Keeping Training Friendly & Simple

Bringing you another of my recent Earthmovers Magazine articles to life here on the internet with alternative photos and video.

For many of us involved in operating machines, the renewal of the CPCS (Plant Operator Card Scheme) ticket every 5 years has become a bit of a recurring nightmare scenario and something that is a contentious topic of conversation in many a site canteen across the country.

Of course, training in the safe use of plant and equipment, practices and health and safety requirements is essential in our industry, but what seems to upset most people I talk too is the way the goalposts are moved every 5 years, with more and more hoops to jump through to get your ticket, and of course the costs involved, especially for those who are self-employed.

Looking for a better and generally more pleasant experience this time around, following a number of recommendations from some industry friends, I made contact with Neil Coram of Coram Construction Training, whose dedicated training facility is located nestling in the glorious Somerset countryside in Yeovil, close to the village of Montacute.

With everything lined up test wise, I was keen to find out more about Neil, the facility and the courses they run.

Neil grew up on a farm and not surprisingly went on to work in the agricultural sector with a strong emphasis on machinery and plant, he had also always fancied becoming a digger driver but that opportunity never arose in those early days, however, he was always to be found around the kit.

He then went on to agricultural college, to study agricultural engineering, and following that in 2001 he joined the military, signing up for the Royal Engineers as a plant operating mechanic, and undertook his basic training at the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham, Kent. From here he was eventually dispatched overseas for a tour of duty in Hamelin, in Germany, where he became an A1 level plant operator within the Army, with tours of Iraq and Cyprus to follow in addition to further training exercises within the UK.

In 2005/6 he left the army and decided to put his militarily acquired skills to good use by going into training, taking up a training role at Duchy College, down at their Rosewarne facility in Cambourne, Cornwall. Following that assignment, Neil went on for a training company based in Wiltshire largely undertaking NVQ courses.

Neil originally started working at this current site in Yeovil back 2010 as an employee for the business Windmill Agri Training, but with the impact of the recession the owners scaled back on the training side of things, however, Neil bought the contract to run courses, and in 2015 he became a partner in Civil Skills Plus, which eventually became Coram Construction Training as it is known today.

Windmill still run agricultural courses and Neil still rents the land and buildings from the farmer for the Coram Training side which works well for both parties.

Today Neil is the sole owner of the business and they own and run all their own plant and equipment which is utilised on the training ground areas, which includes a dedicated street-works/chapter 8 area, lifting tower for telehandler courses, ramps and obstacle courses, as well as a dedicated digging area, for trenching and grading practice work.

Pictured above: Louie Coram (Left) Neil Coram (Right)

The vast majority of machines in the fleet have been supplied by M&M Plant (Devon and Cornwall) Ltd, and consist of CASE and Wacker Neuson excavators and site dumpers. These include a 13-tonne class CASE CX130D, 6-tonne class CX57C and a Wacker Neuson EZ26 the 2.5 tonne class zero tailswing offering, a Wacker Neuson DV60 dual view 6-tonne dumper and a 3-tonne class DW30 swivel skip dumper.

Other kit includes a Bomag 120 ride on vibratory roller, a JCB 416 wheeled loading shovel, JCB 533-105 telehandler, and a Volvo A20 ADT some specialist pieces of kit are hired in for training as and when required. Courses are also conducted here for 180^o backhoe loaders, tracked dumpers, and hook loaders.

In terms of agricultural/construction crossover kit on site, this includes a Massey Ferguson 5470 tractor, JPM 14TMP 14-tonne multi-use dump trailer, grass topper attachment, and a Nissan 18 counterbalance fork lift truck.

Coram Construction Training’s main customer is Wessex Water for whom they provide specialist confined space training, which is conducted inside some impressive and specially constructed shafts, chambers and tunnels on site. They are also trained in deep excavation shoring techniques which are conducted at another site in nearby Langport.

They have also conducted a lot of confined space training here for the massive Hinkley Point C power station project in Somerset and Neil said that virtually every employee on that project who has been going down the tunnels within that job site will have been trained at the Coram facility, which is quite a prestigious thing to have on the companies CV.

Ranges in age for attendees of the various courses held here, can be anything from 16 years old to 65+ although there have been some younger school age individuals come through for health and safety courses.

Neil’s own son Louie who is only 12 years old, is already very keen on the machine operating and is in the perfect place to hone his skills under supervision, which he was doing on the day of Earthmovers site visit on the CX130D.

History tells us that learning on a machine is much better when done from a young age, and it was great to see a super enthusiastic lad like Louie in the machine doing his thing, and from what I saw of his skills on the day, I’m sure a career in machine operating beckons for him.

The vast majority of individuals who come to the Coram Training facility are locally based, but on the odd occasion they come from further afield like South Wales, and during a recent tractor course Neil said that a bunch of guys came all the way from Norfolk, as somewhat incredibly with Bircham Newton right on their doorstep, they had to travel to do their CPCS touch screen test there because during the Covid period Coram were the only facility able to offer the service.

Other local civil engineering companies that use this facility for their training requirements include CJL Construction Ltd, Tithegrove Limited, England Civils & Groundworks, K & J Hodge Contractors Ltd, and many other smaller businesses.

Neil is supported on the training front by highly experienced former groundworker Stuart Hoddinott, who runs a lot of the plant training, deep excavation, confined spaces and street-works courses, he is also joined on the team by Guy Measures who undertakes the telehandler training courses. While office and admin duties are undertaken in the capable hands of Becky and Kim.   

CPCS touch screen testing is undertaken at the centres dedicated IT suite which is located next to the classroom area in the same building.

In addition to the CPCS testing and courses Coram Construction Training also runs dedicated NPORS (National Plant Operator Registration Scheme) courses and training and NVQ’s to support the card scheme, one of which I need to complete for my latest renewal as I have been a card holder since 1996 and have never held an NVQ since those days.

I have to say, having felt somewhat abused and made to feel like a criminal at some of the test centres I have attended to renew my card over the years, completing the exercise at this facility was like a breath of fresh air, it was all conducted in a very professional manner, but in a kind of laid back, friendly and relaxed way, and a real credit to the team at Coram.