What about student driver loans?

27/11/2018 WebSupport Buses, Coaches, Coaching, Drivers, Features, Opinion

Alan Payling considers student loans and the billions that are pumped into university education, and asks why the same system shouldn’t apply for trainee PCV drivers

Ever since I wrote my article about Torbay Minibuses (CBW1360), I’ve been thinking about the shortage of PCV drivers and the difficulties the industry is facing in employing the people it needs. To recap for a moment, Torbay Minibuses has adopted a policy of paying the training costs for suitable applicants to enable them to qualify as PCV drivers. The relevant facts here are that it costs Torbay Minibuses about £1,000 per driver to get them on the road with a D or D1 licence. They have so far trained seven drivers.

Additionally, they do not appear to have been short of prospective trainees who responded to their ads offering paid training for suitable applicants. This policy has enabled them to employ good people and to expand their business. I was also told that, without the financial assistance offered by Torbay Minibuses, their newly qualified drivers would not have been able to pay for the training themselves. […]