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South Wales Driver Specialist in Top
Gear
A business idea hatched just over two
years ago by company directors Kath Bevan and
Stephen Davies has led to the creation of one of
Wales’s most successful driver training specialists.
Vale of Glamorgan-based Professional Driver Services
Ltd (PDS) has trained more than 1,300 South Wales
motorists in the past 12 months - and has recently
made major inroads into both the UK’s private fleet
driver training and public driver training sectors.
PDS has based much of its growth to
date on the National Driver Improvement Scheme,
where it is contracted by the South Wales Police
Authority to deliver driver training.
Under current legislation, drivers
believed to have been responsible for driving
without due care and attention or reasonable
consideration to other road users are given an
option to either have the incident referred to the
Crown Prosecution Service where they may receive a
fine and penalty points, or an opportunity to attend
a National Driver Improvement Scheme (NDIS). The
scheme is run by PDS in South Wales.
Stephen explains, “We have invested
heavily in on-line systems, which enables the police
to track in detail the progress of individual
drivers and gives clients the opportunity to book
and pay for courses on-line. We are also pleased to
say that the incidences of drivers re-offending
after completing our courses are among the lowest in
the UK.”
Professional Driver Services Ltd is a
member of the Association of National Driver
Improvement Scheme Providers (ANDISP), the
regulatory body of the scheme throughout the UK.
PDS has
benefited from support under the Aspire Programme.
Devised and managed by Newport-based CODA Business
Management Ltd with Welsh Development Agency
support, the programme offers mentoring and
specialist consultancy to ambitious entrepreneurs in
South East Wales whose business ideas demonstrate
strong growth potential.
Kath is the public relations officer
for the Association of National Driver Improvement
Scheme Providers (ANDISP) has considerable
experience in the public sector of driver training
and road safety, while Stephen is a qualified
independent forensic road accident investigator and
a training agent for the Community Transport
Association as well as being an Advanced Driving
Instructor holding a RoSPA National Diploma and
Cardington Grade A.
David Lloyd, CODA business mentor who
has been working with PDS, said, “Their combination
has led to the creation of a dynamic and
fast-growing business that has a very exciting
future ahead of it.”
Such has been the company’s rate of
growth that PDS has also been forced to take much
larger premises at the Vale Enterprise Centre,
Sully, and now employs additional staff.
Aside from the work with the driver
improvement scheme, it is also building up an
enviable list of clients that include primary and
secondary schools, local authorities such as
Cardiff, Bridgend, Pembrokeshire and Caerphilly
councils, steel giant Corus and national
distribution firm Printmovers.
All PDS fleet trainers are DSA
registered fleet driver trainers or are ex police
class one driving instructors.
Kath adds, “Of the 3,500 road deaths
each year, some 1,000 are business related.
Companies now have to recognise that their
responsibilities to their employers and the UK
population as a whole, does not end when a driver
leaves the office or yard.
“Today’s business environment means
that employers need to manage road risk in the same
way they manage other occupational health and safety
risks.
Every employer has a legal
responsibility to make a regular assessment of the
risks to the health and safety of their employees
while at work and to take remedial action as
necessary”.
“More and more companies recognise
that a proactive approach through vehicle and driver
assessment and/or training will considerably improve
the safety of their fleet and employees, while
helping comply with health and safety regulations.”
She also admits to being concerned at
the continuing lack of driver qualifications among
the thousands of teachers who get behind a wheel of
a school minibus.
“The
vast majority have no training at all in driving a
minibus which when filled with school children is
the most valuable cargo imaginable. It horrifies me
and it should horrify parents up and down the land;
which is why the most enlightened local authorities
are doing something about it.”
Stephen believes the business has
come a long way since being incorporated in July
2002. “We’ve been delighted since then with the
support received from organisations such as CODA and
from our many new clients, who have been fantastic,”
he adds.
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