Photo: www.intelligentcarleasing.com / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Logistics UK: 1-hour CPC plan raises safety concerns and devalues haulage sector’s professionalism

Yesterday, the UK Government unveiled a consultation regarding its plans for a new post-Brexit driver CPC training regime that would deviate from EU standards. The consultation has since attracted disparate reactions from two major logistics bodies in the UK, with the RHA welcoming the news and Logistics UK expressing serious concerns.

You can read this article in 4 minutes

As detailed in yesterday’s trans.iNFO report, the plans would see the UK diverge from EU standard training, resulting in a complex, multi-tiered training system with some qualifications only valid in the UK and others accepted across Europe.

The proposal would also see periodic training for the so-called ‘N-DCPC – periodic test’, which only applies to drivers operating on UK roads, cut down massively from 35 hours to as little as just one single hour.

Not long after news of the consultation broke, Richard Smith, the Road Haulage Association’s Managing Director, openly welcomed the news:

“We welcome the news that DfT is consulting on proposed DCPC reform to offer more choice and flexibility for drivers. This is a key priority for us as we continue to look for ways to tackle skills shortages in the transport sector. We look forward to reflecting our members’ views in the weeks ahead,” said Smith.

However, later on, Logistics UK issued a statement that made it abundantly clear it considers the consultation to be bad news.

According to the trade body, the consultation “raises serious safety concerns and devalues the professionalism of the road haulage sector”.

Chris Yarsley, Senior Policy Manager at Logistics UK, also called the proposals “bad news for road safety and haulage operators, as well as drivers.”

Yarsley added:

“Operating and driving heavy commercial vehicles is a challenging, complex role and to reduce the training opportunities for drivers when they need to be operating in line with the safest possible practices is simply unacceptable and could compromise the vital safety on which much of our industry is based.”

As trans.iNFO reported yesterday, the consultation document refers to numerous drawbacks concerning the proposed plans. This was something that Logistics UK’s Senior Policy Manager also touched on in his statement:

“DfT has also indicated that the proposals would result in more complexity within the DCPC regime itself, including a two-tier system for domestic and foreign driving qualifications, and that the new regime tabled would create confusion for drivers, leading to switching of courses, and therefore increased training time and costs. The department’s own plan states that these changes have the potential to create higher overheads, ‘which would most likely be borne by drivers of employers in the form of test and possibly training fees’ – an unacceptable burden to place on our members,” said Yarsley.

Yarsley then went on to elaborate on why Logistics UK believes the CPC changes would devalue the professionalism of road haulage in Britain:

“At a time when industry is trying to attract more people into the sector, and into such highly skilled jobs, any reduction in the professionalism required for the role would be a retrograde step and would devalue the skilled nature of the work required. Our members have never questioned the need for a Driver CPC regime, and welcome the reputation which attaining the current standard bestows on their businesses and their drivers.”

The Logistics UK representative then finished his statement by stressing that he and his colleagues would be responding to the consultation with their own ideas for how CPC training could be handled in the future:

“Logistics UK will be undertaking urgent work with its members to respond to these proposals and identify worthwhile methods to improve, rather than compromise, road safety, while increasing efficiency for businesses and the wider economy.”


Photo: www.intelligentcarleasing.com / Flickr / CC BY 2.0