Training Daze

The Driver CPC might not be liked by professional drivers but it is a legal requirement. Our man takes a deep breath and signs up to do all 35 hours in one week

- Rikki Chequer

If you obtained your initial Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (Driver CPC) in 2009 via acquired rights, and completed 35 hours of training before 2014, there is a date that should be in your diary: 19 September 2019. By then, any driver in the above category must have completed another 35 hours of Driver CPC training.

Training providers report that over the past five years take-up of courses has been lower than expected. It is possible a number of professional drivers are intending to leave the industry, or that some believe that with Brexit looming the Driver CPC will be scrapped. However, there is no indication this will happen, so as the deadline looms it is likely that more and more drivers will be scrabbling for training places.

The Driver CPC is one of the most common reasons for drivers to contact T&D. Often they are concerned about poor training, instructors who simply get things wrong, training venues that are little more than a grotty portable building stuck in the corner of a warehouse/yard, or the lunacy that entails a driver sitting the same seven hour course five times and still gaining the qualification.

Even the idea of sitting in a classroom for seven hours sends shudders down many a driver’s spine, but as time runs out it might be that drivers will have to think about doing the full 35 hours in a single chunk, even though a week out of the truck is perhaps not the most appealing of scenarios. To experience what this is like, T&D booked onto one such course.

Initial research

The first step was to do some research into training providers – the idea of the grim portable building really didn't appeal. We plumped for Peter Smythe Transport Training (PSTT), based at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.