ROG:
LIBERTY_GUY:
I am still looking, but have yet to find any official statement on any site that says those with drivers with acquired rights and are not currently driving commercially, will be able to just do those 35 hours after the September deadline, if they decide to drive commercially again…Call the dsa dcpc hotline on 0191 201 8112
Thanks ROG. Will do that. Just want to be 100 percent certain before that Sept deadline passes.
Well three goes at that number over the last hour to be greeted by ‘we are unable to answer your call due to high volume of calls’ and no option to hold or be sent to a website contact form. 
Nice to see the hotline is prepared for the inevitable rush (not). 
If I’m understanding this correctly you want to know if you have to do the Initial DCPC if you don’t do the 35 hours periodic training before September.
Instead of phoning hot-lines why not just refer to the regulations 
, you’ll find the answer is “no you will not need to do the Initial DCPC if you let the acquired rights laps”.
Persons who must take initial CPC test:
(7) A person is not required to take an initial CPC test relating to vehicles of the category into which that particular relevant vehicle falls if he holds a document described in paragraph (8) –(a)on 10th September 2008, if that vehicle falls into category D or D+E;
(b)on 10th September 2009, if that vehicle falls into category C or C+E.
(8) That document may be –
(a)a current driving licence;
(b)a current driving licence issued by a member State other than the United Kingdom;
(c)a current driving licence recognised as equivalent to a document described in sub-paragraph (a) or (b); or
(d)a current test pass certificate entitling its holder to a driving licence authorising the driving of any relevant vehicle.
LIBERTY_GUY:
Well three goes at that number over the last hour to be greeted by ‘we are unable to answer your call due to high volume of calls’
Try ringing back immediately a few times - always works for me
m1tch:
It would appear that there is no confirmed answer and some say i need to do the 35 hours while others say not! I spoke to a provider of the course who said i didn’t need to do this but to be honest the last reply makes the most sense. So does anyone know who i will need to speak to, to confirm if i should sit the course before september?Cheers CM
It’s the same as anybody with a ‘vocational’ Category on their driving licence. For example my missus has C1 therefore she can drive upto 7.5 tonnes GVW - she doesn’t, but she legally can. Until Sept. 2014, after which she still can but not professionally. i.e. she could drive a horsebox (if she had a horse - we only have a black Labrador) after Sept. She has no intention of doing DCPC Periodic Training before Sept.
She has the C1 entitlement up until her 70th birthday - so, if she got a job as a 7.5 tonne driver in, say in 2015, she couldn’t drive the truck immediately, she would be required to undertake 35 hours Periodic DCPC Training - at which point a DQC would be issued with an expiry date of, I believe September 2019 - meaning after DQC issue she would be free to take up her new glamorous job role!!!
It would be the same for a currently exempt mechanic with a C+E licence (passed his car test prior to 1997) he uses to road test/take lorries & trailers for Annual Test. If he got a job after Sept. 2014 as an LGV driver (slight change of direction - it can/does happen) he would need to undertake 35 hours of Periodic Training first in order to gain his DQC, in order to become a truck driver…
Neither my missus or Mike the mechanic are able/eligible to do Initial DCPC Module 2 & 4 training to gain their DQC - they can only do Periodic Training.
Wow. A proper answer .
Daz1970:
She has the C1 entitlement up until her 70th birthday - so, if she got a job as a 7.5 tonne driver in, say in 2015, she couldn’t drive the truck immediately, she would be required to undertake 35 hours Periodic DCPC Training - at which point a DQC would be issued with an expiry date of, I believe September 2019
If she did the 35 hours in may 2015 she would get a DQC expiring in may 2020
ROG:
Daz1970:
She has the C1 entitlement up until her 70th birthday - so, if she got a job as a 7.5 tonne driver in, say in 2015, she couldn’t drive the truck immediately, she would be required to undertake 35 hours Periodic DCPC Training - at which point a DQC would be issued with an expiry date of, I believe September 2019If she did the 35 hours in may 2015 she would get a DQC expiring in may 2020
Ok ROG thanks… I wasn’t sure what would happen if it was her 1st DQC issued - I just presumed the expiry would fall in line with everyone else’s.
When a DQC is issued it gives 5 years from the end of the current DQC if the driver has one or if not then 5 years from when initial mod 4 was passed or from when the last of the 35 hours periodic is completed
If adding PCV to LGV or vice versa then the new category does not extend the expiry of the current DQC as it once did
It seems a bit strange they didn’t just make it 5 years from whenever the card was issued to start with as it would have eliminated the mad rush at the same time to some degree.
For someone that’s been out of driving I can understand why they should get a full clear five years but for anyone that should have done it and hasn’t it seems to be a they are being slightly rewarded for leaving it late.
Own Account Driver:
It seems a bit strange they didn’t just make it 5 years from whenever the card was issued to start with as it would have eliminated the mad rush at the same time to some degree.For someone that’s been out of driving I can understand why they should get a full clear five years but for anyone that should have done it and hasn’t it seems to be a they are being slightly rewarded for leaving it late.
What you’re suggesting would penalise anyone who completed the 35 hours training early, rather than eliminate a last minute rush it would have ensured a last minute rush took place.
I reckon this is going to happen every 5 years but perhaps not quite as much as most drivers have acquired rights
Newbies passing mod 4 near to this sept are also likely to get caught in that in years to come
tachograph:
Own Account Driver:
It seems a bit strange they didn’t just make it 5 years from whenever the card was issued to start with as it would have eliminated the mad rush at the same time to some degree.For someone that’s been out of driving I can understand why they should get a full clear five years but for anyone that should have done it and hasn’t it seems to be a they are being slightly rewarded for leaving it late.
What you’re suggesting would penalise anyone who completed the 35 hours training early, rather than eliminate a last minute rush it would have ensured a last minute rush took place.
Yes, you’re right that would have been the problem with doing it to start. I was really thinking about when the next five years is up, I can’t see how a sustainable training business can be run on the back of five year peaks and troughs in demand. It will get forgotten about for 3 years or so then the panic will start all over again.
I can’t believe there wasn’t some way to do a phased implementation in a fair way.
You are right, and with hindsight we should have followed the Irish pattern: seven hours a year, every year, from year one.
This would have had several advantages
It would have been an issue everyone would have had to grasp from the start
It would have indicated to all that this was real and was being implemented
It would have provided a balanced flow of supply and demand for training.
The British road transport industry is notorious for putting things of until the last minute, then panicking …and guess what…we’re doing it again.
Hopefully people will be more organised and space things out better in years six to 10.
Most decent Driver CPC trainers were already active in training before the DCPC came along, so they are reasonably well able to ride out the peaks and troughs. I suspect those trainers with little knowledge or background in the industry who thought they would cash in will not survive, but I don’t suppose anyone but themselves is going to worry about that and they will go back to flogging timeshares or whatever.
tachograph:
If I’m understanding this correctly you want to know if you have to do the Initial DCPC if you don’t do the 35 hours periodic training before September.Instead of phoning hot-lines why not just refer to the regulations
I did try to find the details of the regulations ‘tacho’, but Google just brought up the all but useless DVLA site and the sites of dcpc training providers…
There are probably hundreds of vocational drivers that no longer drive commercially, that have taken dcpc course on the misunderstanding that you could just actually do this course anytime in the future if you had acquired rights, rather than a Sept deadline.
Good job I read this thread before booking a course in June. I am still undecided on whether I will drive commercially in the future, as it all seems to have changed beyond recognition over the last few years. 
There must be a lot of us drivers that no longer drive commercially but want to ensure that if suddenly we do need to go back to the world of haulage we don’t lose the acquired rights and have to go back to stage 1 or whatever module is the equilivant. Im grateful to all that have taken the time to answer and hopefully it will assist others who may be in the same quandary as me!
Cheers CM
m1tch:
There must be a lot of us drivers that no longer drive commercially but want to ensure that if suddenly we do need to go back to the world of haulage we don’t lose the acquired rights and have to go back to stage 1 or whatever module is the equilivant. Im grateful to all that have taken the time to answer and hopefully it will assist others who may be in the same quandary as me!Cheers CM
There is no stage 1 or module but there are 35 hours of periodic training
If an acquired rights driver decides not to do anything and after 09/09/2014 does not have any periodic hours then they simply need to do 35 hours to be allowed to drive commercially again - that is not much help if you let the dcpc lapse and need to drive commercially in a few days time !
When does a new driver have to take his DCPC training before or after passing his HGV practical test ■■
SHYTOT:
When does a new driver have to take his DCPC training before or after passing his HGV practical test ■■
Either way but needs the provisional to do either
Modules 1a and 1b must be passed before doing module 3
Module 2 must be passed before doing module 4
That’s it assuming we are referring to a newbie without acquired dcpc rights