Not satisfied with the limited pool of already-qualified drivers, Tyrers Coaches has come up with its own solution to the industry’s driver shortage
A lack of professional drivers has been a real concern for coach and bus operators for a number of years now.
While there are many reasons attributed to this shortage, such as poor pay, cost of training, unsocial hours and the public’s general attitudes towards the job, it’s up to the industry as a whole to find a solution to its aging and dwindling workforce.
One operator taking matters into its own hands is Lancashire-based Tyrers Coaches.
The firm has set up its own driver training academy to recruit and train new drivers from outside the industry, with its first intake of trainees completing their training this month.
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Biggest year yet
Established in 1972, the firm was set up by Bob Tyrer as R. S. Tyrer & Son. Bob had been a coach driver for over 30 years and started his own business at 58 years old with one vehicle.
The fleet gradually grew to five vehicles before Bob passed away in November 1992, after which his daughter Sylvia and her husband Gordon took over the business.
Now, with the help of their sons, Matt and Rick, Tyrers runs a fleet just shy of 100, operating out of two depots – one in Chorley and one in Bolton – running primarily school transport work.
Driver Training and Development Manager, James Robb, says: “We transport over 6,000 students a day on everything from contracts to private hires. It’s the bread and butter of the business, but everything you can do with a coach, we do.”
“We run our own day trips and UK holidays from the booking office in Adlington – which is the official head office where it all started – and we do a lot of tour work with outside organisations too.
“Tyrers is now in its biggest year yet. We’ve got more drivers, vehicles and contracts than ever.”
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In-house training
However, hiring the right kind of drivers started to become increasingly more difficult for the operator, says James.
“It was becoming fairly tough to pick the right drivers for Tyrers from the pool of already-qualified drivers, so we thought we’d tap into a much wider talent base and recruit from other industries and we’re getting fantastic people.
“It’s about getting people with the right attitude and personality, rather than the experience and qualifications. You can teach people to drive a bus, but you can’t teach them to be nice people,” he adds.
There are a number of advantages to training drivers in-house.
Says James: “We tried sending people to external trainers and we found that, one it takes too long, and two they get taught how to drive a bus for test standard on a test route.
“We want to train people to be a driver that we want to take on and we train them to a much higher standard than a test standard. I am sure our trainees will attest to the fact that they are pushed harder than perhaps they would if they were paying for their training.
“By doing it all in-house you get to select the right people for the business and train them in the way that you want.”
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The programme
James had been working at Tyrers in the operations department for two years before setting up its training trainee driver programme.
He says: “I am doing the driving instructing. It was something that we batted around as an idea and then I was told to go ahead with it – write a training programme and train as an instructor, which took about three months.
“We’ve written a training programme that is exclusive to us and it’s effectively an eight-week programme.
“It’s ideally four weeks’ worth of on-the-road training and then two weeks with a mentor-driver where they learn the intricacies of the job itself, such as the ticket machines, routes and ticket types.
“The final two weeks give us a bit of leeway should trainees need to resit any of their tests, and prevents overlapping with the next intake.
“Training is very much a trust exercise from my point of view. There’s no way of stopping the vehicle if I need to, which is why we strip the training back down to basics and go as far as just moving off and slowing and stopping to begin with. It may seem silly, but it’s so different from driving a car.”
The programme has been designed as difficult as it can be, adds James. So that once fully-qualified, the candidates are capable of dealing with all aspects of the role.
Tyrers has put together a training bond, which means that, once qualified, the trainees are guaranteed a job for a minimum of two years and the operator can recoup the cost back.
“It’s an earn-as-you-learn programme, as opposed to them paying us to come and train. We pay them a wage while they learn the job and teach them to be a Tyrers driver,” says James.
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Recruitment process
Once the person has applied, the recruitment process is very in-depth, says James.
“We’ve got driving assessments, we do interviews over the phone and an interview face-to-face before they get offered a position.”
The one stipulation is that before they start the training, the trainees must get their provisional licence themselves and prepare for module one – the theory test.
“So, when they come to us they’ve got that theory knowledge as a base and then the training programme puts them through the other three modules,” says James.
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Making history
The firm’s first intake of trainees – Vicky Lacey, Wayne Bates and Tracey Evans – have completed their training this month.
Says James: “I’m incredibly proud of these three and how far they’ve come in the last couple of months. Wayne has made history as Tyrers’ first ever graduate of the Tyrers driver academy and he passed first time, and Vicky and Tracey closely followed.
“It’s a learning curve for everybody. It’s a new thing for Tyrers and it’s a new thing for our trainees to be doing and for me too.”
Tyrers used its Facebook page to promote the training programme and invite candidates to apply.
“We’ve not had to advertise externally except from our own social media and we’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of people who have applied,” says James.
“We have been able to pick the best of the best and we’ve certainly found that with our first intake of trainees.
“I have been surprised by the range of people we’ve had applying. Of the three we’ve got now, Tracey and Vicky have come from a similar background – ambulance driving with a first response background. Wayne was a valeter and coach driving is something he has had his eye on for a long time, so this is a step up that he might not have got anywhere else.”
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Ongoing scheme
Tyrers’ aim is to continually have someone in the training programme and it already has a waiting list of other intakes of trainees.
“As well as recruiting new drivers, we’ve got people in the operations team that don’t have a licence, so they’re also going to be put through the programme,” says James.
“The aim at the moment is to take on three trainees at a time. We want to keep it at a personal level in that if there’s more than three then they’re not getting enough time behind the wheel. If it was more, people would progress slower and it might knock their confidence.
“For now, three is ideal. But there’s nothing to say that over time we might grow the training school and have a second instructor and more intakes running at the same time.”
