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"We have a serious lack of personnel." These are the words of Antonio Vázquez Olmedo, president of employers' associations Apetam and Fedintra, who speaks about a shortage of bus drivers in Malaga province. If there were enough trained professionals, up to 900 people would have a job in the province today, to cover the imminent high tourist season.
Although the employer admits that during the winter season the need for staff is lower, they would still have to work as the tachographs strictly set the daily driving hours and breaks. "We need to have at least one driver in the morning and one in the afternoon, and the buses often come to a standstill because there is no one to drive them," Vázquez Olmedo said. The same goes for goods trucks, he added.
The first stumbling block is getting a driving licence, which costs around 3,000 euros and requires at least six months of study. In addition, there are delays in taking the DGT exam, as well as the difficulty involved in obtaining the CAP (Certificate of Professional Aptitude), which is compulsory for all professionals who transport passengers and goods. "It is not an easy exam, you have to at least have an average level of knowledge and study," Vázquez Olmedo said.
Companies are committed to training their staff, but they encounter many obstacles, starting with the minimum age to start driving a bus, which is around 23 to 24 years old. "At that age, a person already has his or her working life in focus, has studied or is doing something else," Vázquez Olmedo said. "Spending 300,000 euros on a bus and not having anyone to drive it is hard," he added.
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