Driver training facilities expanded in Shrewsbury
Dulson Training has increased the size of its driver training facilities in Shrewsbury creating greater capacity and flexibility.
The driver training specialist has carried out the extension at its Battlefield training and testing site and is part of an ongoing programme to ensure the company is able to maintain training delivery to the highest standards.
Steve Dulson, of Dulson Training, said: “We always prioritise customer service, looking to develop our instructors and facilities to meet the changing needs of our learners - adapting training methods to achieve constantly excellent pass rates.
“We have restructured our in-house instructor training programme for our new recruits and existing staff to ensure quality and consistency throughout. Hayley Norgrove, Dave Rowlands, and Mark Williams, all on the National Register of Instructors (NRI), are headed by training manager Allan Jones, ensuring the highest standards are always being achieved by all staff members and every learner leaves feeling not only content but impressed by the service they have received.
“More staff have upskilled by gaining new qualifications and the company has retained its Grade 1 ranking as an ADR training centre in an annual audit. ADR
training covers any dangerous goods which are transported by road.
“The week-long course offers drivers the opportunity to enhance their skill set and employability. The training centre, facilities and course delivery are all scrutinised to gain the top level Grade 1 ranking by the SQA.”
Dulson Training delivers a range of training courses at its centres in Shrewsbury, Telford, Ludlow, Wrexham and throughout the West Midlands.
“We have taken several steps across the business to provide a more flexible service while safeguarding the high standards customers have come to expect from us,” said Mr Dulson. “We have doubled the size of the off-road practice area at our Shrewsbury centre, allowing us to carry out more training and testing on a daily basis.
“Being approved by the DVSA, we can now deliver double the training and testing capacity. This is not all about doubling the amount we deliver but more about being able to deliver at more suitable times during the course and have less people waiting to use it at the same time.
“It’s a big step which means there is less space sharing and we are not having to
work around each other anywhere near so much. It was an important move in
customer service and means we are making sure everyone is receiving the exact
training they need with minimum downtime.
“In the annual audit from the SQA in relation to our ADR courses, one of our
instructor’s, Dave Rowland, received the highest Grade 1 qualification for course delivery and ADR knowledge, and our facilities and course content have also been given a Grade 1 as an exam centre.”
Hayley Norgrove, Operations Manager, has also expanded her skill set by passing
her exams to enter onto the National Register of LGV Instructors known as NRI as an LGV Instructor - adding this to her DVSA Assessor status.
Hayley said: “Holding these qualifications and being able to deliver and assess training is a vital part of my role, having the full understanding of all parts of the business is essential. The National Register of LGV Instructors is made up of very few females, only 1%, so it’s a great achievement and excellent for Dulson Training to have a female LGV instructor option for customers.
“In addition, we have upskilled LGV instructor Mark Williams who has completed
an ADR dangerous goods course on his route to training to be able to deliver ADR courses - which again is offering more flexibility and greater capacity. Mark also completed his National Register of LGV Instructors NRI qualification, which will enable him to teach new instructors and bring them up to NRI standard to enter onto the instructor register.
“Two staff members, Josh and Jed who are not instructors at this stage, have completed their HGV Class 1 C+E training courses which allows them to move vehicles around within the business - a situation which has previously needed to be done by instructors.
“This means we can move equipment around without instructors taking time out from their training schedule. Training coordination manager Josh, who has completed his C+E and recently his Cat D bus licence, and yard person Jed, who passed his Cat C+E, are now able to move equipment from site to site or for repairs and service. These qualifications are the first steps of offering the possibility to become vocational driver trainers in the future.
“Chris Purcell, the team leader at our Telford site, has successfully completed the Module 4 Driver CPC Assessor course, meaning more flexibility and capacity for testing in Telford and the West Midlands, while Wrexham team leader Austen Jones has successfully completed his DVSA Mod 3a assessor qualification allowing him to deliver the off-road reversing and coupling tests in Shrewsbury, Telford and now Wrexham areas.
“Dave Cross has completed his Driver CPC periodic training induction and been approved by the DVSA and will now be delivering Driver CPC remotely and in the classroom throughout Shropshire and the West Midlands for both the public at our training centres and closed for specific companies’ training courses at their premises.
“All these changes ensure we have enough equipment, training capacity, instructors
and support staff across the board to be in a position to deliver the service we
continually strive for and have the means in place to cover any eventuality.”
