It’s been a long road but I’m happy to be an HGV refugee: Syrian driver on his new job and a new life in Scotland

Najed Al Sultan from Homs in Syria has learned to drive an HGV (Jamie Williamson)

HE left the war- ravaged Syrian city of Homs and a career as a truck driver in search of a better life for his family in Scotland.

And now Najed Khooder Al Sultan is set to be the first person to benefit from a new scheme to train the homeless and disadvantaged to drive trucks amid a crippling shortage of HGV drivers.

Scots hauliers and charities have teamed up for the initiative to get people trained up to drive vans in a bid to meet the boom in home deliveries from internet shopping.

It’s hoped the programme, which is underway in Ayrshire and about to launch in Edinburgh, will also be extended to veterans who have fallen on hard times.

More than half of all Scottish truck drivers are over the age of 50 and as they retire they are not being replaced with around 1500 new drivers needed each year for the next decade. Najed, who lives in Ayr with his wife and three children having arrived in the UK in March, said: “I left Syria with my family due to the war. Our experience of war was very upsetting for my wife and children

“I drove trucks, tractors, cranes, specialised vehicles and ships in Syrian and also Lebanon. I enjoyed the job and this is why I would like to get the opportunity to get my licence again.”

Geoff Campbell, of the Scottish Road Haulage group, said: “We face a major recruitment challenge as we are short of 11,000 skilled drivers in the HGV sector in Scotland. We have had an image problem for some time, it is a fine career and we need to sell it better.

Children pose on their cycles in front of a destroyed building in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, Syria. (Ahmet Sik/Getty Images)

“The routes into the trade have changed. Drivers used to take their kids with them on trips and it was an unofficial apprenticeship of sorts – that doesn’t happen anymore and links to younger people are lost.

“The figures are terrifying. We have only 2% of drivers under the age of 25, 1% are women and 3% are of an ethnic background, 55% are male, who are over the age of 50.

“We face an immediate challenge to the Scottish economy.” It is estimated road haulage is worth about £5bn to the Scottish economy.

The £3,000 HGV licence costs will be met by hauliers, charities and some Scottish Government funding.

Chic Brodie, the former SNP MSP for South of Scotland has been helping pull this project together, said: “Scotland’s economy desperately depends on its exports and imports and HGVs play a large part in this.

“The imminence of Brexit and the difficulties posed both by the loss of European drivers and the implication of the Customs union and border restrictions means we have to highlight the importance of a project like this.

“We are now talking also to veteran organisations and to those who are helping those in care rehabilitation to demonstrate how worthwhile and contributory such a transport career could be for them also.”

Niven Rennie, chief executive of South Ayrshire charity Seascape, which is helping Najed, said: “A major part of our plan is to provide hope and dignity.

“We hope the project will benefit our community and act as a foundation for similar activity across Scotland.”