CM received a call from a driver last week who, five and a half years after the Driver CPC legislation came into effect on 10 September 2009, has still not completed his mandatory 35 hours of training.
The driver in question seemed stunned that, when pulled over by DVSA enforcement officers, he was hit with a £300 fine for being unable to demonstrate that he had completed the training before last year’s 10 September deadline. He said the training sessions he had attended had not taught him anything more than what he had learnt over his 30 years as a truck driver.
Drivers who are not able to produce a Driver Qualification Card on request can receive a £50 on-the-spot fine. Repeat offenders, including operators that fail to ensure their drivers have the required qualification, can be hit with a maximum fine of £1,000.
Offences can also be referred to the traffic commissioner, which could put the driver's and/ or operator's licence at risk. Last year North East TC Kevin Rooney curtailed an operator's licence for two weeks to allow its drivers to undertake training. He also disqualified its transport manager indefinitely.
TC Joan Aitken has suggested that, if called to a public inquiry, operators must be able to demonstrate their commitment to Driver CPC training. She said they may be more at risk of having their O-licence curtailed or suspended if they do not have a clear plan in place, such as a timetable of training for all drivers to meet the deadline.
The Driver CPC may not always be popular among drivers and operators, but it's here to stay and operators now have until 10 September 2019 to ensure all of their drivers have completed their next 35 hour block of training. Commercialmotor.com has compiled a handy buyers' guide, which gives operators advice on choosing the right Driver CPC training course for their drivers and breaks down exactly what the law requires in terms of meeting their driver training requirements.
