Well, less than a week to go, is everyone bricking it yet?
I’ve just done the sample Modules 1 and 2 as linked on this forum and got 73% and 78% respectively on them so two passes although the first one was a bit close for comfort really…
And so to the case study. Here is my take on it, comments welcome.
As others (dieseldave specifically I think) have already mentioned elsewhere, we’re almost certainly looking at a good few marks for each of the two items mentioned in the “Other information” section, namely the health and safety aspects and diesel theft and diciplinary procedures.
There will possibly also be a question about bringing your maintenance in house, similar perhaps to the one that was in the December exam, so I would presume that knowing a list of facilities/equipment you would need to service vehicles to VOSA requirements would be a good idea.
I would also hazard a guess at a question requiring you to detail a schedule for one or more of the journeys involved with the existing two contracts, given that they go into detail about average speeds and distances. One slight anomaly is that on the first contract the distance to go straight from the depot to Stirling is noticeably longer than the return journey even though on the return you have to go via Birmingham!
There could perhaps be a question on costing the work done by the smaller vehicles too given that they give you details of the number of days they work, the distances they travel and their fuel economy.
Other interesting points to note are that the company is not currently using its full allowance on the O licence of 8 vehicles (as although there are 8 in total the 3.5t panel van doesn’t count) so if you decide you need more for the new contract there is space for one. From what I can see at a very quick glance you’ll need two 17/18t rigids for the new contract, which you already have in the fleet but that would then mean they are no longer available for the ad hoc work they currently do which may or may not be an issue.
There is talk of driver’s hours (40 per week) and their hourly rates (which seem quite generous to me!) and so I can see something involving number crunching cropping there.
It’s also worth noting that whilst you have enough LGV drivers to keep all the vehicles on the road (3 with C+E and 2 with C), you only have one other driver who has a car licence gained long enough ago that he will also have C1 so he can drive the 7.5tonners, but even taking that into account you only have a total of 6 drivers and 8 vehicles at the present time.
The only thing in the scenario that I can’t think of an obvious question to suit is the fact that they tell you that you plan to sell the business in 18months. They can’t ask for a valuation or anything along those lines I wouldn’t think as they don’t give you any hint as to any assets or liabilities.
Possible questions aside, it seems like a pretty badly run business to me! Lots and lots of empty running, and pretty poor vehicle utilisation (the two 7.5tonners working an average of 100 days per year each means they’re only running on average about 2 days a week each, and the 17 tonners aren’t doing much better). I suppose at least that possible new contract will keep the 17 tonners running all week…
Anyway, I’ll stop waffling now. Comments welcome, especially if I’ve missed anything glaringly obvious.
Paul
I’ll also guarantee that you won’t score more marks if you write 10 things, because in the example I gave, the clue is that there are three marks available.
I had him breaking up the return journey with an overnight stay.
