Building skills for the future: apprenticeships in action at Tiger Trailers

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, Jo Dawson-Gerrard from the RHA visited Tiger Trailers to see how apprenticeships are supporting skills development in trailer manufacturing - and to hear directly from apprentices and the team delivering the programme. 

Tiger Trailers currently has 19 apprentices on a structured engineering apprenticeship programme, ranging in age from 16 to 24. The scheme was introduced as a deliberate, long-term response to skills shortages, workforce planning and the need to retain capability within the business. 

One of those apprentices is Charlie, 19, who joined the company in September. 

“It’s surreal,” he says. “You’ll be driving past and think, ‘I helped build that.’ It’s something to be proud of.” 

Despite having no prior experience of the transport or trailer sector, Charlie has already worked on multiple stages of trailer builds and has seen vehicles completed from start to finish - an approach designed to give apprentices early insight into quality, safety and how the whole operation fits together. 

Tiger’s programme has been carefully designed with learning at its core. Apprentices rotate through different areas of the factory, supported by experienced supervisors and team leaders, and benefit from a dedicated on-site training bay alongside off-site college learning. 

For Tiger, the focus is clear: apprenticeships are about building future capability, not short-term fixes. 

“We haven’t taken apprentices on for what they can do now,” says HR Director Claire. “It’s about what they’re going to be able to do in the future.” 

The business is already seeing positive impacts - from strong retention to wider cultural benefits on the shop floor - and plans to repeat the programme with a new intake later this year. 

Apprentices like Charlie are clear about the value of the route. 

“I’d recommend an apprenticeship in this industry 1000%,” he says. “I’m already loving it.” 

Read the full feature 
A detailed case study on Tiger Trailers’ apprenticeship programme - including apprentice experiences and how the scheme was built - will appear in a forthcoming edition of Roadway.