crannman:
its all good and well educating drivers but what about the numptys in the office who have their own ideas on the rules and legislation if its good enough for drivers its good enough for all involved in road transport
Your lack of grammar use makes that kinda difficult to decipher tbh mate . 
If ‘what’ is good enough for drivers?
…and …
What about ‘the numpties in the office’ having their own ideas, what’s your point?
Are you suggesting drivers should listen to these ideas instead of the actual rules, or what?
It’s your licence, your responsibility, so best to just treat said ‘‘numpties’’ with the contempt they deserve, and basically ignore them.
Some fair comment and points, but the industry as it stands today has an appalling amount of drivers who can quite easily fall under the category of unprofessional, wether that be poor driving style, aggressiveness behind the wheel, lack of knowledge of the Highway Code, unsafe securing of loads, misunderstanding of drivers regs and wtd, or just blatant complacency or naivety.
The RHA failed to get us acknowledged as a professional employment and the compensation is a bit of plastic that’s gained on attendance and not knowledge.
Having a professional qualification could give drivers leverage and remove the pressures placed on them and eradicate drivers hours being managed ( often incorrectly ) by planners and TM’s, whose default “your just a driver” reply when drivers express concerns about regs or give alternatives when delays and difficulties arise.
It would remove the sloping shoulders approach many within the industry have chosen to adopt with the ‘I don’t get paid to think’ attitudes, and more responsibility could be given stopping blame being passed to the driver for for errors made in the planning office.
It would cease companies taking advantage of agency drivers and implement equality with no driver being regarded as less capable is another regardless of their employment status.
But currently it’s a mockery, a driver who sits repeated courses and collects his hours through attendance only is as professional as a driver who sits 5 different courses.
Gone have the days, where experience and knowledge count, replaced by haste, inexperience and a lack of knowledge but backed by a plastic card that says they can.
truckyboy:
CPC…absolute waste of my time, it taught me nothing i didnt already know…its a money making scam, and thank god i am not going to put over £300 towards it anymore, as i renewed my licence this month without the HGV part of it.
The whole thing needs to be re-thought out to teach other aspects like First aid, etc, something that will benefit drivers.
I’m not suggesting that you don’t know your stuff… but back in the days when I was running a desk for an agency, it was quite scary how many long-serving, experienced and seasoned drivers I interviewed who needed considerable remedial instruction on the most basic of drivers hours legislation.
The day I stop learning something new in this business is the day I retire.
Judging by the standard of some of the driving I have seen, the cpc is a waste of time.
Ken.
Quinny:
Judging by the standard of some of the driving I have seen, the cpc is a waste of time.
Ken.
Sure aint done a lot of good when you look around at some of em 
, has it?.
Surprise surprise eh?
Saw a brilliant driver the other day at the roundabout at Avonmouth docks, where to turn right there are 2 marked lanes around the roundabout, merging into one at the end.
I quite safely (and legally) took the outside one and passed everybody in the inner lane allowing the last truck to filter in, and signalling of my intentions to do the same.
This prick in a white MAN rigid with a hiab (Bristol based)on took umbrage at that, sped right up, and risked a collision trying to stop me doing so.
If I had been as crap a driver as him, I would probably have missed him in my mirror and he’d have been into my nearside.
You would have thought he was in a hurry to get on…but no, he took the next left turn off.
Ok, I know…just let it go and all that 
, but pricks like that just boil my urine. 
Professionally competent my ■■■■ arse.
You can’t train an ice skater, a drummer or a painter by textbooks, anymore than you can train good drivers in a classroom. The only thing that works is demonstrating and then repeated practice, but as this would cost money with nobody prepared to fund it we are stuck with the halfway house that is the DCPC.
Sure you may end up completely au fait with the latest rules and regulations and be an absolute genius on tachograph laws but if you can’t leave the yard without knocking the gate down then its pretty useless tbh.
I am considering helping out a mate by taking my bus licence, it’s all dependent on the D4 medical really.
If I pass the medical I shall need 35 hours of DCPC but I will also get my HGV1 back.
I could do Drivers Hours, Loading Goods & Passengers and maybe ADR.
What do others do? I am not fit enough to drive a lorry full time, or a bus for that matter!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If you are going to drive a bus what about first aid, and safed and some sort of customer relations stuff as well. As you will know a service bus doesn’t need a tacho.
the maoster:
You can’t train an ice skater, a drummer or a painter by textbooks, anymore than you can train good drivers in a classroom. The only thing that works is demonstrating and then repeated practice, but as this would cost money with nobody prepared to fund it we are stuck with the halfway house that is the DCPC.
Sure you may end up completely au fait with the latest rules and regulations and be an absolute genius on tachograph laws but if you can’t leave the yard without knocking the gate down then its pretty useless tbh.
True; however, looking at it from the other side, if said driver never so much as cracks a mirror but has a list of infringements as long as your arm every week which brings your company to the attention of the TC, or gets pulled cos he can’t be arsed to strap his load properly, he’s just as big a liability.
alamcculloch:
If you are going to drive a bus what about first aid, and safed and some sort of customer relations stuff as well. As you will know a service bus doesn’t need a tacho.
Your last sentence is not strictly true. I’m not a bus driver, but my ex-wife (who is) told me that if a route is over a certain distance then it does come under tacho regulations.
Furthermore, if a tacho is fitted and the route doesn’t qualify, I believe the driver still has to insert a digicard and set it to “out of scope”.
Perhaps someone who does drive service buses could enlighten us further?
I have heard of the big bus firms holding on to the drivers tacho cards to prevent them from “moonlighting” for other companies. With the longer rural routes that do more than eighty kms. the destination blind might have the word “for” then the name of the terminus . The bus does a split journey ,it goes to a stop halfway and then continues to the final destination . This doesn’t affect the passengers though.