Driver CPC needed to take vehicle for Annual Test

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VOSA and the DSA have announced that mechanics who are taking a vehicle for its annual test will require a Driver CPC.  However, if only taking for a road test it will not be required.

This has come as a shock to the industry which had not been prepared to put mechanics though the required 35 hours of training.

Driver CPC requires all professional bus, coach and lorry drivers to complete a minimum of 35 hours periodic training every five years for as long as they wish to continue to drive professionally.

If you are a bus or coach driver and held your vocational licence (D, D1, DE, D1E) prior to 10 September 2008 you have acquired rights until 9 September 2013.

If you are a lorry driver and held your vocational licence (C, C1, CE, C1E) prior to 10 September 2009 you have acquired rights until 9 September 2014. To keep your Driver CPC and continue driving professionally beyond this date, you will need to complete 35 hours of periodic training (register).

On completion, drivers will receive a Driver Qualification Card: 

This card, along with the drivers digital tachograph card needs to be carried with the driver at all times.  Make storage simpler with a double card holder and lanyard available to purchase online or by telephone.

A New Generation of Tamper-proof Tachographs

Magnet-resistant tachographs must now be fitted to all newly registered vehicles that require a tachograph.  The move is the latest phase of the European Commission programme to improve the recording and enforcement of driving time and rest periods.

Operators can continue to use existing digital or analogue equipment on vehicles registered before 1st October 2012.  For those registered afterwards, the new-generation tachographs are designed to be tamper-proof against cases of fraud that use simple magnets.

Future changes will also be seen with proposals to introduce a ‘smart’ tachograph by 2017-2018 and also enabling enforcement agencies to access information without stopping the vehicle.

» Digital Tachograph Card Readers

Virgo’s simulator introduction to tachographs

We were recently contacted by 13 year old Steve Virgo who describes himself as a ‘bus and coach enthusiast’ who’s hobbies include building a simulator dashboard. This immediately caught my attention and I was delighted to be able to help Steve with his request for some 125kph tachograph charts to use in his dashboard!

Steve has very kindly allowed me to show a video of his simulator in action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlHZw60KkE8.  I will be happy to pass any comments or gems of advice onto our young enthusiast!

 Well done Steve!

Driver CPC Dates

The CPC deadline for bus and coach drivers with acquired rights is upon us. Drivers have to complete their 35 hours training for their qualification.

Driver CPC requires all professional bus, coach and lorry drivers to complete a minimum of 35 hours periodic training every five years for as long as they wish to continue to drive professionally. If you are a bus or coach driver and held your vocational licence (D, D1, DE, D1E) prior to 10 September 2008 you have acquired rights until 9 September 2013.

If you are a lorry driver and held your vocational licence (C, C1, CE, C1E) prior to 10 September 2009 you have acquired rights until 9 September 2014. To keep your Driver CPC and continue driving professionally beyond this date, you will need to complete 35 hours of periodic training.

» Please REGISTER FOR DRIVER CPC TRAINING here. On completion, drivers will receive a Driver Qualification Card:

This card, along with the drivers digital tachograph card needs to be carried with the driver at all times.  Make storage simpler with a double card holder and lanyard available to purchase online or by telephone.

CPC Training for Professional Drivers

To keep your Driver CPC and drive for a living, you need to complete at least 35 hours periodic training every five years.  Driver CPC is a qualification for professional bus, coach and lorry drivers. It has been introduced across Europe with the aim of improving road safety. You can find out the full background in directive 2003/59/EC of the European Parliament.

The Driving Standards Agency have put together a video overview of Driver CPC .

Digital Tacho Simulator

Demo: Digital Tachograph Simulator:

Digital Tachograph Simulator, How to work a System
We recently stumbled on this simulator (click image) for various Digital Tacho systems. We cannot vouch for how good or up-to-date it is but it looks the best we have seen so far. However, it should give anyone new to digital tachos a reasonable idea of how they operate.

Audio Visual Interactive Guide

This audio/visual guide offers Lorry or Bus tuition in the various modes. And shows the Actia, Siemens and Stoneridge models. Have a look here…  Digital Tacho Simulator

NEED MORE HELP with Digital Tachgraphs?

If you need more help with tachographs or need to purchase tacho’ charts / accessories such as a card reader or SmartAnalysis services please call us or visit our main website or call our GB Tachopak experts TEL: 01472 210102.

» Website: GB Tachopak for Digital Tachograph Accessories

 

Driver CPC – the Traffic Commission’s View

Driver CPC requires all professional bus, coach and lorry drivers to complete a minimum of 35 hours periodic training every five years for as long as they wish to continue to drive professionally.

In a recent article in the transport press, the senior Traffic Commissioner (TC) Beverly Bell stated that employers as well as employees, will find themselves before the TC , if drivers are not compliant with the CPC by Sept 2014 (2013 for passenger vehicle drivers). Bell went on to say “driver training is essentially about investing in your staff”.

Mailshot: The TC expects that operators should be able to show the steps they have taken relating to driver licencing and DCPC qualification. In conjunction with VOSA, there will be a mailshot to an estimated 80,000 operators reminding them of their responsibilities, with a second mailshot in 2014, and dependent upon your action or inaction, you may be called before the TC for an explanation.

Fines: Current levels of fines for failing to comply have been set at up to £1000, if a driver is driving professionally without a DQC (Post Sept 2014), this applies to both operator and driver alike.

Qualification: Some would argue that the DCPC is a driver qualification and is therefore the responsibility of the driver to ensure they hold the DQC qualification. But with the TC’s and VOSA out to ensure that all vocational drivers are qualified, can operators afford not to comply?

» Get the DCPC Guide
» Register for Driver CPC

Digital data analysis is the way forward for local Transport Company

Thursday, October 20, 2011 : Grimsby Telegraph

Digital tachograph data analysis is an emerging route for an established south bank business that has supported the UK’s transport industry for more than 30 years.Tachopak Staff (Grimsby Telegraph)

GB Tachopak has established a prominent role in providing vital stationery products to small fleet hauliers and coach operators.

Now, as technology becomes an integral part of the sector, the Humberston business is ensuring it doesn’t get overtaken.

Experienced industry operator Phillip Latta has been brought in as general manager, as husband-and-wife owners Mike and Lesley Bayliss look to take more of a back seat in a business that began as a printing firm producing a handbook for the Road Haulage Association.

Mr Latta, a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport who sits on the organisation’s Humber regional committee, previously worked as North East Lincolnshire Council as part of the fleet strategy team. He has 20 years of experience in the industry and has just completed a degree in logistics management at Grimsby Institute.

He said: “We concentrate on the smaller end of the market and offer a personal service, which we pride ourselves on.”

We like to think we can go the extra mile. We have done the same thing for 30 years, but the industry has evolved now and we are moving into a digital era, where paper is being replaced by e-mails. Paper is a consumable, data isn’t. We act as a bureau where we can download and analyse the data and it works very well.

We are all about understanding and deciphering the data, and presenting it back to the client in a way they can make use of it.

It is not just about compliance, but it could be to help with efficiencies.”

The premier supplier of driver defect report books in the UK, the company also provides tachograph charts and the equipment for fleet operators to manage the digital element themselves, as well as vehicle first aid kits.

Another key service is ensuring their clients stay on the road, providing the latest information when it comes to the law, as well as advising on training requirements.

Next month should see the firm’s Drivers’ Handbook launched, a 96-page publication that the six-strong team at GB Tachopak, based in Wilton Road, is excited about.

Mr Latta said: “It covers legislation, best practice and particular elements such as driving in London, where emissions zones and congestion charges have to be contended with, as well as other controlled zones.

“If you can give advice to drivers it will benefit operators as well. It will make a driver’s life easier. There is a lot of information out there for operators, but we decided drivers needed something, and we are hoping to have it on sale by November 1.”

It has been welcomed by both road safety charity Brake and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

(pic) ON THE RIGHT TRACK: GB Tachopak staff:
General manager Phillip Latta, right, with, from left, Anne-Marie Archer, Mike Bayliss, Karen Watford, Lesley Bayliss and Brenda Evison. Picture: Michelle Adamson