One Auckland-based heavy vehicle licence training operation is welcoming the news that the New Zealand Transport Agency is planning to introduce spot auditing of contracted organisations.
An NZTA review of 150 training providers found that 22 had “unsatisfactory audit results.”
Two providers have been shut down after the two-year long audit of NZTA-approved contractors that conduct testing for the truck, bus, taxi and forklift drivers.
Commercial Road Skills general manager Tony Newth says the NZTA decision to conduct unannounced spot audits is great news for the industry and “should have been sooner.”
“We welcome the move with open arms and we’ve previously said on multiple occasions that we are happy for NZTA to come in and check on us at any time,” says Newth.
Newth says since establishing his Commercial Road Skills training and testing business more than 14 years ago he’s seen a lot more “rogue operators” enter the industry.
He says the retirement of former “old school” truck drivers who became trainers and assessors has seen the industry lose of lot of its integrity, coupled with the fact that supply and demand has driven some training operators to cut corners and get people into licences quicker than they ought to.
“We are only as good as our last NZTA audit, and we hold dear to that high standard which is expected of us,” he says.
Newshub is reporting that one audit found evidence suggesting that the assessors were themselves writing in answers for trainees, and for those sitting Class 5 truck driving tests, it was noted: “most questions are answered almost word for word as per the marking guide, indicating some assistance.”
NZTA regulator Kate Styles told Newshub reporter Micheal Morrah that she believes some training agencies are deliberately cheating the system.
“There has been some of that behaviour, and it has been deliberate, and we are taking it extremely seriously,” says Styles.
