Gary Benardout is founder and Chief Executive of HGVtraining.co.uk, the UK’s leading provider of specialist driver training. In this role Gary is responsible for the direction and growth of the company - starting out with just an idea, the business now employees 35 people and last year saw revenues hit £4.8m, with £7m projected this year. Gary has 12 years’ experience in the logistics sector. Since founding HGVtraining.co.uk in 2012, the company has grown substantially and is now the market leader - responsible for training 15% of the UK’s HGV drivers. Gary has also overseen its move into the recruitment sector and helped start up a now thriving sister company - ‘The HGV Recruitment Centre’ - which assists drivers who’ve qualified through www.HGVTraining.co.uk to locate jobs on completion of their course. Prior to www.HGVtraining.co.uk, Gary has run a series of successful enterprises, including a web-technology business which sold to News International in 2001. Gary used the skills obtained working in the online world to drive technology to the heart of what was an ‘old-fashioned’ industry. HGVtraining.co.uk now leads the HGV Training sector with bespoke CRM tools and a website that outranks the official .gov.uk sites for HGV Training and licence enquiries. Gary is passionate about lead generation and maximising sales opportunities. Under his watch, HGVtraining.co.uk now trains drivers for several of the EU’s largest logistics and retail companies. Gary believes the market is still relatively untapped and expects training for large corporations and consumers to continue rising. Gary believes the fast growth of the company can continue: ‘As online shopping continues to outstrip traditional retail models, more and more goods are being delivered to consumer’s homes and offices, continuously increasing the need for more trucks and more drivers. As an aging workforce retires, logistics companies are struggling to find qualified drivers to take their place. With the marketing prowess and the ability to train upwards of 1000 drivers at any one time, HGVTraining.co.uk is best placed to provide the personnel to fill this chronic shortage.’
