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Buyers' guide to...

Driver CPC

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    Commercila Motor Buyers' Guide

What's in the Driver CPC Buyers’ Guide?

  • Driver CPC: step-by step
  • What the law requires
  • Exemptions – who can get away with not taking the Driver CPC?
  • Developing a driver training strategy in your haulage business
  • The compliance approach to Driver CPC
  • The improvement approach – using Driver CPC to improve drivers’ performance
  • Choosing a training provider and courses – don’t get ripped off by choosing the cheapest Driver CPC provider
  • Training outside the classroom
  • Driver CPC training costs
  • In-house driver CPC training
  • Record keeping – keeping DQCs up to date and what happens if it is lost
  • Staff retention
  • Coping in 2014

Why should you read the Driver CPC buyers' guide?

Almost one third of all UK lorry drivers could be taken off the roads on 10 September 2014 if they have not clocked up 35 hours of training and qualified for their Driver’s CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence).

Driver CPC training takes less than a week to complete, and can be spread across five years, but progress so far is so poor that late last year the Freight Transport Association (FTA) was moved to issue a stark warning.

Assuming that drivers should have seven hours of training in each of the five years, the FTA calculated that training was being delivered at only half that rate. “...we predict there could be as much as a 30% shortfall in the number of legally qualified drivers of heavy goods vehicles before 2014,” warned the FTA.

The consequences of failing to meet the deadline are serious. There is no honeymoon period. Drivers who have not completed the requisite 35 hours of training by 10 September 2014 will be unlicensed and will be taken off the road if they are stopped by the authorities. The trucks they were driving will only be released to drivers who can show both the appropriate licence and their driver’s CPC card.

And worse still, both the operator and driver will be liable for prosecution for using the vehicle without a valid licence… and insurance cover may be invalidated, too.

This is a ticking time-bomb. Traffic Commissioners are already questioning operators about driver CPC (DCPC) training when driver conduct is raised at Public Inquiries. The subject is not going to go away. This is pan-European legislation (European directive 2003/59/EC) and applies to bus and coach drivers too – their five-year training period started a year ahead of goods vehicle drivers’ and ends in September 2013.

Are you lagging behind with your drivers’ training? Our Buyers’ Guide on Driver CPC will give you a quick snapshot at everything you need to do to make sure you and your drivers avoid prosecution.

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