The attributes of HGV Drivers are varied and the role itself more demanding than 10 years ago. A Sense of Responsibility – Alertness – An Ability to Work Independently – An Impeccable Driving Record – Customer Service Skills – Knowledge of Truck Mechanics – Maintenance Skills – Physical Stamina – Stress Management Skills – and Time Keeping are all key skills to being a successful driver on the busy UK highways.

Culina Group is an organisation that has enjoyed tremendous growth since entering the UK marketplace in 1994 and now has a turnover approaching £600 million. The food and drink logistics specialist has over 60 sites across the UK and Ireland and operates a fleet of more than 1000 trucks. To ensure that our vehicles reach their designated delivery locations on time we require the best drivers in the business. Culina Group are hiring nationwide and embracing the recruitment of female drivers into our winning team. Today the title of ‘HGV Driver’ is now a universal one with more and more women joining the profession.

Vicki Collins and Rebecca King are two superb examples of women succeeding brilliantly in this once ‘male dominated’ profession. We sat down with them to find out what they enjoyed most about being an HGV Driver and working for Culina Group.

Vicki Collins is based at Culina Bristol; she took her Class 1 HGV licence in 1991 and is now in her 27th year as a professional driver, 12 of those with Culina Logistics. Vicki says that she was not content with a job working indoors. She wanted to be out of the office and on the open road. She knew she had what it took to do the job and so that’s exactly what she did.

“I passed my Class 1 in 1991 with a previous company. My father played a part in my decision to take my Class 1 in the first place. He was a lorry driver many years ago and backed me all the way when getting my licence. I’ll never forget his face when I got home the day I passed my test, he was really proud.”

Being an HGV driver is a challenging role, meeting deadlines, dealing with road and traffic conditions, it’s an on-going test of resilience and mental adaptability. No two days are the same.

“Since I began driving the day to day challenges have remained the same. We all have those days where weather and traffic conditions can test one’s ability or resources. Then on the other hand there are days when it all ‘goes to plan’. Your mind-set has to be to ‘take the rough with the smooth’ in this job.”

Vicki and the other Drivers leave the Culina Logistics depot in Bristol each shift with their manifest for the days’ deliveries and collections. Operating with the latest vehicle tracking technology the transport staff can track loads at any given time, and as long as the Drivers call in to keep the Transport Team updated, they are trusted to get the job done. For Vicki, becoming an HGV Driver was a natural career choice, as it allows her to be on the open road whilst feeling like she is her own boss.

“I really enjoy being part of the Bristol team”, Said Vicki. “Pretty much all of our regular customers and contracts get used to seeing familiar drivers, you build up a rapport with them. When any concerns may arise, they appreciate it if you can ‘call base’ and sort it there and then… it helps your shift run smoothly whilst strengthening relationships. I enjoy interaction with our customers, plus, here at Culina Logistics I have the good fortune of working alongside great colleagues, who are helpful, patient, and always on hand to lend their expertise”

Vicki enjoys telling others about her job, “I have spoken with many people about what I do” said Vicki, “I tell them that haulage is not a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday career. It is a demanding job, the hours can be long and being a food and drink logistics operator, contractual deadlines have to be met 24/7. Flexibility is expected, but it works both ways.”

Whether you are Male or Female, the role of HGV Driver is a constantly evolving career, literally non-stop in many ways with changing legislation, improving fleet equipment and the progression of logistics technology.

“To anyone thinking about earning their licence, it’s not just about the driving; you can learn a lot more and after twenty-seven years I am still learning,” Said Vicki, “The company will always keep us updated on new rules and regulations that affect HGV Drivers, and our fleet is modern and complies fully with current legislation. Training days are provided so we are always developing individually and as a team. There are also opportunities to go further in the career if you wish, you can become a Driver Trainer, Driving Assessor, Coordinator or Planner.”

Vicki, one of an increasing numbers of women throughout the UK today that are proving beyond all doubt that being an HGV driver is a really great career choice.

“In the earlier days I did experience some resistance to being a woman in the industry, but that didn’t phase me whatsoever,” said Vicki, “Times have changed and now I see more women than ever in the role!”
Working alongside Vicki at Culina Logistics in Bristol is Rebecca King. A newer addition to the Bristol HGV Driver Team, she gives her own perspective on this exciting career opportunity.

“I’d had thoughts of becoming a Driver for a while, but never acted on the idea,” said Rebecca, “I would tell myself that there is no way I could drive a HGV but this was only because I’d never seen a female driver. Looking back now, that’s because I wasn’t really looking, there are thousands of women driving HGV’s!”

“I’m not exactly sure what made me want to become a driver? After completing my A-levels I didn’t know what I wanted to do in terms of a career. I went to college to learn beauty therapy. I completed the first year but realised I was not enjoying it. I hadn’t yet told anybody about my thoughts on driving for a living; I had kept them to myself. But as I was leaving the college on the last day, my tutor told me to do something different, something that I enjoy. He said maybe you should go and be a lorry driver. That was my mind made up! It reaffirmed the fact that others had faith in me to do a job like that. So, I booked my training a month later and here I am today!”

Rebecca has held her licence for nearly 6 years, she achieved her Class 2 at 19 years old, and Class 1 the following year and has been with Culina Logistics now for nearly 5 years. Her first driving job was in Bristol with a family run company, doing multi-drop’s around Bristol city centre and further afield. She believes this job gave her best start to her career.

“I love working for Culina Logistics,” said Rebecca, “Being part of a bigger company gives me much more security. You’ll never get asked to take a truck out that has a bald spot on the tyre and never get asked to go over your driving time to make a delivery. Culina Logistics respect the fact that it is the drivers themselves who will get the points or a fine if the authorities were to find anything wrong with a truck or trailer. Plus we have an excellent rating with the DVSA which means we have a well-maintained fleet that is fully compliant with road safety laws.”

“My favourite part of the job is the freedom. We can choose the route which we feel will be fastest or most likely to avoid the major traffic areas. We get to see beautiful parts of the country that we wouldn’t see if we were behind a desk, meet lovely people and all with a company behind us that appreciates the work we do and treats us well.”

“The advice I’d give to anyone looking at joining the industry would be to JUST DO IT! It’s a great job and within the right company you can really thrive and better your knowledge of the industry. If you get a year into it and decide it’s really not your cup of tea then you can find something else, but along as you keep your CPC training up to date you can always come back to it.”

More and more women are seeing a career as an HGV Driver as a valid option for them. If you have good time management, want to meet new people and explore the country then HGV Driver might just be the career path for you!

If you have the drive and want to make a positive difference in the logistics industry why not join Culina Groups winning team. You can view all of our current vacancies at www.culinacareers.co.uk.

The perception of the average HGV driver’s life on the road has changed somewhat over the years. Gone are the days of the romanticised free spirit of the road. These stereotypes have been replaced by the thoughts of a job that entails sitting in traffic all day and in a layby all night. But this is not the case. Yes, due to the increasing number of vehicles on the British highways, traffic is something to be expected these days however with good transport planning, hopefully, the majority of this can be avoided. The modern HGV driver is a highly skilled professional.

It costs £3,000 to fund the training required to become a qualified HGV driver which is believed to be one of the reasons deterring young drivers from joining the industry. This has to be seen as an investment in a driver’s career which they will more than earn back over time. Another reason possibly scaring off the potential drivers of tomorrow is that many of them believe that the actual driver of tomorrow will be a computer! Although self-driving vehicles do appear to be the ‘future’, that future is a long way off from being a commercial reality. With the years of testing and the laws that will need to be passed, I would imagine that a new driver has nothing to worry about. Even when these new machines come into use the driver’s role will not likely disappear but evolve into one of a managerial position. They will need to be on board to carry out the ‘trickier’ manoeuvres and in case of any onboard malfunctions. The reason for the autonomous truck is not to remove people, but to improve efficiency. If every truck is operating to the exact same specification and parameters you have the most efficient fleet possible…in theory. We have all been guilty of having a ‘heavy foot’ from time to time or getting lost in the radio and having to break harder than we would have liked to. The vehicles of tomorrow won’t have these issues but they will need to be overseen. After all, the last thing we want is a ‘Skynet’ situation on our hands. Many years down the road, Culina Group may have a fully automated fleet but until the tech catches up with the idea and it has proved itself to be safe and reliable, we will continue putting our trust in our team of hard-working human driver’s thank you very much.

Over 600+ tractor units in the group are Euro 6 standard and 500+ of those have ‘Step C’ engines, with the remainder to switch in the coming months. All of our vehicles run on high specification tyres to minimise rolling resistance, maximise fuel economy and to ensure that we are doing everything we can to lower our CO2 footprint.

We provide drivers with the best support system we can to enable them to perform their jobs safe in the knowledge that we have their backs. We have a great team of planners picking the most efficient routes, a 24hr helpline for all driver issues and full breakdown cover in case the worst happens. So even though being a HGV driver means having your independence on a daily basis out on the open road, we give our drivers peace of mind that we are here if and when they need us whatever the issue.

All of our staff members are important to our business and its smooth operation, but without driver’s, a client’s product wouldn’t reach its destination and the work that everyone before them had done would be rendered pointless. To recognise this, many of the Culina Group sites celebrate not only their ‘Employee of the Month’ but also their ‘Driver of the Month’ with site recognition and congratulatory gifts.

If you want to join an award-winning team, drive state of the art trucks and be known as the best in the business visit www.culinacareers.co.uk or contact recruitment@culina.co.uk to find out more.

We at Culina Group have teamed up with B-Skill and developed the RISE Programme, a bespoke series of courses available to all Culina Group staff members. RISE, which stands for Recognise, Inspire, Support and Empower, could not be named more appropriately for what we want to do for our staff. The RISE Programme is a suite of ‘work based’ professional development programmes and qualifications designed to help colleagues to develop knowledge, skills and behaviours to help them achieve their career aspirations and goals.

These courses and qualifications have since become an integral part of staff performance reviews and PDP’s (personal development plans). With all costs being funded by Culina Group this means that ‘students’ can focus on their studies and not have to worry about course fees.

So how does it work? Staff will discuss with their Manager the course that they are interested in undertaking that relates to their specific job role. An initial assessment is then carried out to confirm that the candidate is suitable for the chosen course. After this, they will have a meeting with the RISE Enrolment Team and meet with their Work Based Tutor to discuss the next steps in their development. Students will meet with tutors once a month as a minimum but also have access to web chat discussions and telephone conversations as and when required.

All of the programmes require 20% ‘off the job training’ which is pre-agreed with managers to assure that this does not affect everyday operations and all tutorials and assessments are completed on work premises. However, there is a requirement for some study to be completed in the applicant’s own time.

We currently have over 100 members of staff enrolled in the programme which is a great start since its inception in May 2017 and the first enrolment shortly after in August. One of the first staff members to sign up was Stewart Keay from our head office at Market Drayton. Stewart is studying the ‘Supply Chain Warehouse Operative’ course. When asked why he joined the programme Stewart said “I feel that the extra qualification would help me rise up within the company. Since starting the course I have more understanding of regulations, legislation, and customer service in a logistical context whilst gaining a more in depth knowledge into some areas of the Culina Logistics brand”.

Another of our early adopters is Grzegorz Krol, from our Great Bear Sheffield depot. Grzegorz has chosen to study the ‘Supply Chain Warehouse Operative’ course. When asked about his reasons for joining the programme Grzegorz said “I like to learn new things and I wanted to learn more about logistics. I think that the RISE Programme gives me more opportunity to achieve my goals, which are to gain a promotion and to be able to train others, maybe even on MHE”.

Discussing the benefits he has seen from the course so far Grzegorz added “The RISE programme is helping me with my English, by me doing my work at home, my English reading and writing has improved which has been noticed in the office. Colleagues have said that my paperwork is better and I have a better understanding of the English language. Also since I have enrolled in the RISE Programme my time management is improving and I am happy with the course overall“.

We have found that as staff progress through their chosen courses they discuss their experience of the RISE Programme with their colleagues. This, in turn, has inspired others to sign up to better their career possibilities and themselves.

One of these course advocates is Sara Morley, HR Administrator, also from Market Drayton. Sara has chosen to study Business Admin Level 4. Sara commented on her experiences of being on her course up to this point. “My tutor and the additional staff that I have met have been extremely friendly and have been very willing to help, whether it be issues with my coursework or in my day job“.

“I have full support with the work that I am doing and I feel encouraged to push myself further during my meetings and to better my abilities. I believe that everyone should be motivated to join the RISE programme, as they have so many resources available to help with your work and as a whole are really great people I would recommend to anyone who wants to improve their skill set”.

At Culina Group we believe in our staff and the future of their careers. We want our people to grow along with the company and to be fulfilled in their chosen roles. The RISE Programme is available to everyone within the business from all levels and position. If our staff wish to better themselves professionally we want to be able to provide them with as much support and resources as possible.

If you would like to find out more about the RISE Programme in partnership with B-Skill you can do so by visiting their website.