RHA deployed its coach driving simulator on the streets of Peterborough today to try to combat the recruitment problem which its Operations Manager for Coaches, Andy Warrender, described as holding back growth.
To mark the second day of National Coach Week 2024, the trade body met the public in the city’s main square to allow would-be coach drivers the chance to experience the occupation.
The coach and bus industry has an estimated driver shortage of 5,000-10,000 and Mr Warrender points out the issue is only less apparent now than a couple of years ago due to operators’ sizing their businesses accordingly.
Speaking inside the RHA van housing the Tenstar simulator, he says: “You talk to a lot of operators now and it’s the number of drivers that they can realistically accommodate right through the year and sustain that will dictate the size of the business.
“In days gone by, a lot of those operators would have been bigger. The shortage isn’t perhaps as it was two or three years ago, but I think the shortage is still there and I think it is restricting the growth rather than anything that is immediately apparent in terms of shortage of drivers to run the number of vehicles.”
He concedes that “dramatically” rising salaries have had an effect but adds: “The skills shortage has certainly defined the economics of the industry over the past two or three years.”
RHA’s latest coach manifesto, Coaching Ahead, which was published yesterday, reinstated its call for the HGV skills bootcamps which began in 2022 to be expanded to cover category D licence acquisition.
At the launch of the manifesto at the headquarters of Forest of Dean operator Grindles Coaches, Mr Warrender told visiting Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper of the bootcamps’ “incredible success at recruiting HGV drivers and virtually eliminating the severe shortage”.
“We’ve got the evidence as to what it did for HGVs, so taking it into the PCV arena I think would be a big boost,” he says at the Peterborough event, which was also attended by industry specialists C9 Recruitment and Spalding operator Fowler’s Travel, which stationed a coach nearby.
The manifesto also calls for a review of the restrictions for young drivers aged 18-20, particularly as the sector looks to fill the hole vacated by some older drivers not coming back after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The skills shortage is not limited to drivers, though, and Mr Warrender highlights the need for a review of the apprentice funding cap in order to benefit recruitment of engineers.
He says: “Funding for apprentices is still capped at £18,000 and, certainly as far as technicians are concerned, it just isn’t viable for training providers to offer apprenticeships at that level. Realistically, it needs to be in the early £20,000s, £23-24,000, and that certainly would help in the technician field.”
He sees reason for optimism for the industry if issues such as recruitment can be fixed. He says: “The future for the industry could be pretty bright but it’s down to a combination of action from operators and from government and indeed other stakeholders to ensure those benefits can be maximised.”
He adds that RHA enjoyed “very good and frank discussion” with Mr Harper yesterday on matters such as drivers, decarbonisation, facilities and PSVAR.
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