While most of the headlines over the last few years have been about the HGV driver shortage, an equal if not more pressing employment problem has been bubbling away. Chris Tindall reports.
A SHORTAGE of heavy vehicle technicians is now of considerable concern to hauliers, dealers and maintenance providers, with warnings that fixing the problem presents much more of a challenge than the lack of lorry drivers.
With training lasting several years and the number of institutions offering apprenticeships falling by more than half in a decade, business groups say the immediate focus needs to be on attracting qualified workers back into the industry to plug a skills black hole.
“Whereas HGV drivers can be trained within a couple of months, technicians require at least three years,” explained Jonas Keat, policy advisor at Logistics UK.
