Why do we need transport managers?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

before obtaining an o’licence you need to appoint a transport manager.
it could be yourself or an employee.
he or she is just a name on a piece of paper who happens to have past a couple of exams, and therefore is regarded to be of good repute.
does this mean that me or you are of bad repute?
you can do your cpc national and international in prison FFS.

surely an individuals repute should be proven on how he or she runs their business, not about a useless bit of paper.

i think you should simply be allowed an o’licence, then it can be taken off you if you break the rules, simple really.
as long as you can afford to run your truck and have a parking area which has been passed by your local council, then that should be it.

what do you think?

2

Your post is so misguided I’m not sure where to begin! But I would suggest that you look more closely into the manager’s cpc before writing it off as a useless piece of paper!

therefore is regarded to be of good repute.

The cpc doesn’t give you good repute. Good repute is a requirement in addition to holding the cpc. :laughing: :laughing:

3

i have looked at it, in fact i’ve got a whole load of cpc files at home.

but lets face it. if you employ a TM, he is an employee, and does what the boss says.
if you are your own TM, then you do as you please, legal or not legal.

in other words you can be a good opperator or a bad one, with or without a cpc. That’s what i mean by useless bit of paper.
so i think if you have an hgv licence, for which you require a theory test, a driver cpc, and the practical test. then you should be seen as good enough to run your own truck.

it’s ok in other eu countries, so why is it so different here?

4

it’s ok in other eu countries,

Don’t think so :laughing:

if you employ a TM, he is an employee, and does what the boss says.

Don’t think so :laughing:

so i think if you have an hgv licence, for which you require a theory test, a driver cpc, and the practical test. then you should be seen as good enough to run your own truck.

Don’t think so :laughing:

in other words you can be a good opperator or a bad one, with or without a cpc

I’ll let you have that one! :laughing:

Looks like job’s stuffed then!! Best get out quick :laughing: :laughing:

5

limeyphil:
surely an individuals repute should be proven on how he or she runs their business, not about a useless bit of paper?

I agree, but unfortunately we have a system whereby people who sit in a classroom to learn how to operate a truck know more than people who can actually operate a truck.

In the recession to come, these people will fall by the wayside.

6

My wife took her CPC, she is/was my transport manager when we had the truck…

She knows sod all about trucks/maps/maintenance etc… Yet she passed it. Did sod all, and i am of good repute :grimacing:

I agree with Phil :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing:

7

I am a transport manager for a fairly large (150 + vehicles) company.

I do not do what the boss tells me, I do what is right and legal.

If you didn’t have a transport manager who would you go to with all your questions on legal matters?

Who would keep you up to date with current legislation? (mirrors etc)

Granted you probably could run a business without one but if you have more than a handful of vehicles its a LOT of responsibility.

Drivers hours, defects, servicing, inspections, vehicle records, dealing with prohibitions (if your unfortunate) and all the other associated crap we have to deal with.

Truth be told I could use an assistant but thats not going to happen.

CPC is not about good repute, the CPC is there to make sure you are competant enough to be a transport manager, and run a fleet. They have been progressivley making the CPC harder too, its harder to pass now than it was 3 years ago when I got mine and even then some of the people taking it with me had done it 3 times before :open_mouth:

I don’t want to shoot anyone down but the simple fact is you need us, whether you have a good un or a bad un.

You do make a good point tho, regardless of CPC you can be a bad operator, as some of the recent court cases have shown.

As far as I can see, 1 truck = not really much need for a TM, 10+ = NEED ONE

I could probably go on a lot longer but you are probably fed up reading this by now :laughing:

Cheers
Mike

8

Yours is a completey inane question, you could apply the same senitiment to the driving licence, if someone can drive, just give them a licence until they do something wrong then take it away■■? :unamused:

9

On a tangent, you could ask why do we need the police?

Useless rozzers

(ducks while dodging the brick thrown through the wondow!)

10

We’ve recently changed TM’s.
We ( about 40 drivers ) operate 7 days a week,and actually work either 4,5 or6 days,so we have a rota whereby our days off alter week to week to accomodate weekly rest periods.
The previous TM had it down to a tee,and the rota worked like a well oiled machine,but since this muppet ( an ex driver BTW ) started,he’s started to change things just for the sake of it,just so that he can be SEEN to be doing something.The whole shebang has gone to ratshit,and drivers are getting phone calls at dark o clock on their days off to come in and work :imp: A piece of paper does not make a good TM :unamused:

11

This sort of question has been raised on here before somewhere I think, the bottom line seems to be that - if you hold an LGV licence you should be automatically entitled to operate a truck without further exams, well in my opinion that is total twaddle, you may be able to do the CPC in nick but when you apply for an operators licence you have to report any criminal convictions, lets face it there can’t be many things, exams or otherwise you can’t do in the nick apart from probably taking a driving test and the way thats going you will soon be able to do your LGV in a young offenders institute.

Passing the LGV test does not qualify you to do any more than would passing a car test except that you can drive a larger vehicle, passing the CPC (proper one, not the one that comes free) proves that you have an understanding of transport laws, contract law, vehicle loading, costings, maintenance and a raft of other stuff that a driver only dreams of in his nightmares.

Also - I DO[/b] have a CPC, so if I had to pass the exams why shouldn’t you?

12

“Why do we need transport managers”■■ You may well ask Phil. They are needed in order to keep guys like you under some sort of control. A vain hope I know. But fair play to them for trying. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

13

New postby Coddy » Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:35 am
My wife took her CPC, she is/was my transport manager when we had the truck…

She knows sod all about trucks/maps/maintenance etc… Yet she passed it. Did sod all, and i am of good repute :grimacing:

Well that’s 2 lots of good repute up the proverbial! :laughing: :laughing:

14

limeyphil:
before obtaining an o’licence you need to appoint a transport manager.
it could be yourself or an employee.

Yes the Transport manager must be named as he will be accepting FULL responsibility to ensure that both the company and the driver will operate at all times in accordance with the law. If the Company is found to be ignoring the regulations then the named person is the one who has to answer to the Commissioner, Common Sense Really :wink:

limeyphil:
he or she is just a name on a piece of paper who happens to have past a couple of exams, and therefore is regarded to be of good repute.

No it’s not that at all, They do have a test certificate that proves they have the working knowledge of business as in Certificate of Professional Competence i.e CPC

It is nothing to do with repute

limeyphil:
does this mean that me or you are of bad repute?

No it doesn’t it just means you dont have a certificate proving professional Competence

limeyphil:
you can do your cpc national and international in prison FFS.

Yes but you will probably struggle to get accepted as a Transport managert because you have lost your good Repute

Again, it’s common sense really.

limeyphil:
surely an individuals repute should be proven on how he or she runs their business, not about a useless bit of paper.

No It Shouldn’t, because you could run a company badly behind the scenes

limeyphil:
i think you should simply be allowed an o’licence, then it can be taken off you if you break the rules, simple really.
as long as you can afford to run your truck and have a parking area which has been passed by your local council, then that should be it.

what do you think?

Oh so in that case too hell with having to know anything about running a transport company before hand, just buy a truck and run it without the knowledge of Construction & use Regulations, calculating running costs etc etc etc, great Idea Phil, lets do away with the CPC requirement and let every Tom ■■■■ or Harry buy a truck and start learning as they go

Sometimes, just sometimes I tend to wonder which land some Drivers actually live in? Definitely Cloud Cuckoo Land for you mate Lol :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

15

limeyphil:
before obtaining an o’licence you need to appoint a transport manager.
it could be yourself or an employee.
he or she is just a name on a piece of paper who happens to have past a couple of exams, and therefore is regarded to be of good repute.
does this mean that me or you are of bad repute?
you can do your cpc national and international in prison FFS.

surely an individuals repute should be proven on how he or she runs their business, not about a useless bit of paper.

i think you should simply be allowed an o’licence, then it can be taken off you if you break the rules, simple really.
as long as you can afford to run your truck and have a parking area which has been passed by your local council, then that should be it.

what do you think?

I think I take a bit of exception to this

after more than 20 years of driving all over Europe and even further afield I was asked to become a Transport Manager which I have now being doing for more than two years quite successfully.

results

7%-10% rise in turnover and profitability per trailer
a zero rate of turn over amongst the drivers because they are happy and know that my door is always open and the coffee machine is on.

Good repute me ? maybe even though some might call me an awkward cantakerous sod
as a driver I think I broke just about every tacho rule in the book.

and look at me now ? home every night, clean hands and over 45 grand a year.

and who are you to judge people like me saying we should prove this that or the other ?

16

Vas I’m not sure in what sense your posting but lets face facts

You have not been prosecuted for Theft or Robbery or deliberately defrauding etc etc etc seriously discrediting your reputation, therefore I dont think repute can be classed as Bad in your case.

However

You have a bloody long career in the Transport Industry with a boat load of experience, and more than likely forgotten more than you know. That in itself makes a good TM you’ve been there, done it and no doubt got the T Shirt, however, when it comes to Phils opinion he’s expecting everyone to be able to just buy a Truck and learn the ropes as they go along, surely you dont agree with that?

Some Drivers have been out on the Roads for say 3 years and now think they know it all, and are ready to start their own haulage company, despite not having the faintest idea about pricing up a job to take into account the wear and tear of the vehicle, the maintainance costs the running costs etc etc etc.

Yep the TM is a lazy barsteward after all, he’s always sitting on his backside with his feet on the desk :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

If he can run a business then so can anyone, at least thats the opinion I see from some of the Newbies in the Industry :open_mouth:

17

Davey Driver:
Vas I’m not sure in what sense your posting but lets face facts
You have not been prosecuted for Theft or Robbery or deliberately defrauding etc etc etc seriously discrediting your reputation, therefore I dont think repute can be classed as Bad in your case.

more the point of you can be an angel but a bloody useless TM whereas someone who has used all the tricks and knows them all inside out is usually far better at controlloing the I know it better brigade

Davey Driver:
However

You have a bloody long career in the Transport Industry with a boat load of experience, and more than likely forgotten more than you know. That in itself makes a good TM you’ve been there, done it and no doubt got the T Shirt,

Most kind of you to say so Davey

Davey Driver:
however, when it comes to Phils opinion he’s expecting everyone to be able to just buy a Truck and learn the ropes as they go along, surely you dont agree with that?

It has been done as we both know and many are the bog companies arond these days that started in such a manner. But with the avalanche of new legislation over the last few years and the repercussions of not knowing said legislation inside out and back to front it is not something I would advise these days or even like to see done.

Davey Driver:
Some Drivers have been out on the Roads for say 3 years and now think they know it all, and are ready to start their own haulage company, despite not having the faintest idea about pricing up a job to take into account the wear and tear of the vehicle, the maintainance costs the running costs etc etc etc.

Most of those do not stay in business for long, usually just long enough to screw the prices in the area that they operate in

Davey Driver:
Yep the TM is a lazy barsteward after all, he’s always sitting on his backside with his feet on the desk :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

If he can run a business then so can anyone, at least thats the opinion I see from some of the Newbies in the Industry :open_mouth:

Of course he is the lazy sod does nowt all day

or so some of mine thought and even commented :open_mouth: :open_mouth: soon cured them though just sat them down for a morning at a desk next to me and used them as my assistent for a couple of hours by which time they had usually had enough then I point out see you were only doing what I told you to do once the decision had been taken now find the time to take the decision as well.

Now there is not one of them who thinks the TM is a lazy sod, they even bring me bottles of wine when they have been doing the wine collections :sunglasses: :sunglasses: :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

yes bribery is useful and also acceptable

18

I can see where the op is coming from with regards to an owner driver responsible for himself then whats it for, being in charge of other drivers is another matter though.

Surely I should be able to hire a truck and go and do a job without knowing how to run a business.

19

a transport manager doesn’t run a business, that is the job of the bloke who owns the company.

i past my national and international cpc in 1987 or 88.

i know a lot more about the job than i did back then, so what’s the point of a piece of paper?

why not be allowed to run up to 3 trucks without it?
maybe after 3 years of prosecution free driving?

the ecconomy is [zb]ed because of legislation.

20

maybe i should have given the subject title as “why do we need cpc holders?”
you could have a very good transport manager without a cpc. you could have a terrible transport manager with a cpc.
so my conclusion up to now is.“we don’t need national and international cpc holders, just good managers”.

but you lot who think having a cpc qualifies you to run a business are living in cloud cuckoo land.