ONE of the major players in the Scottish convenience store market is taking steps to ensure a future supply of drivers in the face of scarcity.
CJ Lang & Son, the Dundee-based food and beverage wholesaler that owns and supplies Spar stores across Scotland, is investing in a new driver apprenticeship program to ensure it can meet the needs of the company while it is stocking up Shops enlarged its supplies.
A nationwide shortage of truck drivers means retailers and suppliers are struggling to move goods across the UK, with the Road Haulage Association estimating a shortage of up to 100,000 jobs due to Covid, Brexit and tax issues, all of which are labor problems for the Industry worsen.
The Scottish Wholesalers Association said that while an aging population of drivers has been a problem for some time, the situation has been exacerbated by the return of EU citizens after Brexit and the effects of Covid.
However, CJ Lang has hired several new drivers and warehouse workers in the last few weeks to start the first module of his driver training program, which works with a special GTG training. The wholesaler’s logistics department is also working with GTG on a modern apprenticeship training system for truck drivers (level 3) in order to counteract the future shortage of skilled workers among truck drivers.
The company said that while it did not see a shortage of drivers, it recognized that with its business growing year over year and an aging workforce, it needed to tap into its existing talent base.
Alan Brown, Head of CJ Lang’s Distribution Center, said, “As part of our development program, we believe that some of our colleagues with the right skills can be our truck drivers of tomorrow.
“The program makes this transition from warehouse to sales easier and all of our class 2 truck drivers are highly qualified on truck 1.
“We are aware that we have an existing talent base within our internal workforce and we appreciate the opportunity to invest and develop their skills in order to be our drivers of tomorrow.
“Our vision for the future is that our multi-drop drivers have flexible logistical know-how and with a state-recognized qualification for truck driving (level 3) move up to truck 1.”
The CJ Lang program is available to employees between the ages of 18 and 24.