Lorry drivers need ongoing training
October 14th 2008

Sally Thornley, Head of Compliance Information Services with the Freight Transport Association discusses the key features and issues of the new European legislation which requires the initial and continuous training of vocational lorry drivers taking effect after September 2009.

Lorry drivers can rightly claim to be amongst the most skilful craftsmen in British industry. In part they must be an engineer, a navigator, a transport lawyer, a security man, and an ambassador for their company. Most of all they have to be an expert driver, able to manipulate and negotiate their vehicle in and out of areas and situations not dreamed of by the average car driver. Quite rightly the skills which they are obliged to demonstrate as part of their driving test again stretch way beyond those applying to the rest of us. And, also unlike the rest of us, from 2009 they will need to undergo a regular process of training in order to maintain and enhance their skills.

The new qualification is referred to as a Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence), but should not be confused with the CPC required for transport managers. This level 2 operational training is required for most vocational lorry drivers in addition to, but not instead of, their driving licence entitlement. The training includes fuel consumption, defensive driving, loading, drivers’ hours and operator licensing rules, transport contracts and documentation. And, very sensibly, it also includes customer care.

The new requirements will apply to drivers employed by undertakings established in an EU Member State who drive goods vehicles in categories, C1, C1+E, C or C+E. Pre-1991 licences with equivalent categories (such as HGV1) are also included, as are those driving vehicles on entitlements obtained by passing a car test before 1997, such as C1.

There are a number of exemptions from the training requirements, including: the armed forces, police, emergency/fire and rescue operations; non-commercial carriage for personal use; road testing for specific purposes; driver instruction to obtain a licence or CPC; and vehicles used to carry materials or equipment for the driver’s use in the course of their work, provided driving is not their principal activity. Those operating vehicles in these areas should speak to their trade association for more detailed advice.

Two fundamentally different types of training are included in the legislation– initial and periodic. Initial qualification for new drivers involves a test – provided the standard is reached and the test passed, it does not matter how much or how little training has been completed. However, for the periodic training required by all drivers, there is no obligatory test element; instead the driver must attend approved courses for a minimum period of time. Each course must be a minimum of seven hours long and the driver must complete a total of at least 35 hours over every five year period. The training will be recorded on a driver qualification card which must be carried on board the vehicle.

The date from which a driver must obtain his/her CPC depends on whether they are classed as new drivers or have acquired rights. Drivers with ‘acquired rights’ do not have to obtain an initial CPC. Goods vehicle drivers are deemed to have acquired rights if they hold the relevant category of driving licence on 10 September 2009 drivers. Periodic training must be completed by all drivers. Acquired rights drivers have until 10 September 2014 to complete their periodic training, while those who have passed an initial qualification have five years from the date they obtained their initial CPC.

The initial qualification will take the form of additional modules that for most drivers will be attached to their driver licence acquisition tests. So for most employers it will be business as usual in terms of employing new drivers. But they should bear in mind that, as acquired rights drivers do not have to obtain an initial qualification, demand for driving tests in the months leading up to 10 September 2009 is likely to be greatly increased - so book tests early to avoid the rush.

It will be extremely important to make sure that the planning for periodic training is not left too late. There are estimated to be around 500,000 lorry drivers in the UK and if they all wait until August 2014 to take their 35 hours of training, there will not be enough courses to go around. Training will be available from training providers via public courses and in-company, but operators may also want to consider whether they wish to convert existing in-house training to approved CPC training, and become approved training providers themselves.

One of the key issues that transport managers are going to have to juggle with is trying to manage the absence of drivers doing their training and not doing their job. The cheapest way of delivering training, whether it is done internally or by someone else, is to have everybody trained at the same time. But the downside to this is that if a company has only got five drivers, it will not want them to all do the course at the same time because there is a business to run. So there is a balance between driver resource and trying to get best value form the training you are paying for.

Also employers need to be planning ahead not just to ensure their drivers meet their training obligations, but to also ensure that they get the best operational value from the process. There is a lot of flexibility in relation to course content, provided it is linked to the core syllabus contained in the European directive. The training may be delivered in the classroom, cab or yard. This means individual employers or sectors may prescribe content and the Freight Transport Association’s training team is working with its members to provide relevant driver training. Thus the potentially greatest burden of the new legislation – periodic training – also holds the key opportunity for improvement in important areas of driver productivity, fuel efficiency and compliance. Further information on the driver CPC and FTA training courses can be found at: www.fta.co.uk/services/training

The FTA in a nutshell

The Freight Transport Association represents the transport interests of UK industry whether by road, rail, sea or air. FTA members operate over

220,000 goods vehicles, around half the UK fleet, and over a million light vans.

Over 90 per cent of the freight consigned by rail comes from

FTA members, together with around 70 per cent of all UK visible exports by sea and air. FTA members include supermarkets, retailers,

manufacturers, local authorities and any company or organisation that needs to move goods as part of its business operation.

FTA represents its members to both central and local government and to the EU in Brussels. It provides a range of specialist services, many of

them unique, designed to support and assist practical and efficient freight transport operations. Such services include information, legal advice,

vehicle inspections, training and seminars, tachograph products and analysis, publications, transport consultancy and much more.

The role of the Freight Transport Association is to encourage and support policies and actions which help create an operating environment enabling the efficient and economic movement of goods to the benefit of members and the transport industry.

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