British Truckers Abroad

Just an update on the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) which comes into effect next week.

The Driver CPC legislation comes into force in the UK from September 2009 and it requires drivers to undertake 35 hours of periodic training over five years.
Legislation to underpin the Driver CPC will be in place by 22nd March 2007 and the Driver CPC for LGV drivers must be implemented by 10 September 2009.
Driver CPC applies to drivers of vehicles on roads open to the public and for which a driving licence in any of the following categories is required:

i. C1, C1 + E, C or C + E
ii. D1, D1 + E, D or D + E

All drivers of the above categories who are either:
i. nationals of an EU member state or
ii. nationals of a non-EU member state but who are employed or used by an organisation based in an EU member state
will have to hold Driver CPC if they wish to drive professionally.

Both the initial qualification and periodic training will be based on the same syllabus.

The syllabus has three main subject areas. These are:
1. Advanced training in rational driving based on safety regulations
2. Application of regulations
3. Health, road and environmental safety, service, logistics

Periodic training should revise and expand on the subjects and should suit the needs of the driver at that time.
For the initial qualification, a test plan has been developed that shows in which module the various syllabus areas will be tested.

All professional vocational drivers must undertake periodic training in order to maintain their Driver CPC.

Drivers will have to complete a minimum of 35 hours of approved training every 5 years. Each training course must be of a minimum length of 7 hours, with the 7 hours being defined as contact time with the trainer. Each training course must be delivered within a 24 hours period.
All training must be taken with an approved training centre and on an approved training course. Records of training taken by drivers will be kept centrally.
All approved training centres and training courses will be subject to audit and approval may be withdrawn if it is found that centres or courses are not complying with the approval criteria.

Drivers who are deemed to hold Driver CPC by acquired rights must complete their periodic training within 5 years of the introduction of Driver CPC:
i. for PCV licence holders, by 10 Sept 2013.
ii. for LGV licence holders, by 10 Sept 2014.

Drivers who gain their Driver CPC by completing the initial qualification must complete their first cycle of periodic training within 5 years of the date they acquired their Driver CPC.
Drivers who do not maintain their Driver CPC, i.e. because they leave the industries, but who want to start working as a professional driver again, must complete 35 hours of periodic training in order to regain their Driver CPC. They must complete the training before they can resume working professionally.

Drivers holding both lorry and bus and coach licence entitlement will only be required to complete 35 hours of approved training every 5 years.

Also read here article by roadtransport dot com

So what worldly wisdom are we going to be taught? Another load of old gonads. Evermore BS from Brussels. So we'll enforce it to the letter of the law. In Greece, Italy, Portugal & our new Eastern friends will do what? Write out abit of paper & say "yes sir i did it"....

more eu bolloks !!
but if you work for a french german italian or spanish firm you dont have to have it because their govt have said we are not going to implement it because its too expensive and means nothing

Now if we actually had a Government with any 'clout', they could say to these at port of entry ; "If you aint got the CPC, then you aint driving on our roads.... drop the trailer and we'll get a 'qualified driver ' along to finish the job for you! Yeah that will happen wont it
Like we all know ... its a load of B'X and it seems most EU Governments know this .. sadly once more we all toe the line and the others?? just laugh
Hey Ho

your right jonka but it would be nice if the govt got some nuts and told the brussels lot the same as the others have "stuff it "we arnt doing it
but no if the eu say it the uk must do it

Whether your French, Italian, German, Czech or other its does not matter I don't know where you have been reading this but all member countries are governed by this, there is no opt out. There may have been voices made from countries that do not have quite the high standards of literacy has ours, but if they cannot understand the basics of road safety then in my opinion they should not even be on our roads or their own for that matter.

But more to the point 99.9% of today's drivers are not going to be affected by this until 10th September 2014 anyway, if you hold a UK drivers licence with the apropriate qualification on the 10th Sept 09 then you and any other foreign driver have acquired rights up to 2014. If you don't or pass your test after this date then you will need the 'driver qualification card'. So really there would be no point in stopping all freight at the port of entry until 11th Sept 2014, when if what you read or heard is correct under the new powers VOSA have, then the vehicles could be impounded until qualified drivers are sought.

I have been actively involved in our company in the CPC training schedule our first bunch of 4 drivers go on their initial 7 hour course in October, we as a company accept we have a responsibility to them in appreciation of their loyalty to us as a company therefore we have decided to bear the cost of the courses. But most importantly this is not a test, there is no exam to pass or fail purely specific modules of information (a refresher course if you like) and each session is notified under your driver no to a central database and once you have completed 35 hours before 2014 you will then be issued with a driver qualification card on 10th Sept 2014, it really is no big deal!

I have heard many drivers over the years moaning that we do a really skilled job but we're not recognised for it, well if you look at it from another prospective we will all now be recognised as we will hold a 'Driver Certificate of Professional Competence'. And as an ex driver we all like to think we know it all (including myself sometimes ) but believe me I have seen some extracts from the company doing this for us and believe even I will learn something from it.
Yes I too am on the first course after all its always handy to keep that Class1, HGV or LGV or whatever you want to call it, in your back pocket.

I hope that many of you will also work for companies that support their workforce in taking up the costs of the scheme. And you know I have to say, judging by some posts on here there really are a lot of British companies who it would appear treat their drivers a lot better than some Canadian companies. nudge,nudge,

Trev

Finland told em to stuff the WTD... Said it was unworkable in their country. Now that is a real load of crap.

Probably right why would they want to enter the 'Working time directive' and increase their working week?
They are well below the UK & EU average

Average working hours per week

United States - 46.0
Austria — 42.4
UK — 42.4
Latvia — 42.2
Estonia — 41.0
Switzerland — 41.0
Spain — 40.9
Greece – 40.7
EU average — 40.5
Germany — 40.3
Portugal — 40.1
Luxembourg — 40.0
Cyprus — 39.9
Sweden — 39.9
Denmark — 39.4
Italy — 39.3
Finland — 39.2
France — 39.1
Belgium — 39.0
Netherlands — 38.9
Norway — 38.6
*Based on 2007 stats

Mods, sorry to take this off topic please move if you wish.

Trev

firstly all companys have to pay the cost of the training because it is the law that you must have it
secondly the countrys i mentioned dont need an opt out they just tell the eu they arnt doing it and thats it not like our spinless govt

I don't wish to keep going on all over this again but Im afraid gix you are wrong, the 'driver CPC' is your responsibility it as part of your licence (or will be after 2014), without it you wont get a job. It is cheaper to participate in a group course organised by your company but there is no pressure on the company to pay for it, indeed I Know of 2 company's who are charging their drivers a monthly deduction from their wages by agreement.
As for the other countries not doing it as you say, then great that's fine by me and no doubt many others cause there wont be any foreign drivers or trucks on British roads after Sept 2014 will there, YIPPEEE!
More work for British truckers hey

The CPC forms part of your licence not the companies, if you leave you take your licence & CPC with you, that's yours.

So in a nutshell if your company doesn't want to organise this for you you will eventually have to sort it yourself, there will be lots of training company's doing this but individually you will pay more.
Please read the extract below, taken from official docs on my work pc.


Apologies if im boring some of you.

Trev

Ireland?

"Nil Pwoint!"

If you are an owner/driver & hold your own national & international CPC do you still need to do the driver CPC as well?


You certainly do. Although I think there may be a different time limit for owner/operators though?

Yes alandoug I am afraid you will need the two.