Last-minute bus rush for Driver CPC

Organisations offering Driver CPC training for truckers reported a last-minute rush as bus and coach drivers sought to record 35 hours of approved training before risking the loss of their vocational entitlement as last month’s deadline approached.

One trainer told Transport Operator: “Fortunately most of those who had delayed their training until the last week were old enough to hold the C1 truck licence by virtue of having passed their car tests many years ago, so they were eligible to go on the courses that we offer, most of which have been approved for LGV drivers only.”

Another said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. When booking, they had no interest in course content, they were just seeking to retain their entitlement.”

Transport Operator has been told of at least one bus driver undergoing a roping and sheeting course as it was the only one available which allowed him to complete his 35 hours of training on time.

Derek Broomfield, chairman of Essex-based Novadata, said: “Even though the transport industry has been working hard to make drivers aware of the need for Driver CPC and to obtain a Driver Qualification Card from the Driving Standards Agency, in the last couple of weeks we’ve had a sudden rush of coach drivers wanting training courses in time to meet the deadline.”

Nick Ingram, sales and business development manager at Green Lite in Gloucester said: “We had delegates not just from Gloucestershire, but also travelling in from neighbouring counties. It was a ridiculous level of demand.

“The reasons given for putting off training were interesting. Many drivers had decided to retire at the inception of Driver CPC, but had had a change of heart at the last minute.

“The oldest to present for training was 87 years old. He had 66 years of driving experience and did five days straight of training with me.

“We trained 20 drivers a day for the 20 days prior to the deadline, and most of them were bus and coach.”

All the training providers spoken to by Transport Operator agreed that the predominance of untrained drivers came from small coach companies – and the smaller the company, the more likely it was that the driver was having to organise and pay for his own training.

“It was around a 50/50 split,” Mr Ingram reported. “But the drivers paying their own way tended to come from the smallest companies: the ones running just two or three minibuses.

“On the other hand a number of employers are telling me that drivers are expecting to be taken on even though they don’t have the qualification. When told that they can’t legally work without it they are reportedly saying: ‘Oh well, I’ll go and work somewhere else then.’

“I would say that around 15 to 20 per cent of the drivers who came to us in September had genuinely no knowledge of the need to qualify until very recently. The problem with the rest was that most of the ‘canteen talk’ between drivers had been about how the legislation was never going to be enforced and so on.”

Sean Pargetter, director of EP Training in Surrey, said that the number of trainees had increased by about 50 per cent in the first week of September, with all the increase coming from the bus and coach sector.

“And we are predominantly a truck trainer, 80 per cent of our courses are freight,” he pointed out.

“The coach companies were struggling to find their drivers places on relevant courses with specialist passenger sector trainers and were coming to us.

“As a general rule, the smaller the bus and coach company, the less they had done about it before the deadline,” he said. “We had people coming in for five days solid training, starting on September 9.”

Mr Pargetter thinks that the last-minute panic is just a fraction of what will be experienced next September, when the freight deadline falls.

“Most truck operators have 10 or less trucks, so they are far more like the very small end of the bus and coach sector which we know were the most ignorant of or resistant to training. There are far more of them then there are of coach and bus operations of a similar size.”

Mr Ingram highlights the fact that many truck operators may be completely ignorant of the facts.

“Gloucester is in the heart of a rural area, but so far I have only trained one farmer with a truck and one lady with a horse box. Most farmers think they are exempt, which they are if they are only carrying material for use around the farm. But if they use a truck to take produce or animals for sale, for example, then they will need the qualification.”

He also raised the question of some of the large truck fleets who hoped to train their own drivers in-house as the big bus companies have done, pointing out that some had been unable to keep up with employee ‘churn’ and were having to turn to external sources to train some new recruits.

Mr Ingram intends to operate a 24-hour training operation as the truck deadline approaches.

“We’ll offer seven hours of training anywhere within a 24- hour period to suit operation needs, and we will deliver it in the workplace.

“But it is going to cost. At the moment our price for a sevenhour course is £75, including uploads and lunch. For next September it’s going to be £100, minimum.”

 The problem of people who drive trucks but don’t consider themselvers to be truck drivers is also highlighted by Mr Broomfield.

“It’s pretty obvious that if you are a coach driver, you’ll have to comply with this new legislation. But we have bigger fears for people who drive vehicles exceeding 3.5 tonnes who don’t really see themselves as truck drivers, but as part of another trade.

“Window fabricators, builders merchants, roofers, scaffolders, outside caterers, removal experts and a host of other trades may not realise that this legislation could apply to them. Some may be exempt, but if they ever deliver materials for other people to use, not to use themselves, then they will need to complete Driver CPC and obtain a Driver Qualification Card in order to drive legally from 10 September next year.

“Sadly we’re finding most are not aware of this, because they don’t read the transport press or use truck stops – so they just haven’t heard about it.”

Mr Pargetter suggests that truck drivers and operators consider finalising their training needs now.

“At the moment, with the bus deadline passed, there is surplus training capacity. But the problems faced by the bus and coach drivers this year will be much more for truck drivers next year.”

The Driver CPC deadline for freight vehicle drivers is 10 September 2014. By this date all commercial drivers of Category C and C+E vehicles must hold a Driver Qualification Card. Drivers who passed their test in the past four years can only acquire this by examination: passing modules two and four of the Category C test.

Drivers who held a Category C or C + E prior to the inception of the Driver CPC on 10 September 2009 must have completed 35 hours of approved training by that date. All bus and truck drivers must maintain their qualification by taking 35 hours of approved training every five years.