Driver CPC, A way to raise standards or a blatant cash cow?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

Personally I have found it to be full of mis-information and some of it is totally unnecessary but the odd ‘gem’ has also emerged.

I believe it needs to have a total rethink and be structured properly so that the same content is taught in the same order and by experienced tutors. Doing the same thing five times achieves nothing other than boring people to death and alienating them.

Doing this would mean you go to any approved centre for your modules and know that you will receive the modules required rather than the bull shine we get presently.

22

Consider a classroom with 30 drivers in it… Paying £50 per day apiece… That’s revenue of £1500 a DAY for the firm “running the course”, and even if they pay their “Instructor” top dollar (has no degree, isn’t a toff, etc etc) the firm running the courses are going to absolutely coin it in…

Cash cow it is then. :frowning:
[/quote]
Thats fine if you think thats all the overheads there are. I looked into it and realistically mate All things considered unless your already established then I reckon you would struggle to break even.

23

I think the DCPC in general is a very good idea and it is definitely needed although it needs to be totally restructured and there needs to be far more conformity.

According to people on here some courses are not being presented very well however the one I attended was done reasonably well.
If so many are being given false information why not report the company so something will be done?
As I have said before quite a few drivers on the course I did had very little idea about the highway code and even managed to get the basic signs wrong.
As for drivers hours that was probably worse.

Also to stop us getting bored we were taken out for an assessment drive which obviously had no pass or fail but as we did it in a minibus we were able to see each others driving.There was one guy who had been a driver all his life and never stopped boasting how good he was.It turned out he was one of the worst.There were bad habits galore with quite a few.

So yes periodic training definitely is a very good idea but ideally there has to be a pass or a fail otherwise some just will not ever listen.

Doing the same thing five times achieves nothing other than boring people to death and alienating them.

I thought that was down to the individual however that needs to be stopped.Personally I cannot understand why anyone would do the same thing 5 times.

24

Conor:

rivits:
Which brings me to the Drivers CPC. Call me cynical but how can sitting in a classroom for 35hrs every 5yrs improve the standards of a veteran driver or learn a new driver anything?

Look at the dumbass questions asked in this forum about even basic drivers hours rules by drivers who’ve been doing it for years and there’s your answer. How many veteran drivers think you can legally do more than three 15hr shifts a week as long as you take 11hrs off?

You cant do more than 3 15 hour shifts a week, however you can have more than 3 9 hour daily rests in a week if you have a split daily rest where your first break is one of at least 3 hour, you then can have a 9 hour daily rest at the end of your shift giving you 12 hours daily rest.

25

As i have always stated, the DCPC is a complete waste of space, and to make someone like myself take it, after 50 years in the industry, having been there done it and got the T shirt,m is obviously taking the PI55…so what can we do, well i have already got my little card, the company paid for it, and ive got it, and the next one, well there wont be one for me. But i am gonna give them some grief, for make no mistake, the VOSA boys will be out in force, to give themselves something to do, so when they ask for my Ticket i will say i havnt got one, so they will fine me, i will not pay and so it will go to court, there i can explain thatI told the occifer, that i didnt have it on me, your honour ` it will give me satisfaction to annoy them, even to the pointy of telling the Judge, of my time in this industry. I ask all drivers to follow suit, and give them as much grief as you can.

Someone said earlier that they actually learned something, good for them, i learned for 50 years all need to know about transport, in fact i have forgotten more than many, someone mentioned First Aid, there was none of that on my course, but i would have learnt something useful, both inside and outside of work.
What i did learn, was that during the slideshow of a Low Loader, on STGO work, the front number plate was missing from the tractor unit, and in another instance, the rear near side m,arker light wasnt working, so the Morons who are training us professionals, cant even get their own facts right, before entering a classroom, to teach us that this is the way forward.
Personally, , i would employ retired old ■■■■■ like me, on a smaller wage ( but pensions not taxable ) and get us to hand over our vast knowledge, like how to stow and lash dificult goods, how to rope, and sheet, etc etc a knowledge that will be lost, that was also taught to us by our peers, who had no teachers to teach them, but merely learnt the job from first hand experience. And in the classroom, could be, a cradle, and miniature sheets, and ropes, a first aider to teach emergency procedures, and also to teach someone about the International side of things maybe,to teach about the various trailers they will be pulling, to actually train drivers to a standard to be able to do any job with confidence.

26

SteveBarnsleytrucker:
You cant do more than 3 15 hour shifts a week, however you can have more than 3 9 hour daily rests in a week if you have a split daily rest where your first break is one of at least 3 hour, you then can have a 9 hour daily rest at the end of your shift giving you 12 hours daily rest.

Are you saying that a driver cannot have more than 3 reduced daily rests in a WEEK? … careful with the answer :wink:

27

ROG:

SteveBarnsleytrucker:
You cant do more than 3 15 hour shifts a week, however you can have more than 3 9 hour daily rests in a week if you have a split daily rest where your first break is one of at least 3 hour, you then can have a 9 hour daily rest at the end of your shift giving you 12 hours daily rest.

Are you saying that a driver cannot have more than 3 reduced daily rests in a WEEK? … careful with the answer :wink:

Page 121 of the RHA Haulage Manual: Reduced rest 9hr- may be taken three times between weekly rests. No compensation is required.
Split rest- S regular daily rest may be taken as two periods, the first of at least 3hr, the second of at least 9hr and at the end of the shift.

28

ROG:

SteveBarnsleytrucker:
You cant do more than 3 15 hour shifts a week, however you can have more than 3 9 hour daily rests in a week if you have a split daily rest where your first break is one of at least 3 hour, you then can have a 9 hour daily rest at the end of your shift giving you 12 hours daily rest.

Are you saying that a driver cannot have more than 3 reduced daily rests in a WEEK? … careful with the answer :wink:

…it will depend on what anyone calls “a week”. Definitions are everything. :wink:

29

That is why I stressed the word WEEK because the definition of WEEK in the regs is from mon 0000 to sun 2400

Using the word week on its own for anything else will get confusing

Working week = fine = no definition legally = most deem to mean the time between two weekly rest periods

30

I decided to buy the RHA Manual from their website last year and I find it a valuable book to have with you as it tells you everything. So when the traffic office say you can do this or can do that and you are not too sure if you can just have a look in there and you can then either say, “ok” or “no I’m not doing it as what you are asking me to do is against the law”

31

SteveBarnsleytrucker:
however you can have more than 3 9 hour daily rests in a week if you have a split daily rest where your first break is one of at least 3 hour, you then can have a 9 hour daily rest at the end of your shift giving you 12 hours daily rest.

So in fact you can’t have more than three 9hr daily rests. Its people wording things like you have which confuses others. You’ve not had a 9hr daily rest, you’ve had a full daily rest period which needs to be 12hrs because you’ve split it.

32

truckyboy:
i learned for 50 years all need to know about transport

I bet there’s some stuff on drivers hours you’re not so clued up on. That seems to be the main thing that the “I’ve been doing the job 50 years you can’t teach me nowt” muppets seem to fail on. That and revving the nuts off wagons in every gear because a big green triangle isn’t a big enough hint as to where you should keep the revs when driving because anything either side is turning diesel into smoke.

It is completely impossible to do a job for 50 years and not have to learn something. The job changes dramatically over that period of time from the wagons you drive to the legislation surrounding the industry.

33

Conor:

truckyboy:
i learned for 50 years all need to know about transport

I bet there’s some stuff on drivers hours you’re not so clued up on. That seems to be the main thing that the “I’ve been doing the job 50 years you can’t teach me nowt” muppets seem to fail on. That and revving the nuts off wagons in every gear because a big green triangle isn’t a big enough hint as to where you should keep the revs when driving because anything either side is turning diesel into smoke.

It is completely impossible to do a job for 50 years and not have to learn something. The job changes dramatically over that period of time from the wagons you drive to the legislation surrounding the industry.

Exactly right.

34

being a noob and having had to do both parts of the initial CPC I would have to say, a lot of it is info you older drivers would have learned when you strolled up to a job and were told you are driving to the darkest depths of beyond. You would have been told you’ll need A,B not C but you’ll need D and off you would go and you’d learn on the road. Now with everything being so “fast paced” us new drivers need to “know it all” before we have even driven a truck just to stand a chance of gaining employment. The only thing about the initial CPC I don’t agree with is the teachings of how a haulage company works by this I mean the differences between partner, sole traders etc and what O licences they require. However I do feel we should know what O licences are required so we as drivers know all our “displayed paper work” is correct.

35

Well this point proves what I have always said, The transport industry is its own worst enemy when there can’t even be agreement about injustice against drivers by drivers!!!

36

Done my 5 days this week, paid for by my boss.

35 hours ? your’e having a laugh, a one day course would easily do the job including plenty of ■■■ & coffee breaks.

EEC ruling ? some EU countries are not even bothering with it.

37

gus607:
EEC ruling ? some EU countries are not even bothering with it.

Which ones are they then?

http://www.mzip.gov.si/fileadmin/mzip.gov.si/pageuploads/DPR/Temeljne_kvalifikacije_voznikov/Voznikove_kartice_porocilo_010610.pdf

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Héraultais:

gus607:
EEC ruling ? some EU countries are not even bothering with it.

Which ones are they then?

http://www.mzip.gov.si/fileadmin/mzip.gov.si/pageuploads/DPR/Temeljne_kvalifikacije_voznikov/Voznikove_kartice_porocilo_010610.pdf

Some countries are giving grandfather rights for life to existing drivers.
and some of the same countries are giving the driver qualification when they pass their test as aquired rights.
So they’re not bothering with it, They are simply issuing the qualification to make it appear that they are bothering with it.

39

limeyphil:
Some countries are giving grandfather rights for life to existing drivers.
and some of the same countries are giving the driver qualification when they pass their test as aquired rights.
So they’re not bothering with it, They are simply issuing the qualification to make it appear that they are bothering with it.

Really? I think you might like to read this document. At least read the annexe at pages 16-18 which gives the dates that each country has decreed that their drivers will have completed their first lot of periodic training.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/pdf/professional_drivers/report_on_periodic_training_of_professional_drivers_en.pdf

40

bazstan009:
Ref nightstar.

Thing is mate some take pride in thier work and make the effort to keep up with ever changing regulations, I feel that I am being made to pay for those that don’t.

Not wanting to sound like a know it all but when I encounter something I don’t know I find out.

I realize there are plenty out there that have some big gaps in thier knowladge but not sure the dcpc will change that.

Yeah but you can say that about anything. When I did my bike license I’d been driving trucks for about 10 years, riding crossers and quads a fair bit longer, riding mountain bikes longer again. Did I need to have lessons and a test to make me safe and know what I was doing on the road? Not at all, but I had to, I learnt how they wanted me to ride to pass the test, which I did with no minors, but that was about it!!