Current Awareness Bulletin

I shall apologise in advance for today’s blog, David is off on his holidays, so I have been left in the ‘driving’ seat and I have a small bee in my bonnet!

The Institute’s new President, Sir Moir Lockhead, is concerned that we are heading towards a new ‘lost generation’, and I am experiencing the hurdles facing young people first hand at the moment with my teenage sons.

Now I know 18 year old boys aren’t perfect, but most are willing to work, learn and progress.  And they are just not getting the chance to.  I am sure I would have heard the same within the transport and logistics sectors, should that have been his chosen career. 

And this needs to change, or we will lose a large number of potential leaders, managers and hard working young people into an abyss of unemployment or working in a job that is not relevant to their original skill set. 

Secondly, and please bear with me if I go off topic slightly here, I do get there in the end, my younger son has recently passed his driving test and is frantically packing crisps and saving his pennies to buy a car so that when he joins the RAF next year he can come home and visit his mum!  However, will packing crisps pay for the approximate £3,000 it will cost him to insure the little 1.2 Fiat Punto he has his eye on?  I don’t think so somehow!  Now whilst he was learning to drive, I could insure him on my car (a 1.8 Toyota Celica), through the wonders of  provisional driver insurance for the sum of £100 per month.  He passes his test, and what happens – the insurers want blood!  He also isn’t allowed to pay it off monthly as he is too young to have a credit agreement, he is 17. 

Now, forgive me if I am being too black and white about things here, and I understand that 17 year old new drivers are a high risk, but at least give them a chance to prove themselves.  Say a low rate for 6 months, let them find their ‘feet’ on the road, should they have an at fault accident or receive points on their licence within those 6 months, then bump their premiums up! 

It is estimated that 4% of drivers in the UK do not have any insurance cover, the highest level in Western Europe, and I believe that if we encouraged people from driving age to insure their cars, and made it affordable for them, we would see a drop in that figure.

We need to start providing for and encouraging young people to succeed in life, and I for one am firmly behind Sir Moir’s vision for the Institute, and the country.

As always, this is just my personal view, I am sure you all have your thoughts on these matters and I would love to hear from you. 

Alexandra Burns
Acting Editor

The problem of reducing numbers of young people in the transport industry is a major issue, though based on anecdotal evidence, I feel the number of young HGV drivers looking to get trained is increaseing which can only be encouraging - though I dare say there may be people with better evidence that disagree. From the CILT's perspective, I would like to see greater engagement from the institute at University and even more fundamentally at schools level. Initiatives such as 'Where is the Geography' need greater emphasis from CILT and bakcing from industry to get young people interested at an early age.

In terms of driving, I agree with many of your sentiments and remember the problems of getting insurance at a similar age. Im not sure whether you are aware, but some insurance companies - I think Admiral is one, now insure drivers by linking them to a 'black box' fitted into the car, which monitors driving style; looking at speed; acceleration/braking rates; etc and premiums are paid accordingly - the better your son drives, the less his premium and so he might just get that chance to prove himself - you might want to look into it...and no I dont work for them.

Kind Regards

Dan Bowden MILT

Hello Alexandra

You have touched a sore point with me also.

I will skip the insurance matter as the insurance companies are here to:

a) Maximise profit

b) Expose themselves to minimal risk of having cough up any monies

And I am afraid 17 yo lads fail to fulfill both aspects of those wishes.

Back to 'foot in the door' work.

Accept 130% the need for non academic entry into the work place and agree entirely about yongsters work ethic.

In our industry some clown of a pm whose surname began with a 'T' abolished all of the Industry training boards - ours (RTITB) in particular ran a  superb system in conjunction with pretty well all members of the road transport industry.

With absolutely no respect at all, the current 'training' schemes offered by the present set up are not worth the reams of paper they consume - they give a 'qualification' without any proper training.

Training involves teaching people - in our industry that means showing them what to do, have them do it and above all, UNDERSTAND what they have learned. Once that has been acieved, go on to the next topic.

I was lucky enough to go through the British Road Servies / NFC scheme in the 1970's - no high brow MSc's, doctorates or PHD's here (those have their place, but not at the sharp end of our trade where leadership, integrity and example are far more important. 

The schemes through which I went provided non academics a way into our industry through learning and understanding in conjuntion with Chartered Institute of Transport exams taken through evening class (available in all major centres )or day release (and that was hard graft after a 12 hour day in the traffic office!!)

So, lets get back to basics, teach people that management of resources is not sitting in front of a computer screen and have them understand how this wonderful industry of ours really works.

David Archer

Mercia Group