Reading in this weeks CM about the forthcoming driver CPC’s. There was a piece about the costs, and guess who’s footing the bill again.
The government want us all to have a seperate card saying we are qualified and this will cost about ₤25.
Why can’t they include it on our licences or the digital tacho card?
Er…That’d be like pretty much every other skilled trade and profession in the Western world then, wouldn’t it? Why should we be any different? 
Lucy:
Er…That’d be like pretty much every other skilled trade and profession in the Western world then, wouldn’t it? Why should we be any different?
How many other skilled professionals have a digital tacho card ?
Surely the issuing of the digi card can be linked to the CPC qualification.
Otherwise, my opinion is that the govt. is overwhelming us with bloody id cards to further their agenda of creating a national ID card that holds everything (supposedly), although I bet we’d still end up having multiple cards same as now.
You’re missing the point, Smoker. That point being that all other skilled trades etc. demand that their purveyors spend a great deal of money funding their training, and then pay to update that periodically - unless they are lucky enough to work for an employer who funds it for them, that is. Why the hell should drivers be any different?
As for Digi-cards, surely that’s just a tool of the trade - like maps, or satnav, or those handy lumphammers we all cart about?
A Sparky doesn’t carry his qualifications engraved on his toolbox - why should ours be engraved on our cards?
Just playing Devil’s Advocate, you understand…
Lucy, Henrys cat was talking about the cards, not the training. Why have another card when we already have at least 2 in relation to our specific job. Its “another” £25 for a piece of plastic …
If we could get the training for £25 and that included the card, fair enough, but if every driver has to have CPC and a digi tacho then why have seperate cards ?
That was exactly my point.
The digi tacho card has to be renewed every 5 years as will the CPC one, why not combine both in one, with one fee.
I’ll guarrentee alot of drivers will end up paying for some of the training costs themselves, especially if they work for small hauliers.
Because you need a card to drive any vehicle with a digital tacho, even if that vehicle doesn’t come under the criteria where you need a CPC - horseboxes are the obvious thing that springs to mind here, along with Bloodmobiles, etc. etc.
I can see what you’re saying, it does sound like a somewhat clunky system, but it’s the problem with paying for it that I don’t understand. You pay to train, pay to do your test and pay to have your licence updated accordly, after all - why would this be any different?
Someone has to pay for the admin in order to keep track of this stuff - especially since there will be a whole rake of different ways of doing the training; everything from in-house trickle-feed programs to one-hit courses. All of these will no doubt be funded in different ways and the information about a driver’s current training status has to be centrally stored somewhere. Every other trade pays for that service, why shouldn’t we?
1 line added to the digi tacho database - “CPC = 1”
or CPC=2 or CPC=3 depending on how much training they’ve had. It’s not hard really.
It’s all there on the chip on the card anyway. Seems silly to do it any other way.
As for out of scope vehicles, if it’s out of scope then it doesn’t need to be recorded, if they’re caught driving an in scope vehicle without the CPC tag on the digi card then they’re for the high jump.
Just more money for the old boys club I think 