Chas:
I don’t know why the bureaucrats have left LGV training alone, but if they one day choose to get involved, you will all come to wish they had’nt.
Get your own houses in order, link up & try to form a strong, single association to look after your collective interests. Any business that chooses to win its business by under pricing you should be allowed to die its own natural death. You really don’t want the bureaucrats getting involved.
+1,000,000
This is so true of almost everything. It’s some strange quirk of human behaviour that otherwise sensible people can look at any business activity in Britain at the moment and think, “Hmm, what we really need is more regulation”.
Things like making medicine need to be state-regulated, because it’s impossible for the customer to tell what he’s buying. Things like vocational driving instruction, which have an independent statutory test at the end anyway, and are indulged in by fit, healthy, adults could well be left alone.
Instructors who can’t instruct and who are driving around without the right insurance are ALREADY breaking lots and lots of laws - adding another bunch just to criminalise (or burden) the otherwise honest is the wrong approach, IMO.
Of course people who have already gone on some kind of register in the expectation it would become compulsory are bound to be ■■■■■■■■■■ - I would be too - but that just shows you shouldn’t trust the government.
Having read the posts I think most are missing the point. The companies in question have no “training” they set themselves up between the trainee and the trainer. Making trainers DSA registered would not stop this, these types of companies also exist in the car ADI training side. “Become a driving instructor earn £40,000” etc. What should be stopped is being able to farm out some else labour its like usery. That should also go for agencies as well the whole unscruplous fly by night “middle man” doing nothing but taking a cut for a “service” they do not supply directly. They are effectively services and labour pimps.
In the coming years there will be no brokers because they wil realise there is not money in running one.
There will be lgv trainers who should all be registered. You will find that the reputable trainers want to be qualified in what they do for a living.
The haulage industry needs agents to help with meeting it’s needs in making sure that the products get delivered on time. Logistics companies need them and so do drivers.
Having read the posts I think most are missing the point.
I also think they are - the dual aim should be to eliminate the brokers and sub standard schools - the DSA register would if run effectively would only address one part of that.
And that is only if it is run effectively - given the way it is run now and the flagrant abuse of non DSA registered companies using its logo and making claims of being registsred which have not been addressed, how much confidence can there be that a full registration scheme would be enforced and successful?
The industry itself has to make an effort to get its own house in order, and yes that means spending some money- if it doesnt I can see that at somepoint it will get an unworkable over beaurecratic system imposed on it that will cost them far more.
If it doesnt, then when it all happens and goes wrong for them, at least I can say you had a chance to look at the problem and make it work for you, but chose not to, now live with the consequences.
About now is when the decent companies should start to look beyond their own noses, put aside business differences and look to see how to regulate their industry before some civil servant with no idea of how it works does it for them. I cant believe that so many intelligent decent business people are so short sighted they cant see the threat.
I mentioned bandwagons, and I will still say there are companies looking for a hand up.
when I looked in here earlier, before the pub, there were 149 guests 
Is it the media looking for bent operators, or is it the trainers looking for an easy buck?
Clearly there are two seperate issues: brokers and standards of training. I want to believe that brokers will become a thing of the past as they realise there’s little honest money in it. And the more adverse publicity they get, the better.
But with regard to training standards, at the risk of repeating myself, the register is already in place. If compulsory it would be enforced in the same way as ADI work is currently. So I dont see a problem there.
It needs the powers that be to give a sensible period of warning, maybe 2 years, that everyone delivering training must be on the register and that after that time they would be operating illegally. Very easy to police as it’s a relatively small industry and “new” faces are instantly recognised. This measure would, at least, ensure that trainers are actually capable of doing the job. I would then introduce check tests as per ADI to maintain standards. Statistics will show who is performing and who isn’t.
The next move would be the compulsory registration/accreditation of training centres. The criteria, though, would need to be reasonable as there are very good trainers who dont have posh premises. But they need to be able to demonstrate access to reversing area within a reasonable distance and also the quality of vehicle.
Another simple measure would be to enforce the production of insurance certificates at the start of a driving test. That would instantly stop a fair number round here!
There’s been many comments about self regulation but, maybe I’m dim, I cant see what that actually means. HELP!
In the meantime, I rely heavily on visits from potential candidates. They invariably book because the difference is so obvious. And that’s something that’s difficult to get over on the phone or even the best of web sites.
If anyone has any ideas towards some form of self regulation, I would be very interested in taking part (once I understand how it works!)
Pete 