A Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service driver trainer has passed a course to become the country’s first driving examiner trainer outside of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) or Ministry of Defence.
Rowan Kitton recently completed an intensive five-week course at the DVSA’s training centre in Cardington, Bedfordshire, and is now qualified to train emergency service examiners.
Rowan has worked as the service’s delegated driving examiner for over 10 years, testing numerous firefighters so they are able to drive fire appliances under emergency response conditions. He has also instigated innovative collaborative work with the DVSA to open Stone and Cannock Community Fire Stations as public driving test centres.
Rowan said, “Prior to me qualifying as an examiner trainer the DVSA and Ministry of Defence were responsible for providing training to emergency service examiners. Because of my close work with them [DVSA], they approached me to see if I would like to expand our collaborative working by training to become an examiner trainer and I gladly accepted this amazing opportunity.
“To say the course was a challenge would be an understatement. After thankfully learning that I had got through, I found that candidates only have a 15-20 per cent chance of passing! The responsibility of being an examiner trainer is huge so they really have to scrutinise my ability to pay close attention to detail and be methodical under pressure.
“I’m really pleased that I can now provide examiner training for all emergency services around the country, bringing exciting new revenue to the service’s Community Interest Company (CIC). I look forward to training the first examiners who will embark on a course with me in Staffordshire between May and June.”
