The Driver & Vehicle Standards Association (DVSA) has announced it is to monitor Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) periodic training.
The new initiative is designed to help prevent drivers repeating training, as part of the 35-hour requirement.
Following a review of Driver CPC training – and recommendations made by the European Commission – the Government has acted.
Under the new system, DVSA will monitor driver records relating to training. If the periodic training doesn’t support their professional development – due to repetition – action will be taken.
Should the agency find evidence of unnecessary training being repeated, the driver’s Driver Qualification Card (DQC) could be revoked.
DVSA advises that drivers should continue to develop professionally to benefit themselves and also other road users. By doing so, they ensure that they increase their knowledge of what it takes to continue to drive safely.
There are exceptions to the rules, however. Drivers should know that the DVSA will allow repetition of training when it supports a driver’s development. That means if more than one day’s training is required to maintain a qualification – such as driving dangerous goods – repetition could be allowed.
To help enforce the effectiveness of the monitoring, DVSA states it will be working with training bodies. This measure will ensure a specific training session is not delivered to the same driver more than once.
The only exception would be if the session would benefit their professional development.
