Newslink December 2021

B+E Testing: the impact on ADIs
The news that B+E testing was to be scrapped this autumn came as huge shock to the entire road
safety and driver training community – but the impact was felt most keenly by those ADIs who had
focused their businesses solely on this form of training. One such ADI was Steve Thomas, an instructor
who runs Raglan Driver Training in Bellbowrie, near Monmouth, South Wales. Steve, who has offered
comments on the government’s controversial decision in previous issues of Newslink, was left
devastated by the announcement, which at a stroke ripped apart a business built up over 18 years. He
talked to Newslink’s Rob Beswick about the decision, how he had been affected and his thoughts three
months on as he rebuilds his career
18 years of hard graft...
scrapped overnight
on a political whim
Three months on from the
announcement that B+E testing
was going to be scrapped, it’s fair
to say that Steve Thomas still
feels pretty raw. “I’ll be honest, I’m still
shell-shocked,” he told me. “I’ve tried,
but I still can’t get my head round it. It
came as such a shock, so out of the
blue, that it still doesn’t feel real, even
three months on.”
He took me back to the point when he
knew that his business, Raglan Driver
Training, was in trouble. “There was
nothing to suggest a change was coming.
Why should it change? The system
worked well.
“I was out on a lesson on September
10 with a client when I was aware my
phone was going mental with messages.
I thought something must be up so when
we got a chance, we pulled over and I
checked my phone. I had dozens of
messages from friends, colleagues,
clients, all asking me what was going on.
They’d heard this announcement that
B+E tests were to be scrapped almost
immediately, with examiners shifted to
LGV testing. I couldn’t believe it.”
He got home and checked his emails
and sure enough, there was the news he
had never expected to read. “B+E
testing is cancelled from September 21
onwards. That’s it. I had a full cohort of
customers booked in for training the next
week, and for weeks after, with tests
booked, everything. The lot was now in
jeopardy.”
It was the speed and suddenness that
took him most by surprise. “Plenty of
people have had their jobs ripped from
underneath them over the years. Think
about the coal industry, the steel works...
but they always knew it was coming.
There was an announcement,
discussions on redundancy, months of
talks before the gates were closed.
“This wasn’t like that. One day I was
training, the next day, my business
model was destroyed.”
It would be nice to say that his clients
still saw the value of training without a
test at the end of – after all, that’s what
the DVSA has said people should do
– but in the real world of 2021, that isn’t
what happened. “People ran for the hills;
just about every customer who had
training booked cancelled with immediate
effect. I went from a full book of
customers to none overnight. The only
thing I could do was claw the test fees
back.”
To Steve, it effectively destroyed 18
years of hard graft building up a
flourishing business. “I’ve been an ADI
for 22 years, and to start with I was
teaching learners, just like the majority of
ADIs do. But where I’m based, it’s a very
rural area, a lot of farms, lots of
farmworkers towing trailers and horse
boxes, that sort of thing, and there has
always been a greater need for a B+E
licence around here than in most
places.”
His switch to teaching the B+E
classification came after a chance
conversation with an examiner. “I’d taken
a young farmer on for lessons, and he
had his driving test and passed. After the
test I was chatting to the examiner who
said ‘he’s a good driver - you should have
him back with you next week so he can
get his B+E licence’, as he was
obviously going to be using his new
driving skills for work, which would
inevitably involve towing at some point,
even if it’s only a trailer full of animal
feed around the farm.”
He chatted to the new driver, arranged
to carry on teaching him, but this time
giving him the skills he’d need for the
B+E test – and the switch in emphasis
for Raglan Training was underway.
“It started slowly but increasingly, I
found more and more people who
needed a B+E licence coming to me for
training. I’d do one a week, then 6-7 a
month, and before long it was 2-3 tests
every week.”
His business model was simple. “I’d
give a new customer a two-hour
assessment lesson, and then we’d have a
chat and get a test booked for 6-8 weeks
22
NEWSLINK n DECEMBER 2021