Rachael McWilliams gained her CPC qualification in 2006. She has a passion for logistics but it’s a fast-moving world – with big changes in recent years and lockdown preventing her from getting on site to learn first-hand of her client’s challenges – she decided to top up her knowledge with our online Transport Manager Refresher course.

Rachael is the Operations and Development Director for Wilson Gibb Management Services (WGMS) – one of Scotland’s top small and medium-sized enterprises which operates Driver Hire offices Edinburgh City, Edinburgh West, Borders, Fife, Grangemouth, Motherwell and Newcastle.

She has a passion for the industry and a CPC qualification under her belt. But when the national lockdown suddenly stopped her from getting out and on site visiting her clients, she soon found she missed hearing first-hand about their operations and the challenges they were facing. It’s a fast moving world, and there have been big changes in recent years, so she decided to top up her knowledge by enrolling herself on the online Transport Manager Refresher course.

She originally gained her International CPC (Road Haulage) in 2006, 18 months after joining Driver Hire, through a year-long course at Stevenson College in Edinburgh. It opened her eyes to the importance of road transport and the essential role trucks play in all of our lives.

Reflecting back on the course, Rachael said, “It gave me an all-round understanding of our clients’ daily operations, encompassing legislation, finance, driver responsibilities and more. This all tied in with my enjoyment of road transport and with my role in logistics recruitment, which is so essential to the smooth running of the industry.“

“There’s been so many changes recently like EU travel, online Driver CPC training, Graduated Fixed Penalties, OCRS and Alternative Fuels. These weren’t around 14 years ago – I had a working knowledge but no official training. I couldn’t get out and learn on site, so I was looking for another way to reconnect.”

Rachael began looking at various courses online and decided to opt for the Transport Manager Refresher course with Driver Hire Training.

“I knew Driver Hire Training had added to their training portfolio last year with the Transport Manager CPC and the 2-day Refresher course, and had read some great feedback from delegates who’d been on their courses.”

“The Refresher course has just given me a real boost. It’s been good for my professional development, and personally too. It was good to be in a virtual classroom, where you can engage with like-minded people – that’s good for people’s mental health especially in this current climate.”

She added, “The course was honestly excellent. I had an exceptionally knowledgeable trainer with vast background knowledge in transport and logistics, and the course had a great balance of on-screen presentations, group interaction, break-out sessions, videos and quizzes. Everyone was fully engaged the entire time and it was a pleasant surprise to see one of my clients on the course, too!”

The course is JAUPT approved which, whilst Rachael didn’t need this element, means it can count as 14 hours of Driver CPC training hours for HGV licence holders who drive professionally.

“I think it shows that you also don’t have to be a HGV driver or working in a Transport office to really benefit from these courses.”