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NCW: An Interview with the Training Team – Becoming a Coach Driver!

Date Added 10/04/2024

It's Day 3 of National Coach Week and today we have an interview with our in house Driver Training Team and Patrick, a newly qualified Coach Driver who has recently finished his training with us. We believe it is key that we are hot on training for our Drivers and bringing those to the company who have a passion in wanting to learn, how to be a Coach Driver! Please read the interview below for more information and an insight to our Training School!

Bethany: Welcome everyone! Today is about sharing your experiences with the training school we offer at Johnsons and how it feels working for a family run business. Molly Inman Marketing Executive is going to be asking you a few questions about our training school.  

Q: Firstly, introduce yourselves, tell us about your time here at Johnsons.  

Pete Lloyd - Training and Development Manager: 

I have been here for 13 years, it’s a friendly atmosphere to work in and it’s nice to see staff always come back. It feels like home, and everyone is so lovely. It's nice to see how social it is, and everyone always says hello.  

Bethany: For me driving past the depot years ago I always used to be intrigued and now being the Marketing Manager, I can say how nice everyone is and it is such a friendly atmosphere. Meeting Pete and John Johnson it’s nice to see the effort they go through to get to know you and will always say hello to everyone. 

Pete: I totally agree Peter and John go round and speak to everyone. They have this huge multi-million-pound business and are down to earth. They are supportive and will help you no matter what. When I’ve had tough times, they’ve always helped. 

Paul Stevens – Company Driving Instructor: 

I have over 14 years of experience in the industry and when the opportunity came up to get back into PCV training it was perfect. The staff themselves are nice and welcoming. The interaction with the trainees, drivers and the communications are nice and relaxed. Everyone is treated with such respect.  

Let’s talk about our recent success story in Patrick! 

It has been a great start to my driving career at Johnsons, Pete and Paul have supported me through my training. I am excited to get out there driving! 

Q: What is the criteria to enrol in the Johnsons coach driver training programme? 

Pete: Most importantly, being a coach driver is great customer service – putting every individual that travels with us first. To be a trainee coach driver we look for three key things - Their driving abilities, how well they take instruction and their smart presentation. It is particularly important they have a good an attitude towards the role. 

We also host a try out day ‘what the day looks like from a driver’ so they can understand the commute time to the depot and then go out on tour. This way it makes sure they are happy with all the driving.  

Q: What do you believe are the most important qualities for a coach driver and why? (Especially at Johnsons) 

Pete: Attitude is so important the ‘can do’ attitude and being positive. If a driver comes to the yard for a day’s work and they are not happy we do not want them to bring that forward with the customers, this is a customer facing job and they are representing a quality brand.  

I also think preparation, work is always about preparation. If they turn up with time to plan their route and make sure they feel confident about the drive, so they do not face any unexpected challenges along the way. 

Q: What resources and facilities are available to trainees during their learning journey? 

Pete: We offer all types of revision and lessons to prepare them for their exams. We offer online revision and hard copies. This is to help with how people learn to make sure we offer options. 

With all the theory they must learn it is important that they bring it through with the practical as well, attention to detail is key and it means Paul can use it in the training to make sure they understand it in a practical situation and not just on paper.  

We want to prepare the drivers for tough situations, for example They might approach a low bridge and we would not want them to turn left because of it. The assessor would expect you to look at the bridge assess the situation and approach with caution in the correct way and proceed. 

Paul: As an operator we provide the best in-house test facilities. We only need a test centre for the on-road test. We have plans in the future for the on-road test to be hosted here. 

There are few coach operators that have their own in-house training school, and it is a fantastic school. As trainees we support them every step of the way and make sure they are confident, and that we are confident they will get the pass!  

Pete: As a business we want to offer our training school and facilities to other operators, offering it out to the Guild of British Coach Operators members and help them develop. 

Q: How does Johnsons support new Trainee Drivers in developing to become a Full-Time Coach Driver?  

Pete: We have an in-house mentoring programme which I think is the most important to make sure we support the new Coach Drivers. We have a large fleet offering a variety of different vehicles we want to start them with the smaller vehicles like the Yutong’s and build up their confidence before giving them the Double Deckers. We do not want them thrown in the deep end straight away, it is all about building their confidence! 

Paul: We also have daily feedback form which is full of notes on everything that they are working on to make sure they are happy. It also gives them an opportunity to give feedback to us. We have catch ups and informal chats around the yard to make sure the drivers are ok. 

Pete: Mentoring usually lasts about two weeks, this prepares our drivers for unexpected situations and for when they are out in the open as a full-time Coach Driver.  

The mentoring is all about building up their confidence. It allows a driver to familiarise themselves with the layout of the vehicle and learn where everything is. The mentoring phase is to help the drivers build up the confidence to stop the ‘butterflies’ forming when they are out on their own. I started as a Trainee Coach Driver, so I understand what it feels like. 

Q: We have started doing reverse training in the yard here – tell us a little bit more about this?  

Pete: The reverse training we conduct at the Johnsons depot is part 3a: Off-road exercises which includes an ‘S’ shaped reverse into a bay. One key element is it removes dead milage on our vehicles and reduce fuel usage or miles on vehicles. 

Paul: It also puts less pressure on needing to reverse a vehicle, out to Birmingham, we have full access to the available fleet and gives the drivers more of a chance to try out a variety of vehicles.  

Q: Paul, you have recently joined the Johnsons team, how are you finding it being the Company Instructor?  

Paul: I am really enjoying the process here with the company. The job has given me the opportunity to use the 14 years’ experience and put it into practice, so far so good.  

Q: Patrick, congratulations on passing your test with flying colours! You are here today to share your success story in the programme – can you tell us about this from your experience. 

Patrick: Yes, thank you. It has been good working with Pete and Paul with my training. The support they offer, has helped fill me with confidence. I am a very hands-on learner, so the screen work was tough. Paul understood that and adapted my training to help me be successful – which worked! 

All the revision and lessons were all great support and Paul is happy to adjust the sessions and learning to suit me. 

Q: Once a driver passes their test what is next? Tell us about your experience with becoming a full-time Coach Driver.  

Patrick: Well today is my first official day being a full-time Coach Driver. I am excited about the mentoring scheme and to get hands on experience. I like to be thrown in the deep end and Paul has really supported this. 

Pete: Patrick is focusing now on learning the skill set to be able to support customers on a trip and learn about the Johnsons experience. 

Q: Lastly, tell us about your favourite thing about working for Johnsons Coaches. 

Pete: I love training and being able to develop all the coach drivers. For a driver to go from not being able to drive around cones to then being able to drive the vehicle perfectly whilst looking smart in uniform, it is so satisfying to see that from start to finish.  

I used to be a Trainee Coach Driver and I understand how it feels, how nervous you feel when you get your first job ticket. It has allowed me to understand it from the perspective of the drivers. 

It is about knowing you can get jobs where you get fish and chips at Weston Super Mare beach, but you will also be taking people to the Airport at 2am. It is knowing to take the good with the bad, I have been all over Europe with this company and it is a fantastic job! 

Patrick: Spending time with Paul of course – The best must be stopping for a toilet break and having a quick snack at McDonalds together! I feel very supported throughout the process, and I am excited to start driving.  

Paul: For me it is seeing drivers from 10 years ago at previous places and seeing how far they have developed with the bonus of having that familiar face at Johnsons. 

The most important part for me is seeing them progress. I get such a high from seeing the assessor tell them they have passed!  

That is my kick telling them the magic word at the end.