I do not know if brokers still do this but in the past they have seemed to have had a cheaper price for training BUT they failed to tell the trainee that instead of the usual 5 days they were booked for only 4 days
Made up Example
Trainers stating £1000 for a course = 5 days
Brokers stating £900 for a course = 4 days
hgvlgvtraining:
Some LGV training companies (TP’s) rely on brokerage work to pay wages and run a business.
If they did not do broker the would probably go bust!
That’s obviously the answer that if no TPs worked with brokers the brokers would go bust and the TPs would survive.
Maybe TPs should be doing that even unilaterally and if they can’t survive based on their own advertising and reputation then they deserve to go bust?
That is the perfect answer. I agree.
However it won’t work as there is ALWAYS some companies out there that will work with the brokers.
I have to say, I very nearly fell for the Surrey and Hampshire HGV training brokers. Their website was a bit different from the other brokers, especially with some reviews saying “my instructor was Joe Bloggs of Surrey and Hampshire HGV training”.
It was the duplicate address, along with an old post that said they trained from their Hook website that gave it away - when I popped that into Google Maps it was clear what was really going on.
Oh and Sean, you’ve got email 
I actually wrote a blog post on Surrey and Hampshire and what they are up to. Have a read and it will confirm your suspicions!
It’s bang out of order and needs to be exposed!
eptraining.co.uk/news/artic … be-careful
Checking my email now Mr Penguin
It is very interesting to note.
Despite having published this post several days ago and with over 500 views and numerous contributions I have seen no comments or opinions from any HGV training schools whatsoever.
Out of the 250+ lorry driver training schools within the UK I would like to think with TrucknetUK’s reputation for providing essential information for those seeking HGV entitlement (the forum is called NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS after all), other like minded TP’s would “chip in”.
I would have hoped at least 20% off the training industry would pop in and see what was the topic of debate. That’s at least 50 companies. Does no one else in the HGV training industry have an opinion on this?
Well that was obviously a complete waste of time and effort to have been raised this topic.
What a state of affairs
Not one training provider response:
I can only assume one of 3 things.
1, No training companies come on here anymore.
2, The HGV training industry does NOT company gives a toss
3, All those training companies that come on here are in bed with the brokers
Not even any comments from the forum sponsor.
hgvlgvtraining:
Well that was obviously a complete waste of time and effort to have been raised this topic.
What a state of affairsNot one training provider response:
I can only assume one of 3 things.
1, No training companies come on here anymore.
2, The HGV training industry does NOT company gives a toss
3, All those training companies that come on here are in bed with the brokersNot even any comments from the forum sponsor.
I’m sure you are well aware that the forum sponsor doesn’t agree with people using brokers (and I’d be fairly confident to say they have never taken a referral from a broker) and has been very vocal about the state of the training industry for years.
Sadly anyone can become a trainer and there is very little regulation and we are unlikely to see much change in that. The only option as I said is for people to do research on a company when spending the kind of money that is involved. Go and visit the actual company and see their premises and or vehicles and meet the staff in advance before paying any money out.
Just because they have chosen not to respond or have not read this thread does not mean other companies don’t hold the same sentiment as you.
Pete no longer owns the company but still frequents the forum and keeps his hand in from time to time.
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hgvlgvtraining:
Well that was obviously a complete waste of time and effort to have been raised this topic.
What a state of affairsNot one training provider response:
I can only assume one of 3 things.
1, No training companies come on here anymore.
2, The HGV training industry does NOT company gives a toss
3, All those training companies that come on here are in bed with the brokersNot even any comments from the forum sponsor.
You`ve made a good point about the state of affairs.
As above I hope that any prospective trainees see and take note.
I wont get too partisan about it all it but unless there is some political will there wont be any change in the laws, and if laws allow underhand practices then there will be always someone quick to make a buck from any angle.
I can see that a genuine training company might accept a referral from a broker if desperate, but in the long term they do seem to be cutting their own throats.
Simon.
are you the representative or spokesman for Peter Smythe?
And how do you know how much times he spends on this forum?
Having known Peter for many years I know he frequents this site on a regular basis. He is the sponsor after all!
I am sure Peter can quite easily speak for himself (if he wanted to)
I also know he runs a very, very good training company and is very vocal on the hazards of using a broker and the merits of going direct. which is why I questioned why he (et al) had not contributed to this thread as yet.
hgvlgvtraining:
Simon.are you the representative or spokesman for Peter Smythe?
And how do you know how much times he spends on this forum?
Having known Peter for many years I know he frequents this site on a regular basis. He is the sponsor after all!
I am sure Peter can quite easily speak for himself (if he wanted to)
I also know he runs a very, very good training company and is very vocal on the hazards of using a broker and the merits of going direct. which is why I questioned why he (et al) had not contributed to this thread as yet.
No and you know full well I’m not,
merely replying to your comment as everyone is allowed to comment on the thread.
But tbh
hgvlgvtraining:
Well that was obviously a complete waste of time and effort to have been raised this topic.
What a state of affairsNot one training provider response:
I can only assume one of 3 things.
1, No training companies come on here anymore.
2, The HGV training industry does NOT company gives a toss
3, All those training companies that come on here are in bed with the brokersNot even any comments from the forum sponsor.
Maybe come across less accusatory.
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Simon
I am not accusing anyone. I have NOT named 1 single local HGV training company that works with brokers in this thread.
If I have then please kindly advise.
Also to be fair I do not know who you are. I was simply asking why you are commenting on behalf of the forum sponsor.
hgvlgvtraining:
SimonI am not accusing anyone. I have NOT named 1 single local HGV training company that works with brokers in this thread.
If I have then please kindly advise.Also to be fair I do not know who you are. I was simply asking why you are commenting on behalf of the forum sponsor.
You are effectively accusing the no replies as one of those 3 things to my mind.
I have personally used PSTT myself and spoken to Pete in person, so I know what his views are likely to be, based on his business he built up and from reading lots of his posts on here over the years.
Maybe it’s the way I read your posts but they do seem to come across slightly aggressively because you have not had the responses from other training companies.
The funny thing is I mostly agree with everything you have said, yet you seem to take issue with anything I’ve said on this thread if you don’t like an opposing view.
Good luck with it all.
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hgvlgvtraining:
Well that was obviously a complete waste of time and effort to have been raised this topic.
What a state of affairsNot one training provider response:
I can only assume one of 3 things.
1, No training companies come on here anymore.
2, The HGV training industry does NOT company gives a toss
3, All those training companies that come on here are in bed with the brokersNot even any comments from the forum sponsor.
Or option 4… we are all very busy!
I am sure every reputable trainer agrees with your stance Sean, but sadly no matter how loud you shout the brokers will never go away. Whilst we spend our profits upgrading our fleet and resources, they spend theirs on marketing, cold calls and search engine optimization to climb the Google rankings.
They rarely approach us as we won’t “deal” with their demands to water down courses for less money; we have our own customer base, reputation and pass rates to protect. All they are interested in is their profit margin.
I should have added option 4! Sorry.
Thank you for adding your comments. It’s nice to hear from a like minded training company that has morals and good business sense.
I agree that brokers won’t go away anytime soon and to some degree they are here to stay.
But that doesn’t stop some of us calling them out for the underhand tactics they employ in order to exploit this industries consumer.
I realised quite a while ago that despite some peoples best intentions there is ALWAYS a company that will happily work with these middlemen.
But it still does NOT make it right.