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TRS Training’s driving academy in Knowsley approved as LGV test centre

TRS Training is now ready to do its part to relieve the shortage of qualified Large Good Vehicle (LGV) drivers in the UK. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has given its approval for TRS Training’s driving academy in Knowsley to become an LGV test centre.

Test bottleneck

The limited number of official test centres across the country, as well as the suspension of tests for months on end during the Covid-19 pandemic, has created a bottleneck: learner lorry drivers who have completed their training find themselves facing as long as seven or eight months before they finally get a chance to take their test.

TRS one of five LGV test centres in North West

Kevin Birch, Managing Director at TRS, said: “We are grateful to the DVSA for recognising the need for more qualified LGV drivers, and taking action to address the shortage. TRS, as well as other training companies, have long lists of students waiting for tests. It’s been particularly frustrating to watch people work through our LGV apprenticeships, government bootcamps, and private training programmes only to hit a brick wall when they were ready to book their test. And especially at a time when more qualified LGV drivers are so desperately needed.

“We are very pleased to be able to offer a seamless service comprising an LGV driving training course and licence test to both individual drivers and the companies who employ them. There were 15 organisations from the Northwest who applied for approval to be LGV test centres – TRS was one of just five to be approved.”

From January 2023, DVSA will locate one examiner at TRS’s training academy two days a week, to conduct tests for TRS learner drivers on apprenticeships, LGV bootcamps and commercial driving courses.

TRS expects this will go a long way to dealing with the backlog of people wishing to start their careers as LGV drivers. The DVSA accreditation follows a lengthy period of TRS lobbying to raise the issue of LGV test shortages. We would like to thank Sir George Howarth MP for Knowsley for his support.