I know it's not a full HGV fix but....
Discussion
Getragdogleg said:
It's won't help unless the government remove the required 35 hours of training.
As it is right now I know a few drivers who could hop in a lorry tomorrow if they didn't have that 35 hours of CPC to do.
Many won't do it because they believe that it's a waste of time and money.
I agree.
Waste of time possibly, although the first aid bit may save a few lives in the future.As it is right now I know a few drivers who could hop in a lorry tomorrow if they didn't have that 35 hours of CPC to do.
Many won't do it because they believe that it's a waste of time and money.
I agree.
Cost is a mere £50 a year.
and31 said:
Bin the driver cpc,we all know it’s a waste of time(I would still have the initial one for new passes though)
And let drivers be self employed if they want to be-IR35 has played a big part in all this.
I echo thisAnd let drivers be self employed if they want to be-IR35 has played a big part in all this.
Had my latest course a couple of weeks ago, done inhouse so i don't have to pay for it as such
7 hours of being told what might happen if i drink or take drugs before driving, the consequences of having an accident and how the company deals with the consequences of peoples actions
Not one bit of that makes any difference to how i drive
7.5 ton driving had an added bonus too.
Generally those who wanted to go lorry driving started out on vans and 7.5 tonners, and 7.5 tonners drive lorry like with both size and road grip penalties that larger lorries suffer from.
So, couple of years with a 7.5 tonner, you'd got used to 8' 6" wide vehicles and how they handle, started to find your way about in wider vehicles, and most importantly had a feel for whether full size lorry driving was the game for you, better that than waste up to £4k gaining your licence only, as so many do, find its not what you expected.
As for the DCPC, its not perfect by any means, though the rules and regs and driving hours modules are well worth doing every now and again, even the longest serving drivers need being brought up to speed on.
First aid too, well worth the time.
Endless videos of half wits doing damage with fork lifts is a waste of everyones time and money.
What it should include though is more hands on stuff related to actual lorry driving, ie groups discussions on how lorries actually work, on vehicle loading weight distribution handling and improving grip and how and when and when not to use the various driver aids most vehicles are fitted with.
The lack of knowledge about such things in the industry even from long serving drivers is shocking, as evidenced by the hoplessness of so many at the first flurry of snow, no matter how long you've been doing the job every day is a schoolday and you'd be surprised what you can do with a standard artic on air suspension to get you out of a spinning and going nowhere siutation.
However such detailed discussions would require long term lorry experienced people to either host or be included in chairing and encouraging, so many DCPC trainers do not have the lorry experience for this.
Generally those who wanted to go lorry driving started out on vans and 7.5 tonners, and 7.5 tonners drive lorry like with both size and road grip penalties that larger lorries suffer from.
So, couple of years with a 7.5 tonner, you'd got used to 8' 6" wide vehicles and how they handle, started to find your way about in wider vehicles, and most importantly had a feel for whether full size lorry driving was the game for you, better that than waste up to £4k gaining your licence only, as so many do, find its not what you expected.
As for the DCPC, its not perfect by any means, though the rules and regs and driving hours modules are well worth doing every now and again, even the longest serving drivers need being brought up to speed on.
First aid too, well worth the time.
Endless videos of half wits doing damage with fork lifts is a waste of everyones time and money.
What it should include though is more hands on stuff related to actual lorry driving, ie groups discussions on how lorries actually work, on vehicle loading weight distribution handling and improving grip and how and when and when not to use the various driver aids most vehicles are fitted with.
The lack of knowledge about such things in the industry even from long serving drivers is shocking, as evidenced by the hoplessness of so many at the first flurry of snow, no matter how long you've been doing the job every day is a schoolday and you'd be surprised what you can do with a standard artic on air suspension to get you out of a spinning and going nowhere siutation.
However such detailed discussions would require long term lorry experienced people to either host or be included in chairing and encouraging, so many DCPC trainers do not have the lorry experience for this.
Has anyone mentioned the driver CPC yet 
Remove that and it would help a lot. Myself and many many older driver just packed in or gave up a bit of ad hoc driving here and there when that came in.
I paid for the medical, then renewed medical and got (PAID) for a driver card, just in case but never even used it once all down to the CPC, (i have an old national cpc)
Anyway licence went back 6 months ago to remove all HGV entitlements
and I'm only early 50s, fook them it's not about the money never was it was good money, it was about all the unnecessary red tape and legislation.
The biggest single thing in years to help drivers exit the market was the driver cpc as well as having to do a Class 2 licence then re pay for all the training to then resit a class 1, that has now been recently removed back to the old system as the industry really is up s
t creek.
Any that's before you even consider the age demographic of HGV drivers, it's going to get a lot worse.
Remove that and it would help a lot. Myself and many many older driver just packed in or gave up a bit of ad hoc driving here and there when that came in.
I paid for the medical, then renewed medical and got (PAID) for a driver card, just in case but never even used it once all down to the CPC, (i have an old national cpc)
Anyway licence went back 6 months ago to remove all HGV entitlements
and I'm only early 50s, fook them it's not about the money never was it was good money, it was about all the unnecessary red tape and legislation. The biggest single thing in years to help drivers exit the market was the driver cpc as well as having to do a Class 2 licence then re pay for all the training to then resit a class 1, that has now been recently removed back to the old system as the industry really is up s
t creek.Any that's before you even consider the age demographic of HGV drivers, it's going to get a lot worse.
Gassing Station | Commercial Break | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff