Newslink December 2021

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Steve Thomas
time. I’d then take them out for two days
of intensive training. Sometimes, if
people didn’t pick it up straight away I’d
need to do a few more hours on top, but
in the main two days was enough to
make them safe towers of trailers or
caravans and get them up to the
standard to pass the test.”
Most of his work was with
‘experienced’ drivers so “you don’t have
to go through the basics, they can all
drive, you just needed to knock the rough
edges and bad habits off them. ” In
addition Steve taught them how to load
the towed vehicle correctly; that’s
particularly important in farming
communities. If they are towing a trailer
the loads can shift easily as they are
usually loose, so they needed to
understand what that does to the
dynamics and handling. In addition I’d
work with people towing horse boxes:
you get different problems with them,
such as how to carry one horse in a
two-horse box (thus making the box
lop-sided, weight-wise).”
Steve loved this new sector. “It just
took over. I wasn’t stuck in the car all
day, we’d be out in lovely countryside,
we’d spend some time in the open air
looking at the trailer, learning how to
attach it safely. It gave me a really varied
working day and I enjoyed it.
“Most of my customers were decent
drivers who understood the principles
involved – farming lads with good
common sense and practical skills who
just needed someone to point them in
the right direction.”
He kept his hand in with the occasional
learner and brought a couple of ADIs
under this wing to look after L-drivers,
but for Steve, B+E was his future.
‘‘
I wasn’t stuck in the car all
day, we’d be out in lovely
countryside, we’d spend
some time in the open air
looking at the trailer, learning
how to attach it safely.
‘‘
“I had developed good relationships
with caravan dealerships in the region,
who would point new customers in my
direction when they bought a caravan. I
also used to attend farmers and
agricultural shows, and got a lot of
business that way – 5-10 new clients
each time. So many people didn’t realise
that their driving licence didn’t let them
tow a trailer or caravan, and were
shocked when they found out.”
Business was booming and somewhat
ironically, in recent months Covid-19 was
a major driver. “Loads of people got into
caravanning this year for the first time.
They were nervous about booking a hotel
abroad because of travel rules or booking
a static caravan because of possible
infection, and so thought, ‘let’s give
caravanning a go, we’ll be safe in our
own little home, it’ll be fun’. I had a glut
of new bookings for lessons.”
In addition, changes to the law around
corporate manslaughter has sharpened
many businesses’ thinking around the
driving their staff do. “I reckon 30 per
cent of my customers are caravans, 50
per cent are farmers and builders who
need to tow trailers, and the rest are
businesses; one-man bands such as
catering companies or people towing
trailers to exhibitions.
“Demand was so high I had a decent
waiting list and I was genuinely thinking,
I’ve got everything cracked now, I can
look forward to a good, steady income
from now to retirement in about a
decade.”
Indeed, “I checked my books and I’d
had the best quarter ever from April-June
this. I was working seven days a week.”
Another irony; around this time “my wife
said I was doing too much and needed to
slow down and take it a bit easier…”
Then came September. “I’ve looked
back through my diary and I had 94
people on my list when the bombshell
landed. If each one needed two days
training, plus a day for the test, that’s
many months of work. I was certainly
fully committed until next Spring. But it’s
all gone.”
Of the 94 on the list, “six said they’d
go on and have some training.” Here’s a
sobering assessment of one: “One lady
had just bought a caravan. She found out
she didn’t need to take a B+E test and
was going to cancel but I convinced her
to have half-a-day’s training. By the time
she’d finished that she was nowhere near
the old test standard but she was, at
least, safe – which she wouldn’t have
been before.”
Which begs the question, what about
the other 88… because that tale is, in a
nutshell, what we all have to look
forward to on our roads next summer:
thousands of untrained novices towing
caravans and trailer tents for the first
time.
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