In April of last year, in a bid to help combat its driver shortage, Italy announced a so-called ‘Driving license Bonus’.
The scheme offers persons under the age of 35 a voucher that covers up to €2,500 of the cost of training to be a HGV driver. This is believed to be equal to an 80% discount on training for anyone interested in becoming a lorry driver.
The government allocated €3.7 million for 2022 on top of 5.4 million per year from 2023 to 2026 in order to fund the scheme.
As the screenshot below on the Italian Transport Ministry’s website shows, the allocated funds for training in 2023 have already been exhausted.
Photo: patentiautotrasporto.mit.gov.it screenshot
According to reports in Italy, applications for the subsidised training fund opened as recently as a week ago. Therefore, the entire €5.4 million fund for 2023 has already gone.
Those who want to take advantage of the scheme will now need to wait another year to benefit from the state training subsidy.
Attribution: Kleszczu at pl.wikipedia
