Barker Gotelee

10th September 2009 is “D-Day” for the “Driver CPC” for commercial drivers of goods vehicles.  Driver CPC means Driver Certificate of Professional Competence; it came into force in the passenger sector on 10th September last year.  In brief, it involves greater training for all commercial drivers when applying for a driving qualification for the first time and for those who wish to keep their existing driving rights.

The rules apply to every driver engaged in commercial operations.

Unless businesses have already addressed this they must do so immediately - those drivers affected are ones who drive buses, coaches, minibuses, and any vehicle over 3.5 tonnes.  The following driver categories are affected:  D, D1, DE and D1E (passenger) and C, C1, CE and C1E (goods vehicles).

Some drivers are exempt from having to apply for a Driver CPC qualification.  Some important examples of exemptions are the non commercial carriage of passengers/goods (i.e. personal use) or where a driver is carrying goods they use for their work, so long as the driver is not primarily a driver (e.g. scaffolders, builders, etc).

Drivers who have existing driving entitlements before 10th September 2009 (10th September 2008 for passenger sector) will only maintain their qualifications if they have completed 35 hours of periodic training by September 2014 (2013 for passenger sector).  Training is given at locations throughout the country at approved locations, often “in-house”.  The periodic training is given in minimum blocks of 7 hours.  If the training is not undertaken by the deadline then  the qualification will cease and the driver will be unlicensed (and no doubt uninsured).  There is no practical test for those already qualified by the 10th September deadlines.

If a driver does not already hold licence entitlements by the 10th September 2009 (or 2008) then new driver qualification tests (theory and practical) will have to be taken.

The benefit of this new scheme is that for the first time professional drivers will be forced to receive continuing mandatory training in all aspects of commercial driving, e.g. tachographs, road safety, driving skills, vehicle safety, etc.

Many readers who passed their driving test before January 1997 will already hold entitlements to drive commercial vehicles, e.g. vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes (albeit they may seldom do so, e.g. hiring a van for a house removal).  Such drivers may drive vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes either commercially or privately but they will lose any such right for business driving unless the periodic training has been carried out by the 2014 deadline.

This is an area of driving licence compliance which could easily “slip through the net” unless businesses are alert to it and act.

Tim Ridyard

© Barker Gotelee