(Sort of) new to HGV/LGV

Hi everyone

I drove HGV professionally for about seven years, until around 2000, when I had some serious health issues (which included needing a heart bypass), and I decided to throw my licence back at the DVLA and say to them, ‘keep it, I don’t need it anymore’. Well, thirteen years later I find myself tinkering with the thought of returning to the road! Needs must etc.

My, things have changed, haven’t they? What’s all this CPC for drivers business? And that digital tacho? Don’t worry, no need to answer, I have read enough to know what they are. Shocking - in my day, which ain’t that long ago, I took some lessons, got the licence and off I went, merrily doing mainly supermarket stuff, or tramping up and down the M5/M6 every night.

Anyway, you don’t want to hear the whole, probably boring, story, but I did want to ask… if I once held an HGV licence, would I still have to do this driver CPC? I voluntarily gave up my entitlement to drive trucks, it was NOT on medical grounds, no-one told me to do it, not a doctor, not DVLA. I personally felt at the time that the endless diet of cigarettes and burgers/KFC did me a lot of harm, not necessarily the driving itself (although sitting on one’s derriere cannot have helped!). And no, I don’t have those habits anymore.

I’m quite prepared to go through the driver training, obviously; after all this time I’d be no use to anyone I suppose, without some training, but if I can avoid the CPC thing I’d happier about that.

I do have other questions, but I suspect that they are addressed in the stickies herein, so I’ll leave that for now.

Cheers guys and gals.

If you’ve surrendered your licence or not you have t do dCPC either through the “acquired rights” system, whereby you complete 35hrs of training before 9/9/2014 or if DVLA deem that you have to resit your test (i’m not sure where you stand with this) then you’ve to do the modules through your training provider.

As far as I understand them it’s a module of case studies and then a practical module showing that you can carry out the walk round checks and couple/uncouple. I’m there are plenty of folk more experienced on this aspect to tell you more about it.

dCPC is a pain but I personally don’t see it going anywhere and it’s something that we have will all have to do if we want to drive LGVs commercially.

Do the D4 form medical for about £55 and send it to DVLA then wait to see what they say :bulb:

As the rules on drivers hours changed in 2007 then it might be a good idea to read those - check out the safety and law forum

When you surrendered your HGV did you retain C1 (7.5 tonne)? Cos if you did you have acquired rights until September next year. Following that reasoning, you would need to complete 35 hours of periodic training before then. It will also make you a better bet when you go for a job.

The alternative is that you will need Mod 2 (case study theory test) and Mod 4 (short practical walk-round test). That would then give you a dcpc for 5 years which you can increase to 10 years by immediately completing 35 hours of periodic training.

The cpc has a bad press - mainly justified. But there are some of us that continue to work damned hard to make it an enjoyable and usefull exercise. So dont believe all you hear.

I wish you all the best for your return to the industry.

Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Thanks Pete. No, I didn’t retain anything but my car and m/bike licence.

Ho hum.

These ‘modules’, I take it there is sufficient information on this site about them to tell me broadly what I need to know at this point?

Also, it seems I would be best now doing a doctor’s medical and sending off to DVLA to see if they would give me a provisional.

Speaking of which, if I did get a provisional, would that only cover Cat C, and then if I passed that if I wanted to train for Cat C+E I would need another separate provisional licence?

Overdrive Olly:
Thanks Pete. No, I didn’t retain anything but my car and m/bike licence.

Ho hum.

These ‘modules’, I take it there is sufficient information on this site about them to tell me broadly what I need to know at this point?

Also, it seems I would be best now doing a doctor’s medical and sending off to DVLA to see if they would give me a provisional.

Speaking of which, if I did get a provisional, would that only cover Cat C, and then if I passed that if I wanted to train for Cat C+E I would need another separate provisional licence?

Passing C gets an automatic CE provisional

When doing D2 form tick both C & D so any future medicals cover LGV & PCV at no extra cost

Cool, thanks.

I just got my licence out of the wallet… here’s what’s on it, does it make sense in the light of what I’ve said? In the section, ‘14’, it has:

A (01)
B (01)
BE (01)
C1 (01)
C1E (01, 107)
D1 (01, 101)
D1E (01, 101, 119)
fklnp (01, 118)

Each has an expiry date of my 70th birthday (I think!)

There are codes in column 12, which I’ve put above in brackets.

Overdrive Olly:
Cool, thanks.

I just got my licence out of the wallet… here’s what’s on it, does it make sense in the light of what I’ve said? In the section, ‘14’, it has:

A (01)
B (01)
BE (01)
C1 (01)
C1E (01, 107)
D1 (01, 101)
D1E (01, 101, 119)
fklnp (01, 118)

Each has an expiry date of my 70th birthday (I think!)

There are codes in column 12, which I’ve put above in brackets.

You have LGV C1 so cannot do initial LGV DCPC
You are in LGV periodic system so can drive LGVs commercially until 09/09/2014
You just need to do the D4 medical - if there is a medical issue then DVLA will inform you of that after receiving the D4
If you do not already have D provisional on the paper part of licence then it might be useful to send a D2 form and ticking D as the D4 medical can be used to activate that D provisional without any extra cost

If you ever decide to go for D then you will not need a medical and as D1(101) is now counted as aquired rights for PCV then you will not have to do initial PCV DCPC either and your LGV periodic will count for PCV if you ever decide to pass the PCV D test

Depending on the exact circumstances of you not holding your HGV anymore, I think there’s a possibility you could claim your full licence by sending in the medical form D4 with a D2 licence application. Maybe a covering letter could help. You have nothing to lose except a bit of time whilst they mull it over.

Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Guess what?

I rang DVLA and they say that if I send in medical D4, with application form D2 for a full licence, and it’s a pass medical, they will give me my HGV1 back (or rather LGV C+E)!

How fantastic is that?!!! :smiley:

I would then have to do a medical every three years, they say.

Oh, and of course do the DCPC too.

So all that stands between me and joining you lot is a medical/eyesight :exclamation:

Fingers crossed. ■■■

Overdrive Olly:
Guess what?

I rang DVLA and they say that if I send in medical D4, with application form D2 for a full licence, and it’s a pass medical, they will give me my HGV1 back (or rather LGV C+E)!

How fantastic is that?!!! :smiley:

I would then have to do a medical every three years, they say.

Oh, and of course do the DCPC too.

So all that stands between me and joining you lot is a medical/eyesight :exclamation:

Fingers crossed. ■■■

Tick D on the D2 for that free provisional :bulb:

Gotcha.

This is going to take a bit of time to work out, as the medical is not until the 14th, and I’ll need to arrange the eyesight one too.

Then it’s the DCPC, and then, because I’m a sensible kind of fellow, I will want a refresher course of some sort, or maybe a few hours on the road with a sympathetic owner/driver…

Still, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, as it all hinges on a medical, and there’s no guarantee that DVLA will like what they read on that. :frowning:

Still, the future is a bit brighter, I think, than it was when I woke up.

OO