Inside the immersive simulator training Scotland's HGV drivers

This is the inside of an innovative simulator being used to train Scotland's HGV drivers.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) launched the simulator at their training centre in Bathgate in June this year as part of a wider project to address a skills shortage in the transport industry.

The RHA says that it is already acting to reduce training times for HGV and van drivers.

Equipped with a brake and accelerator pedals, indicators and a motion-simulator chair, the machine assesses how the driver responds to virtual road conditions. The software then generates a score card detailing how the driver performed during the assessment.

One of the RHA's training providers for the simulator, David Aitchison, said: "It picks up everything the driver does. We'll have ice patches on the road, falling objects due to wind - any winter scenario that we can possibly encounter in Scotland, we can put into this simulator"

The trade body aims to scale the number of drivers trained on the simulator in the coming year.

They hope its increased use brings environmental benefits as drivers using the simulator will be responsible for fewer carbon emissions than those training exclusively on the road.

Video by Alan Ritchie.