P LETTER OF THE WEEK
Page 20
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Driver CPC is nothing but a money-making gimmick
HAVING READ many of the articles in Commercial Motor promoting the Driver CPC it would appear that the only people singing its praises are the ones who stand to profit from the farce.
Training companies are jumping through hoops to say that their candidates walked away having learnt lots and most now know how to be a more 'professional' driver. It seems that whenever the training bodies want to make money from the drivers they use this word: 'professional'.
I would accept that HGV drivers are professional if they were treated and paid as such rather than being constantly taken advantage of and treated like the scourge of society that most people deem them to be. The unions and other trade bodies do not care one iota about the drivers unless they can see a way to make money from them.
We are abused by everyone and pay rises do not seem to count in this industry. It's all about getting as much from the driver as is humanly possible for as little outlay as employers can get away with. Nobody is willing to invest in a new driver and nurture him into the job by pairing him up with an old hand so he can learn how to do the job properly. Drivers are sent on a training course in a classroom and emerge as experts — experts in nothing.
The Driver CPC is just a gimmick promoted by the sudden surge in training corn panics itching to make an easy buck for something that basically means nothing. Simply turning up to a course guarantees a pass, so may I ask this simple question, what is the point?
There will be no pay rises for those who hold a Driver CPC certificate, nobody will stand out from anybody else because we all have to have it and, from the early reports from colleagues and acquaintances, it is an absolute waste of seven hours at the hands of inexperienced people who feed incorrect information and generally waste half the day talking about their conquests.
Give me seven hours with an old hand any day of the week because he will show the real skills needed to do the job and not the 'I've got a badge that says I can do that' rubbish.
Terry Summers by email