Don’t miss out on your chance to book onto our next RTITB instructor courses at our RTITB accredited training centre in Swindon.

We’re running novice and re-qualification courses in July, and spaces are still available.

So if you’re thinking of becoming an instructor, or you need to renew your licence, we can help you.

Novice training

Are you an operator who really enjoys operating forklifts and is looking for a new challenge?  Have you ever wanted to pass on your experience to others?  Are you looking for a way to progress your career and improve your employability?

Then look no further with our initial novice course.

Suitable for anyone with 6 months of operating experience, you will learn all the skills you need to teach and test how to operate a forklift truck.

Covering essential skills such as conducting lessons, understanding the regulations and compliance, and mastering the art of assessments.

Re-qualification training

Our 5-day course is designed to ensure your training skills are kept sharp and in line with the latest techniques and legislation.  It’s a great way to get back into the classroom with other instructors and share tips, experiences, best practices and generally improve yourself as an instructor.

For further information about these courses, please click here.

 Why Choose Us for Forklift Instructor Training?

• Accredited – our courses are accredited and meet the exacting standards of RTITB, the UK’s gold standard in MHE training
• Experienced Trainers – Gain all the practical, real-world experience throughout the course from our fully qualified tutors, who will pass on their wealth of experience to you, to ensure you’re confident when training others
• Bespoke Training Centre – Train at our modern facility with everything supplied within your price, including trucks, paperwork, certificates and refreshments throughout
• Onsite training – If you have a group of operators in your business that would like to become operator instructors, then we can run this training at your site, on your trucks, saving your operators travel expenses and making their training fully relevant to your operations (subject to meeting the Facilities Criteria)

Are you ready to take your forklift experience to the next level by becoming an instructor? Join a community that is shaping safer warehousing and transport operations across the country.

How to book

Our first courses are running in July as follows:

• Novice course – Monday 6th to Friday 17th July (10 days)
• Re-ref course – Monday 13th to Friday 17th July (5 days)

Spaces are limited and in high demand, don’t delay and book your space with us today.

We are proud to announce that in partnership with Wiltshire Council, we are launching Skills Bootcamps for the Warehousing & Logistics Sector in Swindon & Wiltshire.

Swindon & Wiltshire sit at the heart of one of the UK’s most important logistics corridors. With major distribution centres, warehousing hubs, transport operators and supply chain businesses operating across the region, the demand for skilled, confident leaders has never been greater. 

To support this growing need, we are delivering Level 3 Skills Bootcamps in Leadership & Management designed specifically for the Warehousing, Transport and Logistics sector.

These certificated programmes are helping local employers strengthen their teams, develop future managers and build a more resilient workforce.

This training is part-funded by Wiltshire Council who will cover between 70-90% of the costs (business size dependent), so they have a limited space for 15 emerging leaders in September 2026.

Why Leadership Skills Matter More Than Ever in Logistics

The logistics sector is fast paced, high pressure and constantly evolving. New technologies, tighter delivery expectations, workforce shortages and rising customer demands mean that strong leadership is essential for maintaining smooth operations.

Effective leadership directly improves:

• Operational efficiency and workflow
• Staff morale, engagement and retention
• Safety and compliance standards
• Communication across shifts, sites and departments
• Problem solving during disruption or peak demand
• Customer satisfaction and service reliability

For businesses in Swindon & Wiltshire, developing these skills is not just beneficial — it’s a strategic necessity.

What the Skills Bootcamps Offer

The Level 3 Leadership & Management Skills Bootcamps are practical, hands on and built around the real challenges faced by logistics teams. They are designed to help participants step confidently into leadership roles or strengthen the skills they already have.

This programme is certificated by AIM Qualifications & Assessment Group and has been designed to develop capabilities in:

• Understanding leadership styles and building self awareness
• Managing teams in time critical, high pressure environments
• Communicating clearly across roles, shifts and locations
• Handling conflict and difficult conversations
• Delegating effectively and building trust
• Planning, decision making and problem solving
• Coaching staff and supporting progression
• Delivering a real work based problem-solving project that benefits their employer

This is training that translates directly into better performance on the warehouse floor, in the transport office or on the loading bay.

Who the Bootcamps Are For

These Skills Bootcamps are ideal for:

• New or aspiring team leaders
• Warehouse supervisors
• Transport office coordinators
• Drivers progressing into leadership roles
• Existing managers seeking to refresh or strengthen their skills

Whether someone is stepping into leadership for the first time or preparing for the next stage of their career, the certificated programme provides the confidence and capability they need to succeed with the full support of their employer.

A Partnership That Strengthens the Local Workforce

The collaboration between us and Wiltshire Council ensures that the Bootcamps are:

• Employer aligned — shaped around the needs of local logistics businesses
• Flexible — designed to fit around operational demands
• Practical — focused on real world scenarios, not abstract theory
• Supportive — delivered by trainers with deep industry experience
• Impact driven — designed to deliver measurable improvements for employers

This partnership is helping Swindon & Wiltshire build a stronger, more resilient logistics workforce -ready for the challenges ahead.

Why This Matters for Swindon & Wiltshire

By investing in leadership development, our region benefits from:

• A more skilled and confident workforce
• Stronger succession planning for local employers
• Reduced recruitment pressures and staff turnover
• Improved productivity and operational performance
• Greater economic resilience across the logistics sector

These Bootcamps are not just training programmes — they are an investment in the long term success of Swindon & Wiltshire’s economy.

The Impact: Real Skills, Real Progression, Real Results

Employers who have engaged with the programme consistently report:

• More capable and confident team leaders
• Better communication across departments
• Improved staff morale and engagement
• Reduced operational errors
• Stronger team cohesion
• A clearer pathway for internal progression

For participants, the Bootcamps open doors to new responsibilities, new opportunities and to long term career growth.

To take advantage of this fantastic programme, please click here.

We are very proud to announce that we are the winner of the prestigious Diamond Distinction Award for the best Lift Truck Training Centre in Wiltshire 2026.

This award, which we were nominated for, recognises not only the high quality of our work but also our dedication to improving workplace safety standards.

The full press briefing is available here.

We are all immensely proud of the work we do here, so we were delighted to accept the award. It’s a testament to our wonderful staff and all the hard work and diligence that they all bring to their roles every day.

Thank you to them and to Diamond Awards for the beautiful crystal award itself – it’s so sparkly and has pride of place in our display cabinet!

It was our great pleasure to welcome the Sail Academy school onto site last month for our latest Insight Day.

These fantastic events are an absolute joy to host, and we love seeing the smiles on the young people’s faces who attend.

If you’re not familiar with Insight days (and Challenge days), they are a nationwide initiative to provide work experience for students in a unique and impactful way.

Instead of hosting one student for a week, they ask businesses to welcome a group of students for a single day, offering them a glimpse into the professional world and our industry.

Sail Academy pupils were our latest visitors, and they were invited to carry out some warehouse jobs, complete some challenges and to operate our forklift truck – something that always goes down well.

The headteacher said “We really appreciate you accommodating us again — the students thoroughly enjoyed their visit, and word has definitely spread, as even more of them are now keen to come next time!”

We love hosting them and we highly recommend them to any business who wants to share the passion you have for your industry with the next generation.  It’s our responsibility to inspire the next generation of potential employees, and it’s a brilliant opportunity to have a huge amount of fun at the same time.

Here’s looking forward to the next one in a few months’ time.

For more information of how forklift operating can help people into work, please click here for information on our Pathway to Employment

We are delighted to share with you that on Thursday 12th March, we will be celebrating the 8th year anniversary of our first course.

Since our last anniversary, we have been so proud of the number of new businesses we’ve been able to help, and we’ve also been privileged enough to book courses for some of our customers for the 8th year running.

We’ve also been immensely proud to have been able to have helped a huge number of delegates with our introduction of Skills Bootcamps, and we’ve successfully continued our partnership with New College, Swindon, for a second year.

This has helped us reach even more businesses in need, and those out of work or on low incomes attain skills that make them in demand in our region.

We’re so grateful to the loyalty of our customers – we have really built a strong bond of trust over the years, and we value every single one of them. It’s been so nice to see the same faces coming to us again and again for their refresher training, and we hope to be able to serve your needs for many years to come.

If you’d like to see what some of our customers think, then please visit our website and see their thoughts. 

For the year ahead, our focus will be on maintaining the highest standards of training, so all our customers have a great experience, providing more information to our customers via our website, and looking to expand our course range to include training that you’re asking us for.  If you have any courses that you’d like us to consider, please let us know and we’ll investigate if it’s possible.

Thank you to everyone who we’ve had the absolute privilege of working with over the last eight years.

We’re really excited about the future and will continue to stay true to our mission: to understand your needs and to support you, whoever you are, and whatever you need.

The family of a much-loved man have spoken of his ‘horrific’ death at work following the prosecution of his employer.

Chris Keegan was killed on 20 November 2023 while working for Hessle Plant Ltd as a delivery driver at its main depot in Castleford, West Yorkshire. Chris’ widow Dianne said: “Chris was a wonderful, kind and generous man, who would do anything he could for anyone. He especially did anything he could for me.

“My heart is broken, and I will never get over losing my husband in such a horrific way. He never deserved to die in such tragic circumstances.”

Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Keegan had been tasked with returning the forklift truck to a customer’s site in Sheffield following repair work to its transmission.

As he reversed the vehicle onto the trailer shortly after 6am, it fell from the side of the trailer bed. Mr Keegan was thrown from the seat and became trapped between the chassis of the forklift and a neighbouring trailer.

Mr Keegans wife and two of his stepdaughters arrived at the depot as the emergency services fought to save Chris’ life, but tragically his injuries proved fatal, and he passed away at the scene.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the forklift had not been subject to a full inspection to ensure it was safe to operate. Examination of the forklift by HSE after the accident found several other defects which should have been identified and rectified before it was operated.

The investigation found that whilst Hessle Plant Ltd would undertake a full pre-delivery inspection on forklift trucks being delivered to new customers, at the time of the accident the company did not do this for machines being returned to existing customers.

HSE also found that many of the company’s employees would rarely wear seatbelts when operating forklift trucks, and there was no system in place for monitoring and enforcing seatbelt use on site.

HSE guidance states that employers should ensure that work equipment – such as a forklift truck – has been properly maintained and inspected if necessary to ensure it remains in a safe condition to operate. HSE guidance also states that where seatbelts are fitted to a counterbalance forklift truck, they should be used.

Hessle Plant Ltd, of Carrwood Road Industrial Estate, Glasshoughton, Castleford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £433,550 and ordered to pay £8,146.80 in costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge as Leeds Magistrates’ Court on 26 November 2025.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector, David Beaton, said: “This was a tragic and preventable death. Mr Keegan was placed at undue risk by operating a machine with underlying maintenance defects, which he would have been unaware of when attempting to reverse the forklift in the dark onto a trailer with an exposed edge.

“Had Mr Keegan been wearing the seatbelt provided, the accident he suffered would likely not have proven fatal.

“Every year there are fatal accidents caused by machinery which has not been properly maintained or inspected, and forklift truck drivers not wearing seatbelts. This case should underline to all businesses, which hire out or operate forklift trucks, the importance of keeping machinery in efficient working order and ensuring the use of seatbelts by forklift drivers is appropriately supervised.”

To ensure everyone operating a forklift truck knows how to do so safely, ensure they receive high quality, accredited training with us today.  For a list of our forklift courses, please visit our website.

Our thoughts are with Chris’s family whilst they deal with the ongoing pain this awful incident.

With winter well underway, and forecasters predicting some cold weather to hit us, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published some great Information about how to keep yourself and employees safe in the cold weather.

Is there a minimum temperature a workplace must be?

The HSE say the minimum temperature for an indoor workplace should normally be at least 16°C or 13°C if the work involved rigorous physical effort.

As an employer it is your legal responsibility to protect workers from the cold and you must provide a reasonable indoor temperature in the workplace.

Here are practical steps you can take to keep people as comfortable as possible when working indoors in the cold:

• Provide adequate workplace heating, such as portable heaters, to ensure work areas are warm enough when they are occupied
• Provide rest facilities where necessary, eg for hot work or warm clothing in cold stores
• Provide heating systems which do not give off dangerous or offensive levels of fume into the workplace

When people are too cold

You can take these practical steps to keep people as comfortable as possible when working in the cold:

• Increase heating options if current ones are still insufficient to reach the minimum temperature
• Design processes that minimise exposure to cold areas and cold products
• Provide insulating floor coverings or special footwear when workers have to stand for long periods on cold floors
• Provide appropriate protective clothing for cold environments

You can also change work systems:

• Limit exposure by introducing systems such as flexible working patterns or job rotation
• Provide enough breaks to allow workers to get hot drinks or warm up in heated areas

What your workers think

Even if you think you have everything in place, what do your workers think?  Are they uncomfortable with the working conditions?

Are they still showing signs of discomfort?

This checklist will help you carry out a basic risk assessment of workplace temperatures, and it works for both cold and hot, so you could assess this throughout the year several times on days where extreme temperatures are likely to impact the workplace.

If you answer ‘yes’ to at least two of these questions you should assess the risks and find out how you can protect your workers.

Air temperature

• Does the air feel warm or hot?
• Does the workplace temperature change during a normal working day?
• Does the workplace temperature change a lot during hot or cold weather?

Radiant temperature

• Is there a heat source in the environment, for example machinery?
• Is there any equipment that produces steam?
• Is work being done outdoors?

Humidity

• Are your workers wearing personal protective equipment that allows air to flow through?
• Do your workers complain that the air is too dry?
• Do your workers complain that the air is humid?

Air movement

• Is cold or warm air blowing directly into the workspace?
• Are employees complaining of draughts?

Workers’ metabolic rate

• Is work rate moderate to intensive in warm or hot conditions?
• Are workers mainly seated in cool or cold environments?

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

• Is PPE being worn that protects against harmful toxins, chemicals, asbestos, flames, extreme heat etc?
• Can workers make changes to their clothing in response to high or low temperatures?
• Is respiratory protection being worn?

For the full list of managing temperature in the workplace, please see the full article.

So let’s all enjoy the winter weather as safely and as comfortably as possible.

You may remember that in July 2025 the Accrediting Bodies Association (ABA) announced that it will be updating workplace transport categories to ensure they remain useful.

These changes will officially take effect on January 19th, 2026.

The single most important takeaways are this: Certificates issued before 19/01/26 for categories that are being changed will remain valid, the RTITB website verification service will be updated, and you can request updated certificates for all categories where required except SP1 and M4.

There are some new categories being added, some categories being removed and so new training materials will be available to reflect these category changes. 

Who is affected?

These updates will be mandatory for all accrediting bodies, including RTITB. The changes will affect all of our materials handling equipment training paperwork, including certificates.

Why these changes matter to you

To remain compliant all training and testing should reflect the new categories from 19th January 2026.  We will ensure that when we carry out MHE training, we will use the new, compliant paperwork and your new certificates will reflect these new categories, so you can we certain that you will remain compliant as well.

If you are not sure, please give us a call and we’ll guide you through the changes.

As we come to the end of the year, we thought it might be nice to reflect on what an incredible year 2025 has been.

We wanted to focus this year on increasing the choice of courses available to our customers and improving our quality of delivery, and we believe that we’ve managed to achieve both of these goals.

Increased choice

This year, we have added new courses such as Personal Projective Training, Banksman training, Skills Bootcamps and Forklift Instructor training, all of which we are incredibly proud of.

These new courses enabled us to reach a wider audience, help more people in need, and to offer our customers more solutions for their business.

Focus on quality

We’ve been heavily focused on improving quality this year.

We moved premises in January, which has enabled us to improve the quality of the training areas, and the number of courses we can now run, and this has enabled us to keep the lead-times for bookings as short as possible, despite increased demand.

We had our regular quality audits throughout the year, which we passed with flying colours.  We had 3 RTITB audits this year (our annual accreditation, one for our move and one for our instructor training), and we’ve also regularly passed our AIM and Highfield quality assessments.

Additionally, we were delighted to have gained the Matrix Standard.  This incredible achievement documents how quality is embedded in everything we deliver and it enables businesses to identify training companies who take quality of delivery seriously.

Finally, we’ve become Cyber Essentials certified, to demonstrate how seriously we take protecting you and your data.

Here are some statistics from this year:

• Delegates trained – 345
• Certificates issued – 420
• Businesses worked with – 58

If you’d like to see what some of our customers think, then please visit our website and see their thoughts.

We want to thank each and every one of our delegates, customers and suppliers for making this such a wonderful year, and we look forward to working with you all in 2026.