The comments were made in the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain: Annual Report to the Secretary of State 2021-2022 document published earlier this week.
Page 14 of the report contains a section on Certificates of Professional Competence (CPC).
The section contains three paragraphs on the subject, two of which concern the topic transport managers allegedly obtaining foreign-issued CPC certificates despite being resident in the UK for a substantial period of time. The report refers to such certificates as a “certificate of convenience”.
“Traffic commissioners have noted a number of people presenting certificates issued outside of the United Kingdom, despite the person having been resident in the UK for a number of years. The traffic commissioners do not accept a certificate of convenience,” states the report.
The report then goes on to explain that transport managers with such certificates can expect close scrutiny of their applications:
“Transport managers who have gone to another country because they find the exams easier can expect close scrutiny of their applications to see whether they can meet the requirement to effectively and continuously manage transport operations in Great Britain. The commissioners want to maintain robust standards and will continue to take action against deficient operations and management.”
Elsewhere in the report, Commissioners said they were particularly concerned with the number of cases referred to them where tipper vehicles have been poorly loaded and not correctly sheeted.
Data from the report also showed that the number of Goods Vehicle Licence revocations in 2021-22 was 302, a significant increase on 2020-21, when the equivalent figure was 167. There was also an increase in HGV driver licence revocations from 128 in 2020-21 to 218 in 2021-2022.