Doing it Right

In-depth

26 Aug

There’s a bloke down Adelaide way that ought to get an Order of Australia Medal for Services to the Trucking Industry. While they’re at it they can give him another one for Services to the Keen-but-Unemployed. May as well make it a trifecta and give him another for Going-Above-And-Beyond.

His name is Peter Simmons and he probably wouldn’t want any of them. Not heard of the name?

“I’ve been a driver all my life,” said Peter. “My dad had trucks, and my father-in-law. Back in ‘83 I was away constantly with three kids under five. I would come home bitching about being away from work and the food on the road. My father-in-law said, ‘you’re a pretty placid sort of bloke, why don’t you try teaching it instead of doing it. So I got my Driving Instructors Certificate in 1983 and I’ve been teaching HC and MC licenses since then.”

Still none the wiser dear reader?

Does Allan Miller ring a bell?

How about Allan Miller Transport Training?

That’s the mob Peter joined back in 1983 – although then it was known as Allan Miller Driving School. The year he joined, the business was sold and Peter continued under the new owners for the next 14 years until he bought them out some 15 years ago.

At the time of his purchase the business had 8 cars and 3 trucks and Peter built it to 30 cars and 10 trucks. The car side was hived off to concentrate on the trucks. Like the other six or seven truck licencing operations in the State, Allan Miller would put would-be drivers through a roughly 25 hour HC course, pass them a licence and tell them to get out on the road and learn how to drive a truck.

“In the real world, all that license does is give you a ticket to drive on the road. It doesn’t make you a truck driver. When they get thrown in the deep end, as in getting behind the wheel and driving, it’s a real danger and risk to themselves, people around them and the company taking them on.”

“Originally I was doing the old three day courses like everybody else. A waste of paper, quite frankly. An old customer of mine once said a license is only to keep the grossly incompetent off the road. So congratulations son; you’re not so grossly incompetent that someone has to be with you all the time – according to the government.”

Then, a couple of years ago, the South Australian Government stumped up funding for a program called, ‘Skilling South Australia’. Applications were invited on the basis of skill shortage and need within an industry.

Peter Simmons was quick to see an opportunity to fill a gap within the transport sector. Unusually maybe, the opportunity he saw was not to make a bucket-load of cash at the Governments expense but rather to make a real difference to the industry he had spent his life in.

For years his business and others around Australia had been churning out people with a truck licence. For all of those years transport companies have been bleating about a shortage of drivers.

“It didn’t gel,” said Peter. “What they were really saying was that there was a shortage of licenced drivers they would be prepared to entrust their equipment and company name to.

“It’s always been the classic Catch-22. A person gets his licence, goes out and finds no-one will hire him because he doesn’t have at least two years on the job. There’s a whole bunch of truck licences sitting in bottom drawers, gathering dust.

“So, we went out as Allan Miller Transport and approached some major transport companies for sub-contract work. We are only sub-contractors. I didn’t want to compete with the freight industry because they are people who I have to sell training to.

“We said, ‘You’re already running sub-contractors. How about we put a truck in and work at the standard sub-contract rate – but with a major difference.”

**HPS is just one of the companies Allan Miller subs for**

“As a training organisation we now had a potential training ground in the real world. We were then able to go the Department of Industry & Skills and tell them of our project. We pointed out that this was an industry with both a skills shortage and a need. We have unemployed people looking for work but the only way they’re going to find that work is to gain experience.

“We applied and got approved to be able to deliver a Certificate III in Driving Operations with the Skills in SA project.

**Daniel Bone - learning the right way**

“We were then able to realise our plan: to employ a ‘green’ operator and put them in a working vehicle with one of our experienced Mentors. So now, instead of being thrown in at the deep end, we had a Buddy-driver sitting next to them, going through the ropes. They teach them CoR, load restraint, fatigue management, road craft, vehicle skills, OHS, manual handling, how to fill in your work diary correctly – all the essential skills that they need to do the job proficiently. And the Mentor is with them until such time as they are competent - usually for between three and six months

“The beauty of that is, that as a company we don’t do fee-for-service traineeships. We don’t see the value of someone sitting in a classroom, reading the PowerPoint and then answering some questions and leaving with a ‘qualification’. It means nothing.

“We can give them real-world opportunities. They are employed full-time and they are working for a company, getting real wages.”

Peter’s efforts saw collaboration with a number of major companies: HPS Transport was the first to come on board (they run Road-Trains Adelaide to Perth). Following in quick succession were STC Logistics, Qube Logistics, TRG Transport Solutions, Southern Quarries, Bianco Reinforcing, Middleton Transport and Innace Refrigerated Transport. These companies were quick to see the benefits on offer.

“These businesses are seeing these green operators drive our truck. They are rocking up to the windows, their paperwork is getting handed in, they’re not having sick days, they’re not having incidents, and they are well presented. The response is, ‘Hey, we like this operator, let’s give him a go’.

“They can then come out of our truck after six or seven months - whatever it may be - of mentor training, and then be placed into that company’s vehicle. Now, they still continue their training and continue getting mentored, but it’s not five days a week. They are now on their own, operating with support.”

The success of this approach has seen Allan Miller purchase vehicles to suit various needs. A concrete agitator was bought to enable training in that sector – in this case with Southern Quarries. They bought a fridge truck to put trainees in with Innace. Crane work, Side-loading, containers, Skels, general freight and road-train work – it’s all covered.

**A crane truck. One of the learning tools**

It’s noted that with Government assistance, there are no fees to the trainees Allan Miller TT take on. This we imagine, would have a long queue of novice truckie would-be’s lining up at their door.

“Word is spreading, yes. We ask them some simple questions such as do you have a passion for transport, what’s your favourite truck, who have you approached. It might sound a bit biased, but we don’t want long-term unemployed. This isn’t an unemployment program. It’s a program to get passionate people that can’t get a go, into transport.

“There are no age parameters. In fact we like people who’ve been around the block a bit. Too young and they’re geographically challenged. They have absolutely no idea once a GPS gets out of range.

“Seriously. We had a guy going to Brisbane. He rings me up, ‘I’m not too sure what I’ve done but I’m 30 km from Lightning Ridge.’

‘You’re going from Adelaide to Brisbane, what the Hell are you doing at Lightning Ridge?’

‘Well, the GPS told me to go this way.’

“There’s a lot to be said for HEMA maps!”

“To be fair, that’s the exception rather than the rule. Ashley Owens was a motor mechanic and one of our first test cases. He is now working full time at Middleton’s. We’ve taken builders and people from completely different trades that wanted a career change and have now managed to get into transport, where their passion is.”

Peter is the Managing Director and sole shareholder of Allan Miller Transport Training. But he’s not sitting on his backside flying a desk. He is also mentoring on the B-double and Road-Train front. One of his success stories is Jeremy Fitzgerald, whom we’ll meet in the next instalment of this story.

When we spoke with Peter he was sitting in a truck with Steven Lawrie somewhere in Sydney. This is Steve’s second trip with Peter. At 46, Steve has kicked around a bit.

“I grew up on a farm. I worked for Coles for a while and then went into the vineyard industry. I did my back in. I’m a qualified chef but I got disillusioned with that. Then I did a bit of security and bar work. I finished up in Cooper Basin working on the gas and oil fields.

“From there I went down into the River Land and did a bit more security and other bits and pieces. I was working for an electrical company, building solar farms, but because of the coronavirus it all slowed down.

“I had my MC licence but I never used it. To be honest, at the time I didn’t really have the urge. I was in the Metropolitan Fire service and saw the carnage of what can happen when things go wrong.

“A family friend put me onto Peter and his crew. It was plain to me that with the right training, in the right hands doing the right thing will mitigate and lessen the chances of these things happening. And so here I am, about five weeks in in a 26metre B-double.

“The first two were local work, breaking up B-doubles and doing local deliveries. Now I’m in my third week of interstate. The first week was Adelaide – Millicent – Brisbane – Sydney – Brisbane – Sydney – Brisbane - Adelaide.

The second was Adelaide – Brisbane – Sydney - Adelaide. And now we’re doing just Adelaide - Sydney - Adelaide. We share the kilometre rates.”

Peter: “I’m comfortable that Steve won’t kill me or anybody else. I obviously carefully guide where he drives and I do the difficult parts like 2 to 6 AM - just to make sure that his fatigue is right. Like others, we gradually nurture his experience.”

Steve: “I’ll be sitting there with Peter until he gets sick of me and kicks me out of the truck - because that will mean that I’m good to go.

“When I’m finished and built up the experience, I’d love to take on a bit of a mentor role and help others as well. And so the wheel turns, as they say.”

“Licenses don’t get people jobs,” says Peter. “They don’t get them truck ready. The thing that frustrated me was that on average we did six licenses a week. We were training people who are no good to the industry. The industry can’t get people. People are getting older. There is a skill shortage. Something is not right.

“And so what I’m trying to do is to fill that gap. Okay, go and get your ‘licence’ with someone else, and then come and see us and we’ll teach you all the rest of the stuff.

“I’ve now moved away from the licensing to focus my attention and concentration on this Job Training project. There is a glaring need for it. I truly believe good training makes for good drivers and safer drivers.”

Peter gained Government support for a four year period which has a year to run. “We are hopeful of that support continuing but, mindful of the eccentricities of politics, we are talking with various transport companies from a point of having greater financial involvement in the scheme (some already do). We are getting positive vibes back – particularly from those who’ve seen first-hand the results we’ve achieved.”

The transport industry has long called for an Apprenticeship in Trucking. This is exactly what Peter Simmons and his Allan Miller Transport Training company have achieved. Other States and the Commonwealth, TAKE NOTE!

Allan Miller Transport Training has been nominated for the 2020 Australian Trading Awards for Collaboration.

Will someone give this man a medal?

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