The Government has asked UK lorry operators and the vocational and car driver training industries for their views on the proposed changes to help address the current lorry driver shortages.
On 20 July, the Government announced a package of measures to support recruitment and retention within the road haulage industry in a bid to ease pressure on the sector. This included launching a consultation on allowing drivers to take one test to drive both an articulated and rigid lorry. This would aim to streamline the process for new drivers to gain their HGV licence and would increase lorry test appointment availability.
The consultation has been launched to ensure road safety is paramount and set out that drivers will still be supervised until fully qualified.
The full list of proposals being consulted on includes allowing: drivers to take one test to drive both a rigid and articulated lorry, rather than having to pass a test in a rigid lorry first, and then another in an articulated lorry; drivers who want to use a bus or coach to tow a trailer to take one test with a trailer, rather than having to pass a test without a trailer first; the off-road manoeuvres part of the test to be assessed by the driver training industry; car drivers to tow a trailer without having to take another test.
