Industry in danger of missing CPC deadline
9th December 2011
By September 2014, all commercial vehicle drivers in Europe must have completed 35 hours of training in compliance with Driver Certificate of Professional Competence requirements.
However, industry figures tell a different story and nearly half of FTA members who took part in a survey claim that meeting their EU driver training requirements is a ‘major concern’, second only to rising fuel costs.
The DCPC was introduced over two years ago, but industry concerns – including an annual driver employment churn in some sectors of up to 20% – have made many businesses reluctant to invest in this compulsory training.
“Tough trading conditions, high fuel costs and traditionally slim profit margins mean that budgets are stretched across the industry,” said the FTA’s National Training Manager Isobel Harding. “It is therefore understandable that uptake has been sluggish. But this could leave many companies twisting in the wind as the deadline approaches and demand for training outstrips supply.”
Assuming that drivers spread their training evenly by undertaking seven hours a year for five years, the FTA has determined that the current shortfall stands at 46%. With 1,100 approved centres and at least 271,000 courses still to be delivered, the longer companies take to book their training the more unsustainable the pressure will be on training delivery. The likelihood is that this will translate into higher costs and harder to find seats.