First drivers on the road through our new HGV Driving School

Following the launch of our Driving School last month, which was formed to tackle the on-going HGV driver shortage, the first five drivers have hit the roads.

Scott Graham has joined from Amazon and has ambitions to work his way up through the ranks to become an artic driver. He had no previous experience, but has secured his Class 1 HGV licence and is currently working as a tipper driver.

Dawid Janowski is originally from Poland and came from a printing and production background. He recently achieved his HGV licence and was looking for a way to continue developing his driving skills and break in to the transport industry to further his new career.

Neil Milligan spent 20 years in the scaffolding trade before moving to a job as an operations supervisor for an offshore windfarm. He joined our Driving School so he could be closer to home to enable him to better provide for his family. Neil is currently driving a tipper vehicle.

Rachael Tear had spent the past eight years working in a care home but decided on a career change so joined our Driving School in an effort to achieve her ambition to be a long-distance lorry driver, driving across Europe. She is currently driving a road sweeper and plans to gain experience driving range of different vehicles at NWH.

Thomas Try has a real passion for cars and driving, and he’s also aiming to become an artic driver. He has joined the Driving School as a tipper driver and is working towards his Class 1 licence.

Dawid Janowski said: “This is a great programme for introducing new HGV drivers to the industry. It’s really a fantastic opportunity to benefit from five weeks of training with really experienced mentor drivers as well as gaining hands-on experience with a variety of vehicles. It’s a very welcoming environment, and the team is super supportive which makes a big difference to new drivers.

“Many businesses require two years’ minimum driving experience, and that’s tricky when you’re new to the industry so this provides people like us with the perfect opportunity to develop our skills, build our confidence and learn from the best in the business.”

The business aims to secure two new HGV drivers per week through its fully-funded training programme, and a key element to the training is five weeks of mentored driving.

Ricky Ray, Group Compliance Director at The NWH Group, said: “Due to the highly publicised HGV driver shortage, growing the driver pool here at NWH is a top priority for us. We must maintain our excellent service levels for customers and HGV drivers are essential to our business.

“It’s been really encouraging to receive many strong applications for our driving school, and we’re delighted they are already successfully completing our training and hitting the roads.”

We are offering potential HGV drivers a fully-funded route to secure their licence, a full-time salary while training, and a full-time job at the end.