UK Truck Drivers CPC Keep It or Bin It? HGV Driver Costs!

UK Truck Drivers CPC Keep It or Bin It? Do Truckers Learn Anything! In this video, I give you my opinion about the Drivers CPC Periodic training, a controversial directive that continues to lose the trucking industry valuable drivers every year.

The Drivers CPC was a directive, introduced in Britain in 2003 which requires professional drivers who are driving vehicles over 3.5 tonnes to have a certificate of professional competence. The thought process behind the directive is it would improve the knowledge and skills of drivers throughout their working careers.

The problem with the CPC introduction was that many drivers saw the directive as yet another kick in the teeth incorporating more legislation that would impact truck drivers' time and in many cases hit them hard in their pockets too.

Drivers were forced to attend the CPC courses or they could no longer drive HGV vehicles, also included in the ruling are Coach drivers and minibus drivers who drive to make a living.

The CPC course consists of 35 hours of training in a classroom which must be completed every 5 years by every professional driver in the UK driving vehicles over 3.5 tons, the training is done in chunks of 7 hours at a time so this effectively takes 5 days to complete.

Drivers who have to pay for the courses themselves could be out of pocket by as much as £1000 after paying in the region of £300 for the course, losing 5 days work and traveling expenses to the venue.

Many drivers who had years of experience driving trucks did not want to sit in a classroom listening to a tutor talking for hours on end about things that they already know.

My experience of a CPC course was you would sit there all day watching the clock tick away praying for it to go faster. I even had one examiner spend most of the day talking about his family and the history of his life, nothing to do with trucking at all.

Basically, the whole CPC periodic training is seen as a complete waste of time by drivers all over the country with the majority dreading the thought of having to sit in a classroom all day and having to listen to dribble for 7 hours.

Recently mainly due to Covid, online CPC courses have sprung up which if I had to choose between the two, sounds a better option than a classroom, but overall the CPC has lost the trucking industry many highly experienced drivers since the directive was introduced in 2003.

My personal opinion is to scrap it! If there is any additional training that a driver requires the onus should be put on individual companies to provide additional training if necessary, otherwise there will be many more drivers leaving the haulage industry unnecessarily.

The hours spent in a classroom to maybe pick up the odd couple of things you perhaps didn’t know and in most cases, the answer probably wouldn’t even affect your day-to-day jobs are simply not worth it.

Any professional driver who finds he or she is struggling with something regarding their job will use their own resources to find the answers they require to any issues they have regarding their driving jobs, any changes to a specific job should be dealt with by haulage companies informing drivers of any new regulations.

Well, that is my opinion of the CPC Periodic training which I believe has lost the trucking industry many great drivers since its introduction and continues to cause drivers to leave the industry still.

British Trucking Video - UK Truck Drivers CPC Keep It or Bin It? Do Truckers Learn Anything!

#britishtrucking #drivercpc #uktruckdriving

[jerrysilvester]

Been retired for 2 years would come back tomorrow as I still have a didgi card and license but I am not going to pay 250.00 just to do cpc that has always been a waste of time and money

[martinstewart]

It’s the greatest load crap ever. I did a CPC course and had a 17yr old girl tell me how to get into a truck with three points of entry I’ve only been driving for 40yrs
What a joke 👍👍🤛🏻

[barthomer]

Bin it or face the concuiquences. Look in your supermarkets I've been in Asda, Co-op Sainsbury's empty shelves. Scrap CPC I would go back part-time it all helps and would give me some xtra money.

[danielwalker]

The DCPC is an utter disgrace: a complete and utter waste of time and money. You are spot on.

[Marky.H]

Subscribed!!! Can I just say that everything you said in this video is spot on. I've grown up in this industry and passed my test in 1992. I haven't turned the wheel of a truck since this bullsh*t legislation came out. Has nothing to do with improving driver skills. Its purely a revenue maker. The fact i can do the same module 5 times and sleep through the lot and still pass proves that very point

[pauldrinkwater]

Totally agree . Get rid of the CPC .
I would come back driving tomorrow .

[danielmurray]

Totally agree I have been training and teacher never driven s truck before and you have to pay for course, cpc same as driven test pertaining to same questions

[markusdoerr]

It is irrelevant I’m not bothered. Pay, toilets, showers, treatment at loading/unloading points… are more important. This CPC is a distraction from the real issues and abolishing will not bring drivers back.

[dafragro]

Been driving fire engines for over 15 years and used to do a bit of agency for large supermarket. Packed in couple of years ago, whats the cpc gonna give me what i dont already know or like you say let the company provide the training. Might be back one day if things change.

[hadibadashi]

Been a truck driver since I was 17 and a shortage of drivers has always been the case. Now at 58 nothing has changed same message different decade.

[themanwhocan]

I'm pcv driver and the cpc has got no relevance to the job

I imagine hgv to be the same

[jonleeks]

Hi i stop driving just before the cpc came out due to starting a family, i was thinking of going back to driving which means id have to reapply for my licence as im now over the age of 45 " but " i'm not going too unless the cpc is scrapped, its such a total waste of my time and money. if a professional need this, why go for your test in the first place.
a professional driver means your competent to do the bloody job already. [ SCRAP IT ]

[Fozzy-ttyc]

They are reporting a driver shortage of up-to 100, 000. My son passed his class 2 licence in April and has to wait until the end of August to do the cpc course.If it was scrapped he would probably have been driving for 4 months now. Just another money making government scam. I Retired from driving 12 months ago after 35 years and would never go back. The chickens are coming home to roost now with haulage companies. Maybe they will start treating drivers with the respect they deserve, and pay the money.

[pstanyer]

Russian drivers don't have the cpc and can drive in Europe using the old green card system. There is no reason our drivers could not do the same. The government decided to keep it as it was.

[jhardy]

Cpc you can do the same module 5 times as along as it adds up to 35hours 5x7hours per module that says it all, pay the money that’s all they want !

[alanharwood]

CPC is a total waste of time and money 💰 in house relivant training makes lot more sense

[skill]

Bin It . ask 99% of drivers and they will say the same. The dreamed up CPC by some health and safety quango is a waste of time and not even needed.

[iangibson]

I will be another truck driver hanging up his licence next Feb, as I've not done any cpc since I did my last lot in 2017. Had enough of the shite wages and office staff bs. Aldi shelf stacker are on 16p less than me for a no brainer job.

[georgelumsden]

As you say waste of time and money, you learn more on the road common sense, I learned of by heart 40 questions to pass my class 1 LGV and drove for 30 years before retiring, and never had to sit my cpc, if you want to keep wheels moving get of drivers backs and just let them get on with the job!

[JenniferMasons]

My CPC expires this October, then I'm out. Get rid and I'll carry on.