Your point is taken about the DSA / RTITB. Instrutors would certainly have to demonstrate and prove their competence. Just having 3 years on your licence I do not think will suffice. How do you think instructors may prove their experience■■?
Point taken also about the modern vehicles. I also agree, as long as they are well maintained, then this should suffice.
I dont think the site is live yet. I think it may be going live next week though.
ROG:
Perhaps it will be called something like www. lgvtrainingschools.co.uk and if that is the case, would it not come up near the top of a google search especially if it contained loads of links within it to the individual schools around the UKI’m not very internet savvy so not sure how these things work
Google keep the search criteria very secret and are always changing it. Companies claim that they can get you to the top of google but charge thousands for this service which cannot be guaranteed. Once you are on top google will change the search criteria so you are back to square one.
seanpargeter:
Your point is taken about the DSA / RTITB. Instrutors would certainly have to demonstrate and prove their competence. Just having 3 years on your licence I do not think will suffice. How do you think instructors may prove their experience■■?Point taken also about the modern vehicles. I also agree, as long as they are well maintained, then this should suffice.
I dont think the site is live yet. I think it may be going live next week though.
Sean have you got somthing to do with this website?
Looking at some old posts I thought you did some work for some of these brokers?
Just to let you know the website hgvlgvtraining.co.uk is now live. I am inviting LGV training companies to join the site. Please have a look and let me know your views. You can sign up online by selecting the “add your company”.
This will give trainees an easier way of finding you, whilst telling students about the pitfulls of going with brokers.
Any questions, please email me at sean@hgvlgvtraining.co.uk
seanpargeter:
Just to let you know the website hgvlgvtraining.co.uk is now live.
Just had a good nosey around the site and it still seems a good idea.
The only very small thing I noticed was that it does not say that a car driver can go straight to C and miss out C1 - most of us know this but many looking into getting their first LGV licence may not and it could look like they do need it from the page that lists the three classes of LGV.
Hello,
Just had all the information through the post, but think the fees of £49.95 per month plus a joining fee of £149 quite steep, so I will wait for a while Sean, are you the company director on the leaflet? I will see how all the other training providers think.
Good feedback. many thanks. Re; C1 information.
Re: Fees etc. I think the fee £49.95 is fair. Bearing in mind, no payment till Feb 2010 and no signing on fee if you join before Mid November. How much do you spend on advertsing at the moment and are you getting value for money?
Data Academy:
HOORAAAA… not before time I have been talking to other providers to start doing just this I for one am more than interested and indeed would be more than happy to offer my time to help get the ball rolling.All the best Rick.
I agree totally with what I have read so far too. At last some progress.
Strangely I thought this was going to be for training companies by an interested party - at little or no cost.
Maybe I was being naive. I’m certainly sceptical having looked at the site. It certainly seems to be a commercial undertaking more than the helpful sort of site I was expecting.
I can’t see at this time that there is any mileage in belonging to such a site, and can understand that by not charging the initial sign up fee and no monthly charges for 3 months has been done to get numbers on site, which in my opinion is the only way it will work.
Unless the site comes high up in search engines then any companies own site will bring in the business any way.
I also wonder how companies will be checked?
Smart Mart:
Strangely I thought this was going to be for training companies by an interested party - at little or no cost.Maybe I was being naive. I’m certainly sceptical having looked at the site. It certainly seems to be a commercial undertaking more than the helpful sort of site I was expecting.
I can’t see at this time that there is any mileage in belonging to such a site, and can understand that by not charging the initial sign up fee and no monthly charges for 3 months has been done to get numbers on site, which in my opinion is the only way it will work.
Unless the site comes high up in search engines then any companies own site will bring in the business any way.
I also wonder how companies will be checked?
I disagree, the ones who are at present taking the money are the bucket shops (loan sharks) who offer training, but haven’t got any trainers or even vehicles.
As long as the member training companies can police themselves properly, maybe even VOSA can vet the undesirables, after all they all have to use a VOSA testing facility for examination.
I was fortunate that my training was carried out at a well respected RTITB site. Let’s open Shotts and Telford again to mirror Cardington’s DSA site
Just been thinking very hard about this whole thing - Is it a genuine chance to help the industry? Or a (not bad) go at making lots of money from building a website and maintaining search engine optimization? Lots of commercial companies will keep you on page 1 of google for little money per year.
When I do the sums and assume that only 50 genuine providers take this up it gives a nice income for a person who can run this part time from a laptop. I will have to think long and hard about this project.
Who would have the last laugh if all the trainers on this site fell for just the sort of thing we tell new candidates about.
Who is the company for the website?
What is the history of the MD?
If it is for a great cause why would it have to be so expensive to join and maintain?
Can we visit the company and discuss the project?
Has the company hosting this project history in doing so?
Can trucknet do a similar thing at a fraction of the cost?
Do I sound a little unsure at the moment 
I think most training companies would agree that something needs to be done to compete on a national level. The websites main purpose is to help customers find training companies quicker, easier and with confidence. It does not have to be glitzy and commercial looking to do its job. The information on training is limited, but its correct and useful. It’s short, but to the point. To get the full info we want the customer to go direct to you. The customer wants to go direct.
Invitations to join the site have only been sent. The official launch date will be 1st October. You are correct in saying the website will only be effective if people actually join. I beleive companies will see this as a good oportunity to atract more custom direct. Internet use is only set to increase. I do not expect all companies to sign up. I am not here to hard sell. The option is yours.
Big D:
Just been thinking very hard about this whole thing - Is it a genuine chance to help the industry? Or a (not bad) go at making lots of money from building a website and maintaining search engine optimization? Lots of commercial companies will keep you on page 1 of google for little money per year.
When I do the sums and assume that only 50 genuine providers take this up it gives a nice income for a person who can run this part time from a laptop. I will have to think long and hard about this project.Who would have the last laugh if all the trainers on this site fell for just the sort of thing we tell new candidates about.
Who is the company for the website?
What is the history of the MD?Can trucknet do a similar thing at a fraction of the cost?
Do I sound a little unsure at the moment
I am a driver of several years experience who did fall for the cheap and cheerful option many years ago with Huon Haulage and Richardsons of Hull. I soon realised the con and went to Training for Industry in Springfield Way Anlaby, to complete my class one training. I returned to them to do both operator CPC exams although the study time and book was my own.
Around this time I was reading adverts about a company called EP Training run by some bloke called Eddie Pargeter.
Can trucknet do a similar thing at a fraction of the cost?
Well I think they already do that, at no cost! but unfortunately, although this site is very successful, it probably has a tiny proportion of the market reading it. Look in the Daily Mirror, The Sun, The Guardian and tell me who is advertising, not the local man from Stoke, Stockton or Skipton. The main stream media is targeting the main stream feckless or jobless with false claims of financial stability. At a price of course.
Big D:
Just been thinking very hard about this whole thing - Is it a genuine chance to help the industry? Or a (not bad) go at making lots of money from building a website and maintaining search engine optimization? Lots of commercial companies will keep you on page 1 of google for little money per year.
When I do the sums and assume that only 50 genuine providers take this up it gives a nice income for a person who can run this part time from a laptop. I will have to think long and hard about this project.Who would have the last laugh if all the trainers on this site fell for just the sort of thing we tell new candidates about.
Who is the company for the website?
What is the history of the MD?
If it is for a great cause why would it have to be so expensive to join and maintain?
Can we visit the company and discuss the project?
Has the company hosting this project history in doing so?Can trucknet do a similar thing at a fraction of the cost?
Do I sound a little unsure at the moment
I still cannot get my head around the fact that this sort of advertising already exists with Yell.com.
I think I am right in saying that yell.com is cheaper than £600 per year
Yell.com will be able to to get its website on the front page of google easier and will have by far a greater marketing budget than this website
All the points raised on the website can be replicated on any training providers website if they really wanted. I would imagine that some would hesitate to do this because they would be upsetting the very people that gives them work.
A point I would take up with EP Training who except work and payments from these brokers but then through another medium say how bad they are and how people should not do business with them. I would go as far as saying this is a little two faced.
One radical way of closing these brokers down overnight is if every training provider simply did not except any work from them and stood by their principles.
For all the points above I would have to declare that I am out (dragons den style)
seanpargeter:
I think most training companies would agree that something needs to be done to compete on a national level.
I can’t see why training companies want to ‘compete on a national level’, most are only looking for local business. What is needed is to stop companies advertising as ‘national’ companies, and then using local companies to provide their training - but as has been said in an earlier post, if all these local companies didn’t do the work then they would put the brokers out of business. However if a training company needs business to survive they will take on this third party work - even if they have been ‘burnt’ by similar companies in the past.
For what it’s worth, I’ll offer my comments.
The site is very professional and eyecatching.
It should, in time, be well up the search engines
The cost is not high compared to the likes of yell.com
The biggest PLUS: may well be up there with the brokers - giving them a real run for their money
Also, trainers should consider joining this site and dumping their relationship with the brokers
The biggest CONCERN: How will this be policed? Yes, we sign to say we satisfy the requirements. But who’s checking? Ref instructor quals: some trainers DO employ qualified instructors but also unqualified. Is this going to slip through the net?
Will be interesting to see how it pans out and I’m looking forward to joining 
I just did a search using the post code to find that there is only one training provider within 75 miles of me, that is a wide catchment area. It forgets our tamed tutors scattered around the Potteries, Leicestershire and the Dukeries.
Come on lads, get your cheque books out 
Tomorrow! 
Being a sad man who needs to get out more, I’ve been giving more thought to the new website and particularly how it could be policed. Maybe trainers wishing to subscribe to the site should be recommended by other trainers. That would, in part, go towards quality assurance.
The sceptical side of me says that Sean would take anyone’s money to fund the exercise. But I also know enough about the way they work to persuade me differently.
But the site will need to be policed somehow. When we have trainers running round with “DSA Reg” on the trucks when they are not “DSA Reg”, there will also be false declarations on a form to join the site.
I am genuinely concerned that the brokers will find their way onto the site. That, of course, would be a disaster.
What action can/will be taken against a trainer making a false declaration??
Another thought - do any of the ‘national’ providers also have their own trucks for training in and is that bit run as a seperate company which could qualify if they have dsa reg instructors 
Perhaps it should be done by company and not the instructors - after all, if the instructors are crap then that will reflect on the company
