And there it was - gone

Yesterday's announcement that B+E tests, commonly known as 'car and trailer' are to be scrapped and the requirement for B+E will be removed 'in September' - though as yet exactly when in September has not been disclosed.

Whilst watching trailer tests being carried out at Watnall I've seen plenty of people fail the test for failing to demonstrate a safe way to de-couple, and of course more importantly re-couple a trailer. A trailer of any description, be it horse, car, plant or even caravan coming adrift from the towing vehicle is no small concern and in my opinion at least this part of the test needed keeping in some format or another.

For my money the 'going backwards around a pole' exercise has always been pretty pointless for B+E as in reality there is no limit as to the number of times you can get out and check, and of course you can ask someone else to guide you back.

There will be trainers out there (myself included) who will continue to offer training that meets the needs of trainees - in some ways that is an improvement - we can tailor the training more specifically to the need and even use your vehicle combination to really personalise the course. How many choose to take that up of course is to be seen.

For me B+E training was a relatively small part of the business, one of the suit of industry related subjects I offer. However there are across the country many small businesses, often sole traders whose entire career has been built on offering the training to provide the B+E course and literally overnight have now had seen their business in the eyes of the DVSA deemed not necessary and are effectively as of yesterday out of work.

For companies I would suggest that B+E training will continue to be essential, even without a test as H&SaW legislation continues to require 'adequate training and supervision' - what constitutes 'adequate' of course is a matter of opinion.