Why should I care about Driver CPC?
Driving will be illegal if you have not completed your 35 hours of periodic training by September 2014
It is the responsibility of individual drivers to ensure that they comply with the requirements of Driver CPC
It is in the interests of employers to ensure that their drivers are compliant
DSA has estimated that 590,000 LGV drivers and 160,000 PCV drivers will require a Driver CPC card. Over 25 million training hours will need to be completed to get all drivers compliant by September 2014
DSA has stated that Driver CPC is here to stay and that it will be enforced
How is the industry doing as a whole?
Between 10 September 2008 and 31 March 2011:
- Less than 5 million Driver CPC periodic training hours were completed
- Fewer than 15,000 Driver CPC qualification cards were issued through completing 35 hours periodic training
- Fewer than 25,000 Driver CPC qualification cards had been issued through completing the initial Driver CPC qualification
What does this mean?
Of the estimated 750,000 drivers who will require it, fewer than 40,000 achieved Driver CPC over a two and a half year period.
Seventeen times as many drivers will need to complete their training in the remaining three and a half years. As more drivers realise they are legally responsible for completing their training, demand for course places will increase.
There is a short fall of millions of training hours that must be completed each year to avoid a disaster in 2014. A very real risk exists that, by 2014, the demand for Driver CPC training will outstrip training capacity
More than 1,000 trainers will be required to meet demand, but their qualification will also place a burden on resources.