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Yasmin Prabhudas reports on a Scottish initiative to fill the trucking skills gap

“Being a truck driver is something I’ve always wanted to do, I just never got the opportunity,” says Linda Jackson, one of 15 women that trained as large goods vehicle (LGV) drivers in 2005 as part of a Scottish pilot project.

The Women in Wheels programme, developed by Skills for Logistics, the UK skills council for the freight logistics industry, aims to tackle gender imbalance and driver shortages. It is backed by transport businesses and trade unions – among them the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU), representing some 150,000 workers in logistics. In 2004 it formed part of a pilot, funded by the Scottish government, which included a programme of research looking into issues related to women’s training and employment as LGV drivers.

“One of Skills for Logistics’ strategic objectives is to address the gender imbalance throughout the logistics industry, not just in relation to LGV drivers. That said, the fact that only one per cent of LGV drivers in Scotland is female and that the shortage of drivers is so great makes encouraging more women to consider this job a priority,” explains Sheila McCullough, Skills for Logistics Scottish policy adviser.

“Our latest figures suggest that Scotland is short of between 4,000 and 5,000 LGV drivers and that this shortage is increasing.”

Overcoming stereotypes

“Speaking personally, I think getting more women, particularly young women, to consider a career in logistics is essential if the sector is to fulfil its full potential. To do this, we have to overcome women’s inaccurate stereotypes of the kinds of jobs available in the industry, as well as persuade employers of the need to adopt female-friendly recruitment and employment practices,” adds McCullough.

The organisation’s Scottish driver training scheme, which, claims McCullough, is embedding lessons learned from the pilot, will see 40 places ringfenced for women drivers in the central belt of Scotland. It is hoped that up to 15 more women will be recruited into training in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Linda Jackson heard about the LGV course through her employment as transport manager of a civil works landscaping firm and has completed her class 2 licence, which enables her to drive rigid lorries. She hopes to complete training towards a class 1 licence, which would mean she could drive articulated lorries. At the moment she provides cover for other drivers but hopes to carry out more driving work.

“This is still a very male-dominated area of work,” she says, “If there were more women doing it, it would make things a lot easier. I used to be a bus driver and for a while I was the only woman. Now it’s very common to see women driving buses. Hopefully the trucking industry will improve with time too.”

Advancing technology

Caroline Stirling also took advantage of the course, after she learned about it through her husband’s haulage business. “I was put through the training as extra cover for the business. I enjoy doing the driving. People are surprised to see women driving trucks. The industry is just turning around for women. You don’t go into the business thinking it’s all glamorous – certain things are not in place yet for women, such as toilet facilities,” she states.

“Occasionally you might come across people in the industry who don’t believe driving a truck is a woman’s job, but on the whole the guys are very helpful. The time is right for women to enter the industry because the technology has improved so much – it’s much more of a mechanical, rather than manual, job than it used to be.”

Driver shortages are not just a Scottish problem: other countries are also suffering the same effects. Ron Webb, TGWU national secretary for commercial road transport, a Skills for Logistics member, outlined the UK driver shortage situation. The UK logistics industry, he says, could be some 46,000 LGV drivers short of its requirement by the end of the 2005/06 financial year.

But inroads are being made to tackle this issue in the rest of the UK. Skills for Logistics Milton Keynes ran an event last September to kick off a campaign focusing on recruiting more women into the industry. Meanwhile, in the north east, a partnership project involving the TGWU, the Learning and Skills Council (the government body responsible for vocational training) and the European Social Fund, will look at recruiting more migrant workers into the industry.

“If we are going to meet the skills gap, the logistics industry will not only have to improve working conditions and increase benefits to attract more drivers. It will also have to cast its recruitment net wider to include women and other under-represented groups. We have to make sure that flexible working and appropriate facilities are in place to meet the needs of a changing workforce,” concludes Ron Webb. 

Yasmin Prabhudas is a freelance journalist and editor of ITF News Online

Women drivers of Large Goods Vehicles (as % of workforce) - US: 5.3 - UK: 2.0 - France: 0.5 Source: Research by Celia Mather Driver shortages - Canada: 37,000 truck drivers short each year Source: Canadian Trucking Humans Resources Council/Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 2004 - India: 150,000 trained truck drivers short each year Source: Trucking financing company, Shriram Group, 2004 - UK: 46,000 truck drivers short by end of 2005/06 Source: Skills for Logistics LGV Driver Shortage Survey 2004 - US: 54,000 truck drivers short by 2015 Source: American Trucking Association, The US Truck Driver Shortage: Analysis and Forecasts, May 2005