Army puts blowtorch on driver training

Photo / Wairarapa Times-Age

The Army has instigated a court of inquiry into allegations its driver training programme is putting lives at risk by allowing insufficiently skilled soldiers to drive heavy vehicles.

Greg McQuillan, a driving instructor employed by the Army 18 months ago, said yesterday that he had become alarmed by what he had seen while working for the Driver Training Wing at Linton Army Base near Palmerston North.

Mr McQuillan alleged recruits were being given licences to drive heavy vehicles despite making serious errors during tests, including running a stop sign.

He also claimed other instructors were passing recruits without having seen them tested.

The Commander of Land Training, Colonel Paul van Den Broek, told One News yesterday that he had instigated a court of inquiry "to determine the validity of those concerns and allegations".

However, he had "every confidence in our driver training programme and the measures we have in place to ensure the appropriate procedures and practices are being conducted".

Colonel van Den Broek said the programme was already subject to independent review by the Qualifications Authority and the Transport Agency.

Eight Defence Force personnel have lost their lives in the past 16 years in accidents involving the Army's Unimog trucks. Three were killed when one of the heavy 4WD vehicles left the road and plummeted into the Kawarau River in Central Otago in 2005.

The year before, two soldiers died when a Unimog plunged almost 400m off Banks Peninsula near Christchurch.

A 2005 review ordered by Army chief Major General Jerry Mateparae found most accidents in military vehicles were caused by errors made by drivers under 25, and suggested additional training and supervision.

However, in 2006 an 18-year-old soldier was killed when the Unimog in which he was a passenger rolled near Blenheim, leaving the 19-year-old driver disabled with spinal injuries.

The coroner's inquest into that accident also urged the Army to review its driver training and vehicle maintenance programmes.