I see Advantage HGV are still making their usual outraeous claims of £500+ per week jobs in todays Sun as well.
Pat
aa
Another broker focushgv.co.uk/index.htm - now been added to the list
Just thinking out loud here but here’s one for the training companies who use the BROKERS- if you didn’t take on these rip off merchants and refused to take on the work, then the customer would have to look locally for training - and hey presto there you are.
You could then give them your normal quality training at your normal rates whilst still saving the customer LOADS OF MONEY - everyone is happy
chevmac:
Just thinking out loud here but here’s one for the training companies who use the BROKERS- if you didn’t take on these rip off merchants and refused to take on the work, then the customer would have to look locally for training - and hey presto there you are.
You could then give them your normal quality training at your normal rates whilst still saving the customer LOADS OF MONEY - everyone is happy
I have said this before. If the trainers did not supply then the brokers would be out of business overnight.
The problem is that if you look at the trainers that do provide training for the brokers they are usually the ones that are not very good and need the brokers to keep in business!
Every one beware when dealing with these brokers that the credit ratings are rubbish so if you are buying from them you could loose your money and if you are supplying to them you might not be paid!
Look at what happened when clearstone and pathways went. It is only a matter of time before 1 or 2 more go just watch this space!
burnie1:
chevmac:
Just thinking out loud here but here’s one for the training companies who use the BROKERS- if you didn’t take on these rip off merchants and refused to take on the work, then the customer would have to look locally for training - and hey presto there you are.
You could then give them your normal quality training at your normal rates whilst still saving the customer LOADS OF MONEY - everyone is happyI have said this before. If the trainers did not supply then the brokers would be out of business overnight.
The problem is that if you look at the trainers that do provide training for the brokers they are usually the ones that are not very good and need the brokers to keep in business!
Every one beware when dealing with these brokers that the credit ratings are rubbish so if you are buying from them you could loose your money and if you are supplying to them you might not be paid!
Look at what happened when clearstone and pathways went. It is only a matter of time before 1 or 2 more go just watch this space!
Don’t know how to split the quotes so here goes lol
I have said this before. If the trainers did not supply then the brokers would be out of business overnight.
totally agree with you- unfortunately some people think must have the work now- but don’t realise they would be better off if they didn’t deal with the brokers
Every one beware when dealing with these brokers that the credit ratings are rubbish so if you are buying from them you could loose your money and if you are supplying to them you might not be paid!
I don’t now nor have ever dealt with brokers but do know trainers who have had problems getting payments from them
People need to stick together to make sure that their own businesses keep going
Jennie
FROM HERE:
Made the mistake of giving money to directlgv but managed to get my money back as was on a credit card so could of done this a lot earlier if gone to coates first if anyone had any trouble with these kind of brokers i would be glad to give them some advice on writing letters to credit companies to get money back just not on what these people do to get peoples hard earned cash !!!
Taa
SimonB:
These comments don’t make sense.I’ve written on here before about a ‘broker’ we do business with. They have always paid on time and supply us with loads of trainees (more than we could ever get on our own). We have leased new vehicles and taken on new staff as a result of the increase in business.
I know for a fact that loads of training companies do business with this broker, most of these training companies have fantastic reputations and are often recommended here on trucknet. No right minded business person would turn down trade. If you are afraid of risk, then simply insist on payment in advance - then no one gets burned.
Unfortunately, on that list of brokers at the start of this post, there are very unscrupulous companies, who’s objective is not to train people, but to take their money.
If you are a provider, go and meet the broker. Insist on seeing their offices, meet the staff and then get them to come and see you. Put names to faces and form a proper business relationship, with terms and conditions and guarantees. If the broker is working out of a pop-up serviced office or only has a mailbox address -then don’t do business with them. If you think the broker is ‘dodgy’ then don’t do business with them. If you plain and simply don’t like the broker or the person running the company, then don’t do business with them.
Si.
Where would those trainees go if all the schools refused to do business with the brokers ■■
I would advise trainees to visit the company where they are to train so they can met the instructors and perhaps have a look at the truck(s) rather than visit an office and office staff !!!
ROG:
SimonB:
These comments don’t make sense.I’ve written on here before about a ‘broker’ we do business with. They have always paid on time and supply us with loads of trainees (more than we could ever get on our own). We have leased new vehicles and taken on new staff as a result of the increase in business.
I know for a fact that loads of training companies do business with this broker, most of these training companies have fantastic reputations and are often recommended here on trucknet. No right minded business person would turn down trade. If you are afraid of risk, then simply insist on payment in advance - then no one gets burned.
Unfortunately, on that list of brokers at the start of this post, there are very unscrupulous companies, who’s objective is not to train people, but to take their money.
If you are a provider, go and meet the broker. Insist on seeing their offices, meet the staff and then get them to come and see you. Put names to faces and form a proper business relationship, with terms and conditions and guarantees. If the broker is working out of a pop-up serviced office or only has a mailbox address -then don’t do business with them. If you think the broker is ‘dodgy’ then don’t do business with them. If you plain and simply don’t like the broker or the person running the company, then don’t do business with them.
Si.
Where would those trainees go if all the schools refused to do business with the brokers ■■
I would advise trainees to visit the company where they are to train so they can met the instructors and perhaps have a look at the truck(s) rather than visit an office and office staff !!!
You took the words right out of my mouth ROG- some of the so called NATIONAL DRIVING SCHOOLS(brokers) are charging a huge mark up but only paying the trainer enough for the equivalent of 3 x 1/2 days training and then a test- in our experience that is never enough for the average car driver.
i’m glad to hear that the company you use are straight up and good to deal with SimonB, unfortunately not all trainers and more importantly not all customers find this the case - that is why some of the comments in this thread make perfect sense
Si
I would be interested in knowing who you work for as looking at some of your posts on here and other websites it could be said that you are taking “advantage” of these message boards!
burnie1:
SiI would be interested in knowing who you work for as looking at some of your posts on here and other websites it could be said that you are taking “advantage” of these message boards!
do reveal more burnie!!!
aa
SimonB:
all I think is that if you work cleverly, you can work with the new ways doing business in our industry.
I am a logical thinking type of person who sees in black & white so excuse if this comes across a bit strong…
There are X amount of potential trainees in an area who want to do their LGV
Those potential trainees look for a company to train them
Those potential trainees look on the internet for a company
Those potential trainees find a broker who passes them onto a LGV training school
The LGV school does the training
If there were not any brokers then those potential trainees would go direct to the LGV schools - they would not give up and go away as they still want to do the LGV training
So what is the point of the brokers apart from making their cut by acting as middlemen 
I can see no logical reason for brokers - can anyone else
aa
aa
ROG - in black, Si in blue, Mart in red!
I am a logical thinking type of person who sees in black & white so excuse if this comes across a bit strong…
There are X amount of potential trainees in an area who want to do their LGV. Yes and no. There are always a number of people who want to do their licence. They will then look for a company to train with. BUT - there are also X amount of people who had no idea, until they saw an advert in the Sun or somewhere, that they even wanted to be an LGV driver. These ‘new’ potential trainees are only being trained because the brokers advertise the careers outside of the industry, and to the public at large. I can see that there could be a small number of ‘no idea’ until they saw an advert people out there, however my experience of them is that they don’t make good drivers.
Those potential trainees look on the internet for a company. Yes they do. Any good training company will have a website.
Those potential trainees find a broker who passes them onto a LGV training school. Yes, this is how it happens. Often the broker purport to have their own training facilities, whereas they just farm out the work where they can get it cheapest, which is not the best deal for a trainee and not my idea of being a broker…
The LGV school does the training. Yup.
If there were not any brokers then those potential trainees would go direct to the LGV schools - they would not give up and go away as they still want to do the LGV training. No - this is not the way it works. How would they hear about individual LGV schools? They are very difficult to find and have little or no advertising outside their very local areas. A potential trainee should always search for a training company in their very local area anyway, as there is little to choose between most companies.
So what is the point of the brokers apart from making their cut by acting as middlemen. The point is to attract new people into the industry, people who haven’t always dreamed of being a trucker. They also help explain and guide trainess through a process, that to the unitiated, can be a mind-bogglingly complex and confusing procedure (see CPC for example). Any good training company will guide trainees as you suggest.
I can see no logical reason for brokers - can anyone else. I’m sure ‘GoCompare’ or ‘Compare The Market’ or ‘Confused.com’ will beg to differ. Brokers arrange things for you, so you don’t have to. You could call 30 insurance companies for the best quote, or you could do it all in one place. An LGV broker will offer one set price, across loads of training centres, they’ll arrange all the theory tests, medicals, licences, training dates, retests, mods 2 and mods 4 etc - and for many people, this is convenience worth paying for. The companies you quote are not really relevant. The brokers in our industry only have one price - not necessarily the best - indeed usually not the best imho.
In fact the only benefit I can see to brokers is to create awareness of being a trucker.
The brokers use misleading advertising to dupe desperate people into thinking that by paying £3k and spending just 5 days training they would get their hands on one of the 80,000 jobs that are out there!
As for guiding people through the process this is rubbish. How many of these highly trained consultants say anything about the initial driver CPC? Not the ones who want to earn the bonus because it makes it sound too expensive. If any trainer out there wants to be shocked at anytime then simply pick up the phone to these brokers and let them inform you about how to become a driver.
There is no comparison to the comparison websites. These guys earn their money out of commisions from the suppliers. The customers know who will be their supplier and make informed decisions on who they want to deal with. The LGV brokers simply act as if they are the trainers and mislead people into buying from them.
The model of the broker simply does not work. If it did then Clearstone would be training 50% of the market now with the financial resources they had at their disposal but the fact is they went bust leaving brain washed unemployed sales staff thinking they could use the same model.
Show me 1 rich broker and I will show you 10 poor ones!
A MESSAGE TO ALL TRAINERS DO NOT BECOME SLAVES TO THE BROKERS!
A MESSAGE TO POTENTIAL TRAINEES DO NOT GIVE THE BROKERS ANY OF YOUR HARD EARNED CASH BECAUSE YOU MAY NOT SEE IT AGAIN!
SimonB:
How would they hear about individual LGV schools? They are very difficult to find and have little or no advertising outside their very local areas.
Err, that argument does not work as most are listed on the internet so a potential trainee simply puts LGV (or HGV) training and a placename into a google search - bingo !! - local training schools would be listed first and others out of area would be listed next if there were no brokers
Try googling LGV TRAINING LEICESTER and ignore the brokers - it works 
Peter Smythe
FROM HERE:
It’s been said dozens of times on this site. Go and look at the training centre before you part with your hard-earned. I believe the message is finally getting through. Yesterday afternoon I had a queue of potential customers who had called in to have a look around. No appointments or anything like that - just turned up. And very welcome they were too. Each one booked as they liked what they saw. But what I found interesting is that two of them had material sent by brokers. But they both said they felt uneasy about what had been said on the phone and in the advertising.So maybe we’re turning the corner on this front and new drivers are realising that good, genuine training is, and always has been, out there. So let’s spread the word. Go and look before you book!
ROG:
Peter Smythe
FROM HERE:
Up for a laugh?? Have a look at Network HGV. Remarkably similar to the old Advantage website and the voice on the phone I’m sure is straight from Sterling.Your thoughts■■?
YUP - It’s another broker networkhgv.co.uk/index.htm
- over 40 centres UK wide
Network HGV Have our own vehicles to view these just go to: youtube.com/watch?v=mvqp-xKCd5U
We have been working very hard not to act as a broker but we do receive enquiries from the top to the bottom of the country and we will send trainees who don’t wish to attend our training school in Hemel Hempstead to our training partners schools, if that qualifies us as a broker then so be it, but we certainly don’t hide the fact.