m.a.n rules:
not necessarily, it’s not what you know but who you know…
What a surprise. Did you get a mate to take your HGV licence as well?
robroy:
knowing it’s a waste of 35 hours of your life (well as far as the realists among us think anyway)
Sad but true. It has the opportunity not to be if the government really wanted us to have a proper training instead of putting in the minimum they could get away with to be in compliance with the EU directive and if there was a test involved with a pass mark of at least 85% the same as qualifications for most other industries have where you could fail as well then it would lend a lot more weight to wanting to be called skilled and demanding the pay that that should command. The last DCPC course I did back in 2014 I went with a company that was run by a college. The modules that weren’t taught by lorry drivers were great, especially the first aid one run by an ambulance service paramedic, everyone benefitted and more importantly nobody came out of them moaning on about that day being a waste of time. Compare that to the modules I’ve done this year at a training school run by a former driver who just wanted to stand there and bang on about how much of a waste of time it was, regale us with tales of his time on the road and his run ins with the ministry which was like listening to a Top 10 tallest RDC waiting room tales. Literally wanted to snap the end off my pen and slit my wrists with the pointy bits with the boredom.
robroy:
knowing it’s a waste of 35 hours of your life (well as far as the realists among us think anyway)
Sad but true. It has the opportunity not to be if the government really wanted us to have a proper training instead of putting in the minimum they could get away with to be in compliance with the EU directive and if there was a test involved with a pass mark of at least 85% the same as qualifications for most other industries have where you could fail as well then it would lend a lot more weight to wanting to be called skilled and demanding the pay that that should command.
This conversation has been done by us before Conor.
Lots of bloody good lads, and bloody good drivers are not academically competent, so exams of any form are a nightmare to them,.
On other hand many academical type lads will never be drivers for as long as they have that proverbial bodily orifice, …so where does that leave us exactly?
I aint saying this is a general either/or situation either btw, there are in betweens.
All this theoretical stuff (which presently pertains to the present syllabus of the dcpc) should be taught at driver course candidate learner level, if they can’t pass it as a preliminary prep excercise, then they don’t go to the next stage of learning to drive, that way the calibre of driver improves…job sorted.
MrH:
If the driver is compelled to go by the company then it is other work, if however the driver is attending voluntarily of their own free will ( regardless of it being on company premises or paid for by the company) then it is rest.
That’s the official ■■■■■■■■ yeh, but how do you mean ‘‘voluntarily’’ ?
Being more or less forced into doing something you don’t really want to do, knowing it’s a waste of 35 hours of your life (well as far as the realists among us think anyway) but being threatened with not being allowed to do the job you know inside out without this crap being the ONLY alternative?
How tf is that ‘‘voluntarily’’ exactly…Under threat is the term I would use.
Just another example of ‘‘them’’ moving the goalposts when it suits them, it’s ok to spend your weekly rest studying (term used loosely) and being involved in work related stuff, but try doing something work related otherwise, and it’s tonne of bricks time.
It’s like when the [zb] s ‘‘allow us’’ to go over our hours when it’s being snowing for [zb] knows how long and the supermarket shelves are empty,… suddenlly it’s no longer ‘unsafe’ to go over your 9 hours, and 15 spreadover ,.and some drivers are stupid enough to do it also.
, I told them to shove it up their arse I was working normal hours.
As I said, it’s suddenlly fine when it suits them to move the goalposts, parameters and limits, the dcpc hours should all count in your weekly hours and limits…end of
This is a driver qualification that is required to continue vocational employment hence the onus is on the employee to maintain it, scream shout and stamp your feet as much as you like but if you don’t retain the qualification you make yourself unemployable as a driver, choice is yours, I really don’t think 7 hours a year is too taxing.
MrH:
If the driver is compelled to go by the company then it is other work, if however the driver is attending voluntarily of their own free will ( regardless of it being on company premises or paid for by the company) then it is rest.
That’s the official ■■■■■■■■ yeh, but how do you mean ‘‘voluntarily’’ ?
Being more or less forced into doing something you don’t really want to do, knowing it’s a waste of 35 hours of your life (well as far as the realists among us think anyway) but being threatened with not being allowed to do the job you know inside out without this crap being the ONLY alternative?
How tf is that ‘‘voluntarily’’ exactly…Under threat is the term I would use.
Just another example of ‘‘them’’ moving the goalposts when it suits them, it’s ok to spend your weekly rest studying (term used loosely) and being involved in work related stuff, but try doing something work related otherwise, and it’s tonne of bricks time.
It’s like when the [zb] s ‘‘allow us’’ to go over our hours when it’s being snowing for [zb] knows how long and the supermarket shelves are empty,… suddenlly it’s no longer ‘unsafe’ to go over your 9 hours, and 15 spreadover ,.and some drivers are stupid enough to do it also.
, I told them to shove it up their arse I was working normal hours.
As I said, it’s suddenlly fine when it suits them to move the goalposts, parameters and limits, the dcpc hours should all count in your weekly hours and limits…end of
This is a driver qualification that is required to continue vocational employment hence the onus is on the employee to maintain it, scream shout and stamp your feet as much as you like but if you don’t retain the qualification you make yourself unemployable as a driver, choice is yours, I really don’t think 7 hours a year is too taxing.
Well thanks a lot for your guidance on the subject mate ,
But guess what?..I’m all to aware of the terms of this ‘errr …‘driver qualification’’ (:lol: …do you REALLY believe that ■■■■■■■■ btw. ) thanks.
So I’ll do it yeh, but not at the same time swallowing all the official crap as you have, whether it’s ‘‘too taxing’’ or not, I’ll continue to see the real reason for it.
Wether contracted or agency, if you as a driver are paying £300 for the DCPC, your best enquiring about a course such as ADR and finding out how much it is on top, a few lads from my old place have just paid £8 per day to have the hours logged while sitting ADR
As a proud holder of a proper “chauffeurs diploma”, which meant something, but which you had to pay (and study… ) for yourself, I am not against a proper qualification that you have to arrange and pay for yourself. Expecting your employer to pay for it is the same as expecting the employer to pay for your licence. Some do, some dont. You makes your choice…
Getting paid, not paid, or having to pay for your own time and course - is one argument.
Manually entering 35 hours of “Other work” though? If you were flat out the previous week, and expect to be flat out the week after - I suspect there won’t be many drivers going out of their way to make “manual entries” whilst sitting at the conference table doing the next “ice breaker” somehow… I didn’t go anywhere near a vehicle to put my digicard INTO that week as it happens… “Out of sight, out of mind”.
to go over our hours when it’s being snowing for [zb] knows how long and the supermarket shelves are empty,… suddenlly it’s no longer ‘unsafe’ to go over your 9 hours, and 15 spreadover 
,.and some drivers are stupid enough to do it also. 
,
) for yourself, I am not against a proper qualification that you have to arrange and pay for yourself. Expecting your employer to pay for it is the same as expecting the employer to pay for your licence. Some do, some dont. You makes your choice…