is not good enough.
Driver facilities.
Drivers just need to be treated “right”. Not molly coddled, but just treated properly, individually and collectively. Short term and overnight parking should be free at service areas and the like; trucks parked in dirty laybys with no facilities and the risk of being robbed in the night simply is not good enough in the 21st century. No new road should be built, or existing road updated, without the inclusion of proper rest areas for trucks with toilets etc – for both sexes. Local authorities should be charged with providing for trucks and their drivers. And this change needs to be shouted right now and repeated loudly and regularly. Look after the people and the people will look after businesses, and the nation.
In summary there will be no reversal of the growing shortfall unless some real things, with real impact, are announced then quickly followed up. This will not be solved by inviting people to click on some website links."
Apart from the temporary suspension of the DCPC (see my thread on the subject) I wholeheartedly agree. Excellent post, sir.
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Double post. Admin please delete.
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Sidevalve:
RogerOut:
I am a fan of continuous professional development, but the current driver CPC system is widely seen as unfit for purpose and I tend to agree. It is on the one hand a box-ticking exercise whilst on the other it is perceived as a major disincentive to getting behind the wheel. My strong recommendation is that DCPC is suspended for a period, allowing drivers to be employed immediately and then given specific induction training and monitoring, by the employing company or agency, over the first three years. Thereafter, if it is still seen as essential, it should be properly re-developed on a national basis based on national need with a full supporting training needs analysis and proper monitoring of achievement standards. For now though, park it.Driver Training.
DVLA need to be gripped. Whilst covid has been prevalent managing many issues has been tricky, but everyone else seems to have overcome, many institutions commendably so. The noteable exception has been DVLA and the current backlogs, be they processing of new applications, testing of vehicles, renewal of licences, or managing medicals and medical queries, have been terrible. In my time I have been responsible for the driver training for all 3 of the armed services, doing so at the height of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Training was being done on a truly industrial scale; the same sort of approach needs to happen now. Doing the same-old-same-old is not good enough.
Driver facilities.
Drivers just need to be treated “right”. Not molly coddled, but just treated properly, individually and collectively. Short term and overnight parking should be free at service areas and the like; trucks parked in dirty laybys with no facilities and the risk of being robbed in the night simply is not good enough in the 21st century. No new road should be built, or existing road updated, without the inclusion of proper rest areas for trucks with toilets etc – for both sexes. Local authorities should be charged with providing for trucks and their drivers. And this change needs to be shouted right now and repeated loudly and regularly. Look after the people and the people will look after businesses, and the nation.
In summary there will be no reversal of the growing shortfall unless some real things, with real impact, are announced then quickly followed up. This will not be solved by inviting people to click on some website links."
Apart from the temporary suspension of the DCPC (see my thread on the subject) I wholeheartedly agree. Excellent post, sir.
Thanks, not actually my post as it’s from another website but I agree with it.