Skills for Logistics in the East & West Midlands recently held a pilot in-house Driver Trainer Forum at Walkers PepsiCo in Leicester that was attended by a large number of logistics employers.
The aim of the forum was to enable employers with their own driver training departments to share best practice, identify pitfalls and make contacts. Richard Brewer, Skills for Logistics West Midlands regional manager, thought the forum was very successful: “Talking to a number of driver trainers it became apparent that the role was fairly insular and that individuals tend to talk to colleagues at other depots within the same company but do not realise they have similar people in similar positions, just around the corner.”
Dave England, CV driver trainer at Warburtons, told the forum about Warburtons’ Driver CPC journey so far, Mark Agnew, driver training manager at Scania GB, discussed the “Scania Experience”, and finally a Skills for Logistics overview was provided by Richard Brewer.
John Burke, driver trainer for N.R Evans based in Aldridge, said: “I found the meeting to be very informative and that the initial contacts I have made have been extremely valuable.” This was confirmed by Carl Jeffs, driver training manager at Maxi Haulage in Warwick.
The forum was completed by Keith Hampson, training manager at Walkers PepsiCo.
Phil Goodwin, Skills for Logistics East Midlands regional manager, said he was very pleased by the response of the attendees: “It is always good to hear positive feedback from the industry and if Skills for Logistics can facilitate this then it enables us to promote the skills message loud and clear.”
