More DCPC training bollocks

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
101

Castillidie:
For what it’s worth I do think the DCPC is a good idea in theory, however it has been organised in a ■■■■ poor way.

On going training can only be a good thing but when you can do the same course 5 times to get the 35hours then it makes a mockery of the whole system.

I initially thought that too, but I’ve changed my mind,

I once was on a drivers hours course, only about 7 of us, pretty much all the others had next to non to little knowledge of the regs, various reasons, new drivers, returning drivers, last resort driver at their family firm… etc

The 1 day wasn’t enough, not even close, I’d think they would have benefited from doing the exact same course the following 2 days to give it a chance to sink in, then probably again in a year or 2. The same as I think anyone who struggles veith the regs would probably be best served by doing drivers hours once a year.

I know I’m in a minority, but I think it’d be madness that they couldn’t repeat that course, even if that’s the only one they do. It’d be far more beneficial than doing some of the more ■■■■■■■■ ones, like the winter driving module i did, which can be summed up in,
if it’s raining, slow down
If it’s snowing, slow down
If it’s icey, slow down
If it’s foggy, slow down.
It was a pitty as I thought it may involve some practical advice on how to actually drive and get yourself out of the ■■■■ in the snow, I had my few tips lined up, but no!

I’d love it to be tested, but properly tested, genuine pass / fail, but I can’t see it ever happening for the fear of the fail rate. I’d also go further and say each body / trailer type you’d need to be signed off on. I know I’ll get laughed at for that, but I think it’d be great for the wages, look at plant, loads of different tickets, you can’t just rock up and get on the D12!

102

Good thinking stevieboy.

103

I can see where you’re coming from, but if you’re on £8.20 an hour paying for your own cpc and having a day off unpaid to do it you’re not going to do very well out of it. It’s ok saying wages would go up, but you could go skint riding out the storm. Not everyone has lots in reserves.

104

Castillidie:
For what it’s worth I do think the DCPC is a good idea in theory, however it has been organised in a ■■■■ poor way.

On going training can only be a good thing but when you can do the same course 5 times to get the 35hours then it makes a mockery of the whole system.

I agree.

A lot of opportunists set up shop as training outfits for the initial scramble to obtain the blue card in 2013/2014, unprepared operators then shipped their drivers off to sit these lazy Powerpoint presentations in conference rooms. Nobody gave a monkeys, the training outfits were just cashing in on easy money and the drivers & their operators just doing the bare minimum they could, sucking eggs to get ‘qualified’.

Make it pass/fail with tests set & marked independently like the theory test, trainers are therefore training to a set approved syllabus. Make it so you can’t do the same course twice. Properly vet & continually assess the individuals teaching the course. In other words, DCPC needs to be run as a serious qualification.

Drivers sitting in a room for 35 hours every 5 years ain’t doing anything to improve standards, it’s just lining peoples pockets.

105

There’s no good reason that I can think of for there to be compulsory training attendance.

For most subjects a multi-choice test would be far more effective than compulsory training attendance.

Sent from my mobile.

106

Harry Monk:
Another interminably boring day of DCPC training today. “Customer service” was one of the modules.

In response to the trainer’s question of “What do you do if the customer raises an issue with you about a delivery?”, my answer of "I’d say “look mate, if you don’t want the [zb] stuff, just let me know and I’ll [zb] off with it, it’s no skin off my nose’” was apparently not the correct answer.

Two down, three to go. Hopefully, post-Brexit we can get rid of this nonsense.

In all seriousness, isn’t a lot of “customer service” just a jargon name for “basic civility”?

If a customer raises an issue with a delivery, then in general I would ask “have you rang the office?”.

In some circumstances I might say “let me ring the office and find out more about problem X”.

Gaffers on sites know that I don’t control schedules or pack the product or whatever else. I might on occasion have provided a gentle reminder that “I just deliver the ■■■■”, but I’ve never really found it necessary to be aggressive in tone about such things.

107

Drempels:
I would do exactly the same as you. However, I’m not going to listen to somebody telling me and (more importantly, the impressionable young blokes who were in the same room) that I’m gonna “get done” for something as silly as rubbing a rag over a mirror.

That kind of crap doesn’t do us or our industry any favours. If it was a waiting room loudmouth, I would have smirked to myself and forgot about it, but this geezer was in front of a load of drivers, filling their heads with rubbish, and getting paid to do so. That’s wrong.

A relative of mine is a Magistrate, he calls us every Sunday evening for a chat. I’ll ask him his opinion later, and let you know.

Not looking for a prolonged debate with you, neither am I right all the time, I just think that if we’re forced to sit through this “training” it should be of some benefit. Telling tall tales to people isn’t training.

I completely agree Drempels and while TN can be a great source of info and clever alternative opinions it surprises me how many have such a firm grasp on the non-essentials and a misunderstanding of the of the basics, this mirror one is a great example.

It proves that some DCPC is indeed necessary but not very effective in it’s current guise.

I think there are too many dodgy qualifying courses with weak instructors out there and the fact that you can repeat the same drivel 5 times proves to me that the government and industry leaders have absolutely no positive interest in it.

And why would they since it’s mostly only drivers time and money being wasted on an enforced foreign concept.

I hear many other countries put a lot more effort into the quality and value so I think it’s time to give it up or else do it properly.

Did I catch you yesterday eating your sandwich while sat in the drivers seat, looking to see if your mirror was dirty and then cleaning the crumbs off the floor during your break■■?

Well listen here cowboy, You are on your way to the TC’s office if it’s caught on camera for that triple whammy and jail time if you have an accident. :smiley: :smiley:

108

People can take the ■■■■ all they want, but it was the correct advice, you can do with that advice what you want, but then most would have the nouse not to do it under the nose of the DVSA

109

stevieboy308:
People can take the ■■■■ all they want, but it was the correct advice, you can do with that advice what you want, but then most would have the nouse not to do it under the nose of the DVSA

I apologise and don’t mean to cause offence or discomfort to you.

It’s what you were thought officially, it’s what you and many others believe to be the case and who am I to categorically state differently.

It’s more of a bit of banter really I hope.

110

Training should be tailored to the general purpose of the company, i assume most of us are like me, where the company pays for the course and the driver’s time attending.

Some of us will never need to know about ferry modes or double manning or maxing hours or any of that stuff, neither are endless videos of half wits on fork trucks demolishing yards of racking of or reversing over toes of other fools protected only by flip flops of any use at all.

What is missing in the whole training industry are driver skills training, ie making best use of weight transfers, weight distribution, diff locks, traction controls, all that sort of stuff.
Has anyone on a course ever learned just how quickly in terms of time or distance travelled a fully loaded artic can stop in from limiter speed?
I assure you the average depot trainer (even if they know how themselves) does not teach such things to newer drivers, they definately won’t have had time on the HGV driving instruction course to teach such things…and to be fair these finer points would be too much to take in at the time.

Often it’s people here on this forum and in good transport yards who try to convey such info to newer or less experienced drivers, when such things would be much better being taught properly…and might have some good effects out on the road during winter in particular.

IE, I think it was Stevieboy (apologies if it was another) who informed us all about dumping the trailer air completely and lifting the tractor unit (and transferring the tractor mid lift weight if possible) in order to load the drive axle much higher…that’s the sort of info that would make the DCPC worth it’s time and money, it would translate to far fewer blocked roads when an inch of snow falls…PS i did weighbridge experiments after the last discussion on this topic but never updated the thread with the results, quite amazing too.

I think most would agree that such courses would be much more interesting and be of value to us in the industry than some of the present ■■■■■■■■.

111

That was one of my tips I had lined up on the useless winter driving module!! Along with a few others. I totally agree, that’s what I was expecting, weight transfer, difflocks, gear selection, revs, throttle position, dude was a gritter driver too, so was hoping to learn some new stuff, but nothing

112

Hurryup&wait:

stevieboy308:
People can take the ■■■■ all they want, but it was the correct advice, you can do with that advice what you want, but then most would have the nouse not to do it under the nose of the DVSA

I apologise and don’t mean to cause offence or discomfort to you.

It’s what you were thought officially, it’s what you and many others believe to be the case and who am I to categorically state differently.

It’s more of a bit of banter really I hope.

No offense or discomfort here, just disbelief!!

No one taught me, it’s just that I can read and know what to read as well as applying a bit of commonsense!!

I’ve posted up the legislation, not guidance, the actual legislation, it’s there in black and white.

Demplels said he’d do the same as me - not clean my mirrors on a break with dvsa parked looking at me, doesn’t that say he knows it wasn’t ■■■■■■■■??

Of course you can state the opposite, but at least don’t let yourself down by not backing up your position, state away!!

113

jakethesnake:

m.a.n rules:
The reason for the latter of course is that for whatever noises they make, the last thing the Government would want is for (say) 30% of HGV licence holders to be prevented from driving HGVs.

it would be more effective if 100% of driver’s said no more driving till you get rid of this drivel…

but that’s not going to happen is it. :unamused:

Nail on head Harry. :wink:

whose harry ?

114

What is the legal position in this scenario, you have driven for four and a quarter hours you stop and set tacho to other work commence polishing tank and clean mirrors for ten minutes then set to break and open flask. Mr DVSA comes along, now can you entertain him or do you have to say come back in 45 minutes as I am on compulsory break cant talk to you as I am out of time.

115

blue estate:
I did vulnerable road users yesterday with a whole 2 hours on highway code :frowning:

I wish we didn’t live in such a backward society where we keep the weak alive to carry on their general lack of awareness. I wish it was like this regarding vulnerable road users:

“you wanna prove Darwin wrong, don’t ya?”
“Yes”
“Right, see these big ■■■■ off vehicles? Don’t get in the way or it’ll make ■■■■■■■ mince-meat out of you, and the pain will be excrutiating as you’re bleeding to death, got it?”
trembling “yes”
“good”
3pm, bell rings, go home from school

It’d only take a few nasty accidents for the message to sink in that one has to take responsibility for oneself, and that nanny state won’t be there to protect you.