Truck driver launches anti CPC training petition online
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By Hayley Pink
A WEST MIDLANDS truck driver has launched a petition to get the Driver CPC requirement abandoned.
Tony Thompson, a driver at a Walsall-based small haulage firm, tells CM he was spurred into action after discovering the “high level of discontentment” from his peers up and down the country.
He says the majority of drivers he has spoken to believe the principle of the Driver CPC – to improve safety – is a good one, but the reality is that the training involves classroom-based courses “going through the steps that we know already”.
“It’s not teaching us anything we don’t [already] know,” he adds.
The e-petition, launched last week, will need to obtain 100,000 signatures to be considered for a debate in Parliament.
Thompson says it took him several attempts before he was given permission to run the campaign, with earlier requests for a CPC e-petition being refused by the Department for Transport.
With the industry facing a potential driver shortage, as highlighted in CM (17 May), the Driver CPC could exacerbate the situation, warns Thompson. He says a number of the older drivers he has spoken to are not keen on taking the test, opting to retire instead. He also backs up industry concerns that there will be a lastminute rush for training, as many drivers are waiting until the 11th hour to undertake Driver CPC training in case the scheme is scrapped. “We’re just trying to get by. We have enough legislation already. Competency should be left to the employer to ascertain,” adds Thompson.
To view the e-petition, go to: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/ petitions/33997 • A survey of agency LGV drivers has revealed that nearly two-thirds have yet to do any training to meet the 2014 deadline for mandatory CPC driver accreditation. The poll of 1,000 drivers by specialist haulage agency ADR found that 63% (627) had not started their CPC training, while 37% (373) had. Andrew Waldon, ND of ADR, says: “I worry that in 2014, when many drivers will leave the industry because they don’t want to do their CPC, there could be the perfect storm.”