Newport-headquartered outsourced services specialists Smart Solutions has launched a new division dedicated to driver recruitment and has appointed a services director to head up the specialist offering.

David Edwards joins Smart Solutions from Darren Bell Recruitment, with extensive experience in driving and logistics recruitment developed over 18 years in the industry.

Formerly based in Bristol and the south west, Mr Edwards has experience across the UK, supplying drivers through high street, multi-client branch networks and high volume on-site managed service operations. He has overseen driver recruitment for high-profile brands including DHL, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and DX Mail.

As driving services director, Mr Edwards leads the division, overseeing the recruitment, retention and deployment of Smart Solutions’ pool of drivers and identifying opportunities to develop the business’s presence in new sectors as a leading supplier of flexible driving staff.

The division currently supplies up to 140 drivers daily to clients in sectors ranging from waste and recycling to parcel delivery, construction and road haulage.

Two further appointments have also been made to support the day-to-day delivery of Smart Solutions’ driving service.

Daniel Puttick, 27, from Cardiff, formerly of ADR Network, joins as regional manager, overseeing the south west and South Wales. And Amjid Rafiq, 40, from Newport, has joined as recruitment consultant having previously worked for Driver Hire.

The development of the driver division is a key step forward in Smart Solutions’ ambitious expansion strategy. The company has experienced exceptional growth over the last 12 months, and the 2013-2014 financial year was its most successful to date, with a record turnover of £56 million.

Ieuan Rosser, managing director of recruitment services at Smart Solutions, said: “We are now able to capitalise on our expertise within the waste and recycling sector by providing waste collection drivers, meaning our national clients can be confident that Smart Solutions has the capability to fulfil all elements of their workforce needs.”

The driving division has been established on the back of a flurry of new contract wins for Smart, and in reaction to a UK-wide shortage of qualified drivers, a situation that has been exacerbated by regulations regarding driver CPC qualifications that came into effect in September 2014.