FTA Planning HGV Driver Summit in March 2016

The Freight Transport Association (FTA), one of the leading voices representing the haulage and transport industries, is planning a summit for the spring to deal with the ongoing driver shortage. The summit will bring together member companies who want to learn more about effective methods of recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining HGV drivers. It is a free event planned for 17 March 2016 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Dubbed the ‘FTA Logistics Skills Summit’, the single day event will highlight the progress the logistics industry has made over the last 12 months in combating the driver crisis. It will offer attendees a series of interactive workshops and guest speaker presentations designed to address the most important aspects of hiring and retaining professional drivers. Specific areas of interest will include:

• attracting new talent for the logistics industry
• recruiting from specific sources, including schools and the military
• effective ways to provide training
• effective methods for retaining current drivers
• effective methods of making logistics careers more desirable.

The FTA is looking forward to a successful summit that picks up where last year’s summit left off. It hopes to be able to equip its members to better address their individual problems relating to the driver shortage, thereby strengthening the entire logistics sector as a whole. Anyone wishing to attend the summit can get information by visiting the FTA website.

The Ongoing Need for Drivers

The severity of the ongoing HGV driver shortage is undeniable. Most estimates say the logistics industry is currently short more than 40,000 drivers; some estimations take the number as high as 100,000. Yet whether you accept the higher or lower number, one thing is clear: there are still too many HGV driver positions that remain unfilled. That can only have a negative impact on the economy.

HGV drivers are an integral part of what makes our economy work. Nearly 70% of all the consumer goods sold in the UK are transported on a lorry at some point between manufacture and sale. But it does not stop there. Lorries also transport the raw materials manufacturers need to produce consumer goods; they transport equipment, industrial supplies, and all of the exports taken out of the UK by ship. Without a robust and reliable logistics sector, our economy would grind to a halt.

The FTA’s annual summits do a very good job of equipping members with the information and tools they need to be better at what they do. As an FTA member ourselves, we look forward to this year’s summit in Coventry. In the meantime, we will continue doing our part to address the ongoing driver shortage.

We offer HGV driver training at more than four dozen facilities located strategically throughout the UK. With so many training centres available, we make training as convenient as possible to as many drivers as possible. That includes you. If you have been thinking of becoming an HGV driver, contact us for more information.

Sources:

UK Haulier – http://www.ukhaulier.co.uk/news/road-transport/hgv-training/fta-logistics-skills-summit-aims-to-attract-recruit-retain/