The drivers CPC was introduced (as far as I can make out) to somehow improve the quality and professionalism of drivers out on the road.
Without going down the route of “I have been doing this for ■■■ amount of years and I knew more than the instructor”, does anyone think they gained any real value out of this course, or has it improved their quality of driving, or level of professionalism?
Whilst holding both HGV and PSV licenses which I have just renewed, I am currently not driving for a living, so for me to do this dcpc would mean sacrificing a weeks holiday and around £300 of my own money to get this ‘card’.
As I say I am not driving commercially at the moment, but just wonder if others who have done it, feel it was money (or time) well spent, irrespective of the legal requirement to have it in future?
LIBERTY_GUY:
The drivers CPC was introduced (as far as I can make out) to somehow improve the quality and professionalism of drivers out on the road.
Without going down the route of “I have been doing this for ■■■ amount of years and I knew more than the instructor”, does anyone think they gained any real value out of this course, or has it improved their quality of driving, or level of professionalism?
Whilst holding both HGV and PSV licenses which I have just renewed, I am currently not driving for a living, so for me to do this dcpc would mean sacrificing a weeks holiday and around £300 of my own money to get this ‘card’.
As I say I am not driving commercially at the moment, but just wonder if others who have done it, feel it was money (or time) well spent, irrespective of the legal requirement to have it in future?
I actually got more out of the Driver awhereness course I did for doing 34 in a 30
Learnt one or two nuggets of new stuff and reinforced a lot of what I should already know.
Our DCPC trainer (obviously by now used to roomfuls of slightly resentful time-served lorry drivers) put it to us like this… “you all already know a lot of this, but if at least some of it is new to you and some of it reminds you of what you ought to be doing, it’s not a waste of time”… which made sense to me.
I doubt it has actually improved the safety of on-road driving
If the powers had really meant it to improve or check on those on-road standards and whether the driver actually knew the current regs then they would have made compulsory driving assessments and attendance with tests of drivers hours regs
they would have also made initial module 2 into a test on the regs
I am not doing the DCPC but in my mind a much better way of improving a drivers behavior on the road would be a practical refresher of sorts and not sitting in a class in front of someone who may never have actually done the job.
As I am getting on a bit now I am seeing younger drivers mainly on the road who do not have a clue and they are driving big trucks so more on the road training would be a better way forward.
I have my final 7 hours this Saturday (22nd)and the guy who took us for 28 of the 35 hours made it interesting and entertaining, 75% of stuff I was aware of the rest I needed to know, so from that point of view its been worth while, the 7 hours I didn’t do with this guy was done with a total dipstick who had been trained to read a script "parrot fashion " by the quarry industry to deliver their "epic course " which actually took 9 hours and taught us nothing but how to resent the quarry industry and there attempt to shift blame from them to us for any reason they choose.
I too do not earn my living from driving now. I did my full DCPC last year on a weeks holiday to keep my licence just in case.
If you look at the fact that we didn’t really learn anything new, but reviewed all the aspects of the job especially the regulations and responsibilities.
My take on the DCPC is that ‘you can no longer plead ignorance’.
My present employer also uses the same approach in that we have to read policy documents and then sign off that we have done so. This then means that if we do something against one of those policies, then we cannot plead ignorance and understand the prosecution threat.
Those that “know it all” have either worked in every single sector in the industry, many times over and at various different times, or, are liars.
Even if you get just one piece of information that you didn’t know, or had forgotten, then your time was not wasted.
If you genuinely hand on heart can say that you didn’t learn a single thing in your 35 hours, then I put it to you that YOU didn’t look round enough to find different courses with different content.
I think, If you HAVE to do it then put some effort into it and try and learn something new, rather than sit there and resent spending your hard earned and time for nothing.
gickniff:
I have my final 7 hours this Saturday (22nd)and the guy who took us for 28 of the 35 hours made it interesting and entertaining, 75% of stuff I was aware of the rest I needed to know
So that’s 21 hours of paying for and learning nothing !!
It’s got to be done. So might as well do something of use. First aid was good and useful. Tacho course taught me a few things I didn’t know. Two fork lift courses ticked certificate needs. Just teleporter conversion to do.
Our lot are all DCPC qualified now, yet on Monday I had the joy of talking a fellow driver through doing a manual entry due to him starting work at 07.00 but not jumping in the cab 'till 09.00 ?
He’s been driving LGV for 5+yrs & never had the confidence to attempt a manual entry !
He didn’t even know that there are simulators for each of the digi card head units that you can download & experiment with on your PC.
Chas:
Our lot are all DCPC qualified now, yet on Monday I had the joy of talking a fellow driver through doing a manual entry due to him starting work at 07.00 but not jumping in the cab 'till 09.00 ?
He’s been driving LGV for 5+yrs & never had the confidence to attempt a manual entry !
He didn’t even know that there are simulators for each of the digi card head units that you can download & experiment with on your PC.
Please remind me why the DCPC was introduced.
He clearly didn’t go on the right course - or didn’t ask the right questions.
The one thing I don’t get … I am constantly saying “Any questions?” “No?” “You sure?” Then I can hear them all at brew time asking each other questions … … … … so then after brew time I’ll say “Right - I heard someone mention ‘this’, are there any questions about ‘this’?” “No?” “You sure?”
I used to do some work as a sailing instructor ,I told the customers that the silly question was the one that they didnt ask.I have my DCPC card did courses with 3 trainers.The female knew her stuff the 2 men didnt do much.How can anyone spend 7 hours talking about tachographs.?I see it as a tax.
Did 35 hours a few weeks ago, paid for by the firm. I learned a few minor things regarding Tacho’s.
I just think as a previous poster said this is passing the buck so the driver will have no defence when something goes wrong,
You’re the driver, you should know, will be the standard reply.
Like many others, I think 35 hours classroom training every five years is just far too long. A one day course to refresh people on drivers regulations and introduce new regulations or changes would have been fine with many people.
Many of those modules I see offered, seem to be little more than ‘padding’ to fill up the required number of hours to get a card of very real practical value.
When you look at the range of all the ‘other’ cards out there you need to work, CSCS, EPIC, Rhides, Company passorts (e.g. Tesco) plus many others, we seem to be evolving into a society, of where you will eventually need a card to scratch your own ■■■■…
