Interest in training rises as CPC nears
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INTERES'l IN low-cost Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence) training is increasing as the industry prepares for the legislation to come into force in September.
Under CPC legislation, drivers will be required to undertake 35 hours of periodic formal driver training — effectively five full days — over a five-year period. There have been fears in the industry that operators and drivers alike will stall on taking the training as the recession bites, creating a backlog of demand in the final year of the first five-year period.
However, Tim Watson, sales and marketing manager of notfor-profit TIR Training Services, says it has increased the number of drivers on its books from 64 to 320 in the space of just two weeks.
"There is a popular misconception that people will bury their heads in the sand. But the transport industry has realised they cannot do their jobs without this and they can do it by having just one day of training a year."
TIR has operators such as Dennis Distribution on its books. as well as smaller hauliers with five drivers or fewer.
List month. TIR hit the headlines with its Driver CPC offer run in conjunction with Nigel Rice Transport, whose drivers are set to pay £1.55 a week for the training. Watson says it offers training where either the driver or operator can pay, depending on the model they choose to adopt.
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