Skills for Logistics develops haulage recruitment scheme
Date: 09 November 2007
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Sector skills organisation Skills for Logistics (SfL) believes that haulage firms need to get serious about training if a recruitment crisis is to be avoided.
The group is currently developing an apprenticeship scheme that would allow owner operators to take on 16-year-olds and train them up, Motor Transport reports.
The youngsters would be taught warehouse or office duties before being helped to gain their driving licence at the age of 17, and then on to category C and C+E licence for freight haulage.
Other routes that employees could take include warehousing and storage, courier or multi-drop driving work and traffic office work.
"The scheme is in the early days in our thinking, but could address the lack of skilled drivers and the industry's problem of not being good at developing people in the industry," said SfL operations director Dr Mick Jackson.
"We have a mission to get the industry to consider itself more of a profession than it does. If we don't do that, we'll never get away from being a commodity."
It is hoped that funding for these haulage recruitment schemes will come from bodies such as the Learning and Skills Council or regional development agencies.
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