System & Hargreaves Merge to Form UK’s Largest Logistics Training Company

The New Company Will Provide Driver CPC Training and Apprenticeships to the Logistics Industry and Work With Logistics Providers, Sector Skills Councils, Funding Bodies and Trade Organisations to Develop Skills in The Industry

The largest logistics training company in the UK has been created following the decision of the country’s two leading providers to merge. System Training and Hargreaves Training Services have combined to form a business that will operate from a national footprint of 20 training centres, and will have a workforce of over 300 employees. The consolidated turnover of the new entity is £16m - and is predicted to double over the next three years. While the two existing companies will continue to operate on a standalone basis until a re-brand brings them both under the same banner, in the long-term the new combined firm will look to build upon an existing customer base that includes national retailers, logistics providers and hundreds of SME clients and owner-drivers nationally. Training will be offered to a wider range of industries including road transport, logistics, motor vehicle repair, accountancy, health & safety and construction. The combined business will have a much broader strength and product offering, allowing greater access to both regional and national delivery profiles and new training markets. Robin Brown, founder and current Chief Executive of System Training will head the new company as Chief Executive. Ian Peacock, the current Managing Director of Hargreaves Training Services will become Chief Operating Officer of the new business. Key personnel from both System Training and Hargreaves Training Services will form the new management team. Road hauliers and transport companies will benefit from the merger by being able to take advantage of high quality training via a nationally recognised network that actually makes a real and tangible difference to their operations and profitability. As the clear leader in the market, the merged company will be the UK’s largest provider of Driver CPC solutions. It will work towards delivering Driver CPC training to over 100,000 drivers annually through direct contact training and instructor models and will also deliver ADR, FLT and training for HGV licences. The new business is also ideally placed to deliver Apprenticeships to young people nationally in line with the Government’s agenda. These will include Apprenticeships in Logistics, Motor Vehicle and Accountancy. The business will aspire to deliver Apprenticeships to thousands of young people across the UK. Major stakeholders such as the Skills Funding Agency, the National Apprenticeship Service and the Department for Work and Pensions will benefit from the enhanced capability of the combined business via the achievement of real skills development on a larger scale. It will offer a significant support mechanism to help accelerate the objectives of sector skills councils, such as Skills for Logistics and Go Skills, and in particular will support the aims and objectives of the national and regional logistics academies. Robin Brown, Chief Executive of System Training, said: “This is an exciting time for everyone at System Training as the new business will be considerably stronger than the two individual companies and allow us to offer an enhanced service to our clients and provide training to new markets. System Training will now be able to offer its award-winning Driver CPC training model, which has already saved clients millions of pounds, on a national basis. The new business will also provide opportunities to work closely with sector skills councils to support them and help them achieve their objectives.” Ian Peacock, Manager Director of Hargreaves Training Services, said: “We are bringing our strong regional and national presence to the new business and the company will now be able to offer a greater number of services to a larger geographical area. Hargreaves has extensive experience in work-focused training and up-skilling both employed and unemployed people. But this new entity will have a real strength in delivering training and developing skills in line with nationally recognised policies and will benefit clients, stakeholders and the logistics industry as a whole.” Ends Notes to Editors 1. A selection of copyright-free, high-resolution portrait and training images is available to download at www.system-training.com/about/news/resources. 2. A short video interview with Robin Brown and Ian Peacock is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG3gtDQDnqs. 3. Information has been created and supplied copyright free by The Inside Line. For any further requests or enquiries please contact Glenn Patterson on 07872 470115 or glenn@the-inside-line.co.uk. 4. Interviews with Robin Brown and Ian Peacock are available upon request. 5. Further information on System Training and its services is available at www.system-training.com and on Hargreaves Training Services at www.hargreavestraining.com. You can follow System Training on Twitter at www.twitter.com/systemtraining. Further Information System Training System Advanced Driver Training was founded in 1988 by Robin Brown and initially provided Driving Instructor Training and Fleet Driver Training. In 2000 it moved to a purpose-built three-acre site at Carlisle Airport and started to deliver Driver CPC training some two years later. In 2009 System Training launched its Driver CPC Consortium which enabled larger logistics providers and major retailers to take advantage of its high-quality, instructor-led training. It has since provided CPC training for Eddie Stobart, Tesco, ASDA and MAN. It also launched an employed intensive Apprenticeship training programme and achieved Training Quality Standard accreditation. Last month System collected the UK Warehousing Association Training Award for using driving techniques to help one of its major clients save over £2 million in fuel and damage costs. System Training currently employs 102 staff across three locations. Hargreaves Training Services Founded in 1967 Hargreaves Training Services was originally the training department of the Hargreaves Group of companies. At that time the company operated one of the largest tanker fleets in the UK and, to ensure the highest standards of competence, all drivers received initial and on-going training from the company's own internal training department. Over the years Hargreaves Training Services became an independent company and has constantly adapted to meet not only the ever changing training needs of the transport and logistics industry but has also diversified into Heavy Plant, Motor Vehicle Mechanic and Health and Safety training. Hargreaves Training Services is now one of the oldest established training companies in the UK delivering training into multiple industry sectors. Hargreaves currently employs 204 staff at 17 UK locations.

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