URTU to appeal Driver CPC training status withdrawal
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THE UNITED Road Transport Union (URTU) is to appeal against last month’s decision by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) to withdraw its right to deliver Driver CPC training (CM 8 December).
A spokesman for the union confirmed that it would be attempting to overturn the action, which saw it become the first organisation to have its Driver CPC training approval withdrawn.
Under Driver CPC regulations, URTU had 28 days to lodge an appeal at a tier-one tribunal. The tribunal has powers to withdraw, suspend or continue an approval as it thinks fit. A date for the hearing has not yet been confirmed. URTU’s training provision was investigated by the DSA after two formal complaints about a health and safety course it ran at the Holiday Inn in Bristol on 4 September. The course was attended by 31 drivers paying £20 per head, including lunch. The complaints alleged that although the course started at 9am, ended at 2.15pm and included two 40-minute breaks, it was logged as seven hours’ training. For a full-day course to count towards the Driver CPC, it must include at least seven hours’ training. However owner-driver Paul James, of PA James Transport, expressed his surprise at the decision (see letters p20), describing it as “a thoroughly professional course”.