The industry remains split over proposals for a pass-or-fail option to be included in the new National Driver CPC (DCPC) qualification renewal process.
The option, still being consulted on, forms part of efforts meant to expedite DCPC training for drivers working only in the UK.
Connexions Buses Managing Director Craig Temple, who puts drivers on a paid DCPC course each year, favours the new National DCPC despite warning that it “will complicate things” and potentially lead to some drivers “being found on the wrong work”. Mr Temple is hopeful that the split will help purely domestic operators like Connexions Buses retain drivers during peak times, when many move to coach work. To that end, he advocates a pass-or-fail approach, as it would make DCPC “more of a professional qualification than a painful exercise”.
“No matter what we tell drivers, the majority always think it is a waste of their time,” he adds. “We always try and add some things that we want to refresh the drivers with — such as PSVAR and safe driving techniques — but this doesn’t seem to matter. Making the training shorter (halving the days) would probably help, although that means that drivers would need two days rather than one [to complete a module], which might have the counter effect.”
For coach operator Milligan’s Coach Travel of Mauchline, which also operates purely domestically, there is a case for a pass-or-fail approach, but periodic training would be the preference according to Operations Manager Morag Milligan. That is largely down to the personal preference of drivers. “While I personally would favour an exam, we recognise many would prefer to undertake the periodic training without the pressure of a pass-or-fail approach,” she explains. “Many people, including some of our drivers, would not be confident in an exam situation.”
Recognising that many drivers take an ambivalent approach to the benefits of DCPC, Ms Morag adds that good operators should already pick up on driver training requirements in-house. “Being shown how to do things in a real-life scenario will always be more engaging than in a classroom,” she says. “A good operator should already be doing that.”
Bill Hiron, Managing Director of Stephensons of Essex, agrees that the move to a National Driver CPC and the option for a pass-or-fail approach has the potential to complicate training. He also notes that the majority of drivers still resent the requirement for the 35 hours of formal training.
He also argues that a pass-or-fail approach could be “scary” for drivers, particularly those who have held a licence for over 10 years. “Until we know what content is going to be in the test, and how ‘easy’ it is going to be, it is difficult to know what people’s reaction will be,” he says. “Having a mixed strategy will be quite challenging for companies. We have just got our heads around the current DCPC and records keeping. When the ability to split that into 3.5-hour segments and start doing tests instead of formal training, the whole thing will get more complicated.”
Mr Hiron recognises that the split is done with the best of intentions but warns that most operators will be forced to decide on one option or the other, which could cause some drivers to fall by the wayside. “From our point of view, we do not know which option we would prefer. It is not a tidy set of arrangements. We need more detail, and we would want to see sample test papers.”
