Driver agencies are calling for the sector to be closely governed after a shortage of consultants revealed a worrying lack of understanding of legislation, which includes driving time and licence controls. Agencies believe this could have fatal consequences.

Dean Hewitt, divisional director of Gap Personnel, told Recruiter: "It's impossible to recruit consultants from within the industry who have a good understanding of the legislation which governs it, such as the Working Time Directive, drivers hours' and licences.

"Currently anyone can run in this sector and it's worrying. It's going to take something like a series of fatalities for someone to take notice — like it did with the Gangmasters' Licence."

Hewitt believes driver agencies need to have a legal stamp of approval and regular audits by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), which governs the way in which haulage and logistics companies operate.

Mike Cooper, director at Best Connection, agrees: "There is a marked shortage of good consultants. We find that consultants from our competitors come to us with little knowledge, and that is why we developed our own training courses.

"Agencies were at their best when they were regulated; now there is nobody with teeth to monitor them, but to do it properly there would need to be funding."

This view is shared by Premier Placement Services' Andrew Horner, who is also head of the REC's driving sector group. He told Recruiter that the shortage of knowledgeable consultants also extends to the commercial and industrial sectors.

"We would love every agency to be licenced, like in the past, and to have all our files checked annually. We wish VOSA would get involved but it all comes back to cost."

Recruiter contacted VOSA to see if auditing driver agencies was on the cards; however, at the time of going to press the agency was unable to comment.