Further plans have been announced by the UK government to help tackle the lorry driver shortage.
Up to 4,000 people will soon be able to take advantage of training courses to become HGV drivers, as part of a package of measures announced by the government to ease temporary supply chain pressures in food haulage industries, brought on by the pandemic and the global economy rebounding around the world.
The Department for Education is investing up to £10 million to create new skills bootcamps to train up to 3,000 more people to become HGV drivers. The free, short, intensive courses will train drivers to be road ready and gain a category C or category C&E licence, helping to tackle the current HGV driver shortage. An additional 1,000 people are expected to be trained through courses accessed locally and funded by the government’s adult education budget.
Fuel tanker drivers need additional safety qualifications, which the government will work with industry to ensure drivers can access as quickly as possible.
Additionally, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the immediate deployment of their Defence Driving Examiners (DDEs) to work alongside DVSA examiners. This will provide thousands of extra tests over the next 12 weeks.
The MoD examiners will be in addition to the 40 extra vocational examiners that DVSA is currently recruiting following a recent recruitment campaign.
The latest plans follow a separate announcement to change vocational tests, which is expected to create an extra 50,000 truck tests every year. DVSA has already delivered 50 percent more tests than were available before the pandemic.
