Btw I see chap as a friendly name
I don’t see that compulsory classroom attendance is necessary for topics such as drivers hours and tachograph use, surely a simple multi choice test would be easier and more affective.
Companies could still do their own training whilst drivers who have to pay for their own training could save time and money.
It would also show that you’d actually learned the subject rather than just attended a course.
tachograph:
I don’t see that compulsory classroom attendance is necessary for topics such as drivers hours and tachograph use, surely a simple multi choice test would be easier and more affective.Companies could still do their own training whilst drivers who have to pay for their own training could save time and money.
It would also show that you’d actually learned the subject rather than just attended a course.
That’s actually given me an idea (a notable event in my feeble brain). Instead of making everyone do it every 5 years simply sir drivers down to a selection of knowledge tests. Above a certain score that’s it- 5 more years or fail you have to do a course. That could really work and I can’t see how anyone would disagree with that, though being drivers we’ll find a way
I had to attend naught boy school this morning due to exceeding 10 hours drive time last week ‘cos I’m a ■■■■. It comprised of an online tacograph/wtd multiple choice jobby . I scored 100% and as I said to the driver trainer, “it’s my job to know the regulations inside out and as you can see I pretty much do. It’s adhering to the rules that’s my downfall” 
switchlogic:
tachograph:
I don’t see that compulsory classroom attendance is necessary for topics such as drivers hours and tachograph use, surely a simple multi choice test would be easier and more affective.Companies could still do their own training whilst drivers who have to pay for their own training could save time and money.
It would also show that you’d actually learned the subject rather than just attended a course.
That’s actually given me an idea (a notable event in my feeble brain). Instead of making everyone do it every 5 years simply sir drivers down to a selection of knowledge tests. Above a certain score that’s it- 5 more years or fail you have to do a course. That could really work and I can’t see how anyone would disagree with that, though being drivers we’ll find a way
I know a few drivers who would struggle to pass a fairly basic test on drivers hours and tachos even if they did a DCPC course every week. And the government knows this as well, which is why it has steadfastly ruled out any form of pass/fail tests on DCPC as we’d probably end up with even less drivers than we have now.
The biggest single issue, as has been mentioned by many others, is attitude; some really do think they know it all and unfortunately it’s often the ones who’ve been doing the job longest.
I have some degree of sympathy with drivers who may be able to physically drive the lorry well, but get stressed out by being sat in a classroom; my own ex-father-in-law is amongst these, he’s chronically dyslexic and struggles to process stuff that’s on a written sheet. That having been said, once he’s been told something once it tends to stick and he has no problems with finding directions etc. The majority, though, are just plain arrogant and don’t like being told what to do by anyone. Probably why they went into driving as a career in the first place.
Much depends on who you work for. Most of the big firms have well established training agendas; at ForFarmers you not only had to do DCPC but also a series of in-house training modules on a PC, covering subjects from tachos and drivers hours through to farm safety and fire/first aid procedures. Many had a pass mark and if you failed you had to do them again; fail some of them repeatedly and HR/management started asking questions. All were a ball-ache but we were getting paid for it so it didn’t matter. You could do them whenever you had a gap between runs or perhaps if you were waiting for a load; the sensible guys did it this way, some of the others left them till the last day and ended up stuck in front of the computer for hours.
the maoster:
I had to attend naught boy school this morning due to exceeding 10 hours drive time last week ‘cos I’m a ■■■■. It comprised of an online tacograph/wtd multiple choice jobby . I scored 100% and as I said to the driver trainer, “it’s my job to know the regulations inside out and as you can see I pretty much do. It’s adhering to the rules that’s my downfall”
So did she bring the whip as discussed,.and what colour were the stockings?
switchlogic:
tachograph:
I don’t see that compulsory classroom attendance is necessary for topics such as drivers hours and tachograph use, surely a simple multi choice test would be easier and more affective.Companies could still do their own training whilst drivers who have to pay for their own training could save time and money.
It would also show that you’d actually learned the subject rather than just attended a course.
That’s actually given me an idea (a notable event in my feeble brain). Instead of making everyone do it every 5 years simply sir drivers down to a selection of knowledge tests. Above a certain score that’s it- 5 more years or fail you have to do a course. That could really work and I can’t see how anyone would disagree with that, though being drivers we’ll find a way
That sounds fair to me.
robroy:
the maoster:
I had to attend naught boy school this morningSo did she bring the whip as discussed,.and what colour were the stockings?
No whip but she did give me a cigarette afterwards
The majority, though, are just plain arrogant and don’t like being told what to do by anyone. Probably why they went into driving as a career in the first place.
I don’t think that is the problem as I don’t remember anyone being told what to do I thinks it’s the fact drivers have done the job for donkeys years learning off fellow drivers and consider it pointless.
Are the standard of driving any better since they brought DCPC in I very much doubt it, to be honest I cannot remember anything from the last DCPC as it was loading and and other stuff that we will never need in this job i know people will say well it may help you if you move but in the unlikely event o do i will be sure to take note at the next DCPC course that is relevant.
In my view if they were serious about DCPC they would have made us take a test but as has already been said they know that would lead to drivers losing their jobs so it’s just a money making scheme and nothing else.
Sidevalve:
switchlogic:
tachograph:
I don’t see that compulsory classroom attendance is necessary for topics such as drivers hours and tachograph use, surely a simple multi choice test would be easier and more affective.Companies could still do their own training whilst drivers who have to pay for their own training could save time and money.
It would also show that you’d actually learned the subject rather than just attended a course.
That’s actually given me an idea (a notable event in my feeble brain). Instead of making everyone do it every 5 years simply sir drivers down to a selection of knowledge tests. Above a certain score that’s it- 5 more years or fail you have to do a course. That could really work and I can’t see how anyone would disagree with that, though being drivers we’ll find a way
I know a few drivers who would struggle to pass a fairly basic test on drivers hours and tachos even if they did a DCPC course every week. And the government knows this as well, which is why it has steadfastly ruled out any form of pass/fail tests on DCPC as we’d probably end up with even less drivers than we have now.
The biggest single issue, as has been mentioned by many others, is attitude; some really do think they know it all and unfortunately it’s often the ones who’ve been doing the job longest.
I have some degree of sympathy with drivers who may be able to physically drive the lorry well, but get stressed out by being sat in a classroom; my own ex-father-in-law is amongst these, he’s chronically dyslexic and struggles to process stuff that’s on a written sheet. That having been said, once he’s been told something once it tends to stick and he has no problems with finding directions etc. The majority, though, are just plain arrogant and don’t like being told what to do by anyone. Probably why they went into driving as a career in the first place.
Much depends on who you work for. Most of the big firms have well established training agendas; at ForFarmers you not only had to do DCPC but also a series of in-house training modules on a PC, covering subjects from tachos and drivers hours through to farm safety and fire/first aid procedures. Many had a pass mark and if you failed you had to do them again; fail some of them repeatedly and HR/management started asking questions. All were a ball-ache but we were getting paid for it so it didn’t matter. You could do them whenever you had a gap between runs or perhaps if you were waiting for a load; the sensible guys did it this way, some of the others left them till the last day and ended up stuck in front of the computer for hours.
But doing it that way has enormous potential. Drivers will educate themselves things or confirm what they already knew devising for it as no one wants to fail. Ultimately I can see it being responsible for and increase in knowledge and standards. The tests would take a lot of planning so they suit everyone. Ideally they’d be on computer terminals to minimise writing and streamline the process as I know full well the potential issues having a dyslexic father and brother who are/were drivers
Terry Cooksey:
Even if the DCPC was a perfect system it would not solve what is arguably the biggest issue with it, that being the attitudes of drivers who have to take it.
Learning, or perhaps more appropriately, being taught, is viewed as such a negative in the industry that it makes the job of the instructor so much harder from the outset.
Look at how many drivers left the industry as a direct result of it being introduced, their attitude being one of ‘I’ve done the job x number of years, you’re not going to teach me anything, this is an insult’. This attitude is still prevalent in more experienced drivers. When you have people who won’t even entertain the idea of learning then you have no chance of teaching themSent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
This is so true. There’s so many out there who think they know it all. One I saw on Facebook a young lad staring out and looking for advice and this bloke I used to work with came out with ‘I did ten years of European fridge work there’s nothing they can teach me’. Me and Dad used to work with him and he absolutely has this ridiculous attitude
Sidevalve:
switchlogic:
tachograph:
I don’t see that compulsory classroom attendance is necessary for topics such as drivers hours and tachograph use, surely a simple multi choice test would be easier and more affective.Companies could still do their own training whilst drivers who have to pay for their own training could save time and money.
It would also show that you’d actually learned the subject rather than just attended a course.
That’s actually given me an idea (a notable event in my feeble brain). Instead of making everyone do it every 5 years simply sir drivers down to a selection of knowledge tests. Above a certain score that’s it- 5 more years or fail you have to do a course. That could really work and I can’t see how anyone would disagree with that, though being drivers we’ll find a way
I know a few drivers who would struggle to pass a fairly basic test on drivers hours and tachos even if they did a DCPC course every week. And the government knows this as well, which is why it has steadfastly ruled out any form of pass/fail tests on DCPC as we’d probably end up with even less drivers than we have now.
The biggest single issue, as has been mentioned by many others, is attitude; some really do think they know it all and unfortunately it’s often the ones who’ve been doing the job longest.
I have some degree of sympathy with drivers who may be able to physically drive the lorry well, but get stressed out by being sat in a classroom; my own ex-father-in-law is amongst these, he’s chronically dyslexic and struggles to process stuff that’s on a written sheet. That having been said, once he’s been told something once it tends to stick and he has no problems with finding directions etc. The majority, though, are just plain arrogant and don’t like being told what to do by anyone. Probably why they went into driving as a career in the first place.
Much depends on who you work for. Most of the big firms have well established training agendas; at ForFarmers you not only had to do DCPC but also a series of in-house training modules on a PC, covering subjects from tachos and drivers hours through to farm safety and fire/first aid procedures. Many had a pass mark and if you failed you had to do them again; fail some of them repeatedly and HR/management started asking questions. All were a ball-ache but we were getting paid for it so it didn’t matter. You could do them whenever you had a gap between runs or perhaps if you were waiting for a load; the sensible guys did it this way, some of the others left them till the last day and ended up stuck in front of the computer for hours.
- 1
Bin Man:
I don’t think that is the problem as I don’t remember anyone being told what to do I thinks it’s the fact drivers have done the job for donkeys years learning off fellow drivers and consider it pointless.Are the standard of driving any better since they brought DCPC in I very much doubt it, to be honest I cannot remember anything from the last DCPC as it was loading and and other stuff that we will never need in this job i know people will say well it may help you if you move but in the unlikely event o do i will be sure to take note at the next DCPC course that is relevant.
In my view if they were serious about DCPC they would have made us take a test but as has already been said they know that would lead to drivers losing their jobs so it’s just a money making scheme and nothing else.
The fact that they have, in many cases, learned stuff off fellow drivers makes some form of formal training more necessary, not less. I’ve mentioned before that during my days in recruitment I came across many a driver who only had a sketchy grasp of basic drivers’ hours law, and how to fill in a chart correctly; this was before digi-cards. I think that bit has got better now since DCPC but there are still enough basic questions being asked on here to suggest that not all have taken it on board.
It’s also quite easy to think that you didn’t learn anything from a course, particularly when, as you point out, it has little bearing on your current job. That is largely down to laziness and cheapskating on the part of your employers, who were probably reluctant to pay extra for something which would be of benefit to you; something perhaps as simple as a first aid course.
Improving the standards of physically driving the truck isn’t really something DCPC currently covers in most “off the peg” courses, though some more enterprising companies are now starting to do stuff that’s a bit more involved than a homily of defensive driving techniques. That sort of progress is to be welcomed.
1 Make it law that the employer must provide (pay for) the training. Not the driver.
2 Make it law that employees must be payed whilst attending DCPC
3 Make it law that DCPC is classed as working time and therefore no more fitting it in on your days off/holiday.
That should see it scrapped in no time at all.
switchlogic:
Sidevalve:
switchlogic:
tachograph:
I don’t see that compulsory classroom attendance is necessary for topics such as drivers hours and tachograph use, surely a simple multi choice test would be easier and more affective.Companies could still do their own training whilst drivers who have to pay for their own training could save time and money.
It would also show that you’d actually learned the subject rather than just attended a course.
That’s actually given me an idea (a notable event in my feeble brain). Instead of making everyone do it every 5 years simply sir drivers down to a selection of knowledge tests. Above a certain score that’s it- 5 more years or fail you have to do a course. That could really work and I can’t see how anyone would disagree with that, though being drivers we’ll find a way
I know a few drivers who would struggle to pass a fairly basic test on drivers hours and tachos even if they did a DCPC course every week. And the government knows this as well, which is why it has steadfastly ruled out any form of pass/fail tests on DCPC as we’d probably end up with even less drivers than we have now.
The biggest single issue, as has been mentioned by many others, is attitude; some really do think they know it all and unfortunately it’s often the ones who’ve been doing the job longest.
I have some degree of sympathy with drivers who may be able to physically drive the lorry well, but get stressed out by being sat in a classroom; my own ex-father-in-law is amongst these, he’s chronically dyslexic and struggles to process stuff that’s on a written sheet. That having been said, once he’s been told something once it tends to stick and he has no problems with finding directions etc. The majority, though, are just plain arrogant and don’t like being told what to do by anyone. Probably why they went into driving as a career in the first place.
Much depends on who you work for. Most of the big firms have well established training agendas; at ForFarmers you not only had to do DCPC but also a series of in-house training modules on a PC, covering subjects from tachos and drivers hours through to farm safety and fire/first aid procedures. Many had a pass mark and if you failed you had to do them again; fail some of them repeatedly and HR/management started asking questions. All were a ball-ache but we were getting paid for it so it didn’t matter. You could do them whenever you had a gap between runs or perhaps if you were waiting for a load; the sensible guys did it this way, some of the others left them till the last day and ended up stuck in front of the computer for hours.
But doing it that way has enormous potential. Drivers will educate themselves things or confirm what they already knew devising for it as no one wants to fail. Ultimately I can see it being responsible for and increase in knowledge and standards. The tests would take a lot of planning so they suit everyone. Ideally they’d be on computer terminals to minimise writing and streamline the process as I know full well the potential issues having a dyslexic father and brother who are/were drivers
I completely agree, it could be set up so that if you fail a section of the test you could either take it again or do a 7 hour course.
The only down side I can see is that it would take work away from training companies which is part of the reason it will never happen 
I was reading today that UK advertising for drivers in Eastern Europe has been met with derision and there will be few takers. Instead, the most interest has come from UAE, India, South Africa and Nigeria.
The major stumbling block for these non-EU drivers is that they do not have a CPC, and to get one would eat into the time allowed under the visa scheme. Not to mention the expense.
Personally, I don’t want to see the influx of cheap labour again, so I’m happy to keep the CPC.
2 points I have.
Everyone wanting it scrapped are shooting themselves in the foot. How many times do you see “it should be scrapped to ease the shortage” said by a driver, the same shortage that is driving wages up, and you want to ease that shortage? A shortage increases wages, more supply reduces wages. At the moment it’s costing you £40 per year, wages are going up by thousands. The dcpc stops the thousands that have a licence but don’t use it as their main source of income doing odd shifts, yes that is crap for them, but it’s better for every full-time driver. So embrace it not for what you do or don’t learn on it, but for the restriction it places on the supply of drivers, as that can only have a positive impact on wages.
My 2nd point is I fully agree with it in principle, yes it’s pretty crap as it is, down to me it’d be properly tested, not some Micky mouse affair, but then you really would have a shortage. I’d have it a bit like it is in construction, you’d need a module for each different trailer / body type. Again restricting the supply.
I fully know what I’m doing on a telehandler, I drive them most days, I have a certificate from an agricultural training body to say I’ve completed and passed their course, but I can’t go and drive one on a building site for £18ph or whatever, there are loads of people like me that could go and do odd shifts or weeks, but the restriction on the supply by not having one of the construction certificates makes the ones who have more valuable
Wildy:
1 Make it law that the employer must provide (pay for) the training. Not the driver.
2 Make it law that employees must be payed whilst attending DCPC
3 Make it law that DCPC is classed as working time and therefore no more fitting it in on your days off/holiday.That should see it scrapped in no time at all.
Both 1 & 2 will only prevent drivers leaving a job they hate unless they are willing to reimburse the company and /or pay for a contract to be terminated early.
The proof that it is not really needed is they years of service by loads of people on here .I do not know every thing but I know how to do my job, Pilots before they fly have a check list why because so much has to be checked and they do not know every thing.Some people wine on here about the hours rules that some ask and some make mistakes about.I did the owner driver CPC 1980 TO me it was difficult, there were lots it I remember ,but from the day I passed I could not remember all of it without reference to my notes,lets face it when we do the dcpc they pop up some obscure sign post where they may be only 4 in the country…should be do it if you want and get a badge " you will get the sack if your no good at the job, bin it
2 very good points Stevie308 that a lot won’t have thought of.
Needs to be kept, improved and a proper test.
Needs to be noted that some on here who want it scrapped can’t even string a sentence together. 