Brighton & Hove City Council, Eastleigh Borough Council, Adur & Worthing Council, and Worcester City Council have all appointed HGVC to provide Novice to Class 2 Skills Bootcamp training to more than 20 drivers combined over the coming months.

All four councils are facing a scarcity of ready-trained HGV drivers because of the current driver shortage and have opted to recruit and train new employees to fill this gap.

James Clifford, CEO of HGVC, said: ‘HGV drivers play a crucial role in many of the important services that local councils provide. We know that many local authorities are facing difficulties sourcing ready-trained drivers, yet at the same time, don’t have the resources to train drivers in-house. HGVC helps remove this headache for councils while reducing costs and getting drivers behind the wheel more quickly.’

Lizzie Fletcher, Learning & Development Manager, Adur & Worthing Councils, said: ‘The shortage of drivers with an HGV qualification is a significant problem for local authorities and can affect the service we provide for residents, so it's great that programmes like this have been set up to tackle the issue.’

Catherine Simcox, HR Officer, Human Resources, Worcester City Council, said: ‘Working with a specialist such as HGVC in this vital area means we can get the drivers we need through up-skilling our own employees. This ensures effective succession planning and helps to maintain our excellent service delivery to the city.’