VTCT Skills

Nineteen-year-old Jessica Holden, a truck driver hailing from Bury, is poised for a bright future in logistics following her outstanding performance in the LGV driver apprenticeship program with our partners TRS. Employed by MJ Laycock Heavy Haulage Ltd, a family-operated business specialising in transporting paper-making machinery, Jessica embodies a spirited determination for independence.

Raised on her family’s farm, Jessica developed a strong work ethic and a fondness for outdoor endeavours from a young age. To support herself during her school years, she took on various weekend jobs, including washing trucks at MJ Laycock Heavy Haulage. Recognising her diligence, owner Matthew Laycock offered Jessica a position in the office, and later, in August 2022, extended her an apprenticeship opportunity as an HGV driver, facilitated by TRS.

Without hesitation, Jessica embraced the offer, fuelled by a passion for a career offering the autonomy she craved. With a penchant for solitude and self-sufficiency, the world of professional truck driving resonated perfectly with Jessica’s aspirations, aligning harmoniously with her desire for independence.

Inspiration to women considering HGV careers:

To no one’s surprise, Jessica applied herself wholeheartedly to her apprenticeship, working hard to achieve her HGV Class 1 licence and complete all the modules on her course. She received support throughout from her TRS trainer, Gary Thompson who says: “Jessica is amazing! Such a hard worker with the right values and approach to work and life. She thoroughly deserves her distinction and is a truly inspirational role model to any young woman considering a career as an HGV driver”.

Apprenticeship providing broader logistics knowledge

Jessica says: “My apprenticeship with TRS has given me my licence which is invaluable to my career. Not only that, but it also provided me with broader knowledge about the logistics industry which I wouldn’t have been able to pick up just from my job. For example, at MJ Laycock Haulage, we specialise in delivering paper-making machinery.  It’s certainly an art form to secure these loads for transportation; we use specific cranes, knots and covers. My manager Matthew has taught me these expert skills and my apprenticeship has taught me about securing other types of loads that I don’t get a chance to deal with in my job.”

Community spirit and camaraderie

Jessica represents a growing cohort of young women opting for careers in logistics. Her determination to debunk any lingering stereotypes suggesting that lorry driving isn’t suitable for women is palpable: “There’s no reason why women can’t do this job. If you’re a female who likes driving and spending time alone, then I would say go for it! The solo nature of driving certainly appeals to me. And to break up long distances, there are always truck stops which offer community spirit and camaraderie with fellow truck drivers.”

Progression to Transport Manager

Now that Jessica has completed her LGV apprenticeship, she contemplates the possibility of pursuing a transport management apprenticeship down the line. With her background as a farmer’s daughter, her ultimate aspiration is to operate livestock and feed wagons in the future. In the meantime, she eagerly anticipates driving the company’s wagons to various truck shows across the country soon.

I lead the operations department at CLOUD NINE, which includes a number of different areas, such as:

Supply Chain: Forecasting, procurement, inbound shipments from the Far East to multiple global locations (UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand)

Logistics: Managing the third party warehouses in UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand for inbound, storage, fulfilment and delivery activities

Warehousing: Managing the onsite warehouse for personalised product and return management

Product: New product development and sourcing as well as continuous improvement of current products

Customer Experience: Dealing with customer queries and optimising the customer purchasing/returns journey

Compliance: Ensuring legal compliance and best practise for all products and operations in all territorie

Sustainability: Ensuring we minimise the impact on the environment

No specific qualifications were listed on the job advert that I applied for, as experience was key, but I am a graduate of the University of Greenwich, where I studied Business, Logistics and Transport Management. I found my role on LinkedIn, where a recruiter reached out to me, and I was attrected to it as it was a larger remit than my previous role but the fundamental basic were the same. I felt this role was the right balance between being confident and using my experience, whilst at the same time growing my experience in other areas, such as customer experience and compliance. My role has helped me to develop my skills in problem solving, data analysis and in developing a continuous improvement mindset.

The best thing about my role is the variety of tasks at hand – one minute I could deal with our supplier in Korea regarding an issue of how to get our product compliant in Saudi Arabia, then the next minute, I have to call a customer in New Zealand because they are unhappy about a delivery and has been escalated it to me, then I jump on a call with a warehouse in Europe to discuss how to label the next order for a new retail client in Germany. This can also be the worst part of my role, when I want to concentrate on one thing, rather than on lots! It is hard to pin down a career highlight…so I’m going to choose two. I created and implemented the first-of-its-kind European two-person home delivery network, with full end to end tracking visibility, for Wayfair. I also extended CLOUD NINEs logistics portfolio from a single UK-based onsite warehouse to a global footprint with third party warehouses located in UK, EU, Australia and New Zealand. A particular highlight of this was the first Black Friday in the UK – the year before it took 10 days to fulfil all Black Friday orders – with a partner in logistics, we managed to have all orders delivered by Sunday!