Coach driver shortage – can changes to DCPC help?

Peter Bradley asks whether proposed reforms to Driver CPC can be one of the answers to retaining coach driver

It appears that, for many coach operators, the ‘quiet time’ normally experienced after Christmas until at least half term in February, and often into early March, didn’t happen this year.

This is the time that many operators catch up on their paperwork, send vehicles in for MoT or routine maintenance and plan for the year ahead. Very few schools tend to book trips (after all, the daylight starts fading after 1430hrs) and many customers, apart from the odd pantomime trip, go into post-Christmas hibernation to emerge in February when there is a definite feel that spring may be on its way.

However, this year, most coach operators report that the phones continued to ring, and they were as busy as ever. Some UKCOA members said they had never known a winter like it, and were just wondering how they were going to fit that paperwork in. Many say they
could have accepted even more work if they had the drivers.

Yes, the coach driver shortage is still with us; less noticeable in the winter months but still there. We continue to find innovative ways of attracting the workforce to consider coach driving as an option or to retain the staff we have. The Coach Driver Academy is one such way; another is the proposed reforms for the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC) currently out for consultation.

The proposals don’t change the way that drivers initially obtain DCPC, neither do they affect drivers who travel and work abroad, especially in the EU (that is a far more complicated process to adjust).

What the proposals do, in effect, is introduce a new category of DCPC for those drivers who will only work in Great Britain (and possibly Northern Ireland); a National DCPC or ‘N-DCPC’ as it is being designated. Its aim is to make the process of completing 35 hours of periodic training much simpler by assisting operators in retaining or regaining driving staff who have recently left the coach industry.

At the core of the proposals is the ‘periodic test’; an option for drivers to sit a test, consisting of a series of multiple choice and situational judgement questions. Priced between £40-70, it will take significantly less time and cost than the training route, and for those drivers who take pride at keeping themselves up to date with all that it takes to drive a coach, it appears to be a good option. The balance needs to be struck between the ease of the test and being able to tease out that the knowledge of the individual sitting it is still fresh.

It also means that, for a coach driver who has gone off to explore other career opportunities that don’t work out, they can come back to coach driving relatively quickly. It may be necessary to do some training in core issues to prepare for the test, but they could be up, ready and driving within a relatively short space of time, reducing vacancy levels (and operators’ stress).

However, tests are not for everyone, and I have personal experience of good, highly
competent individuals who just freeze up in a test or exam environment.

Therefore, the proposals to relax the individual course duration of seven hours (or three and a half hours over two days) also seems a sensible move. This could allow courses for drivers, two or three times a year, to be held between school runs. One of our members is especially keen on the concept of continuous learning rather than it being crammed into a few days, and I am sure that most of us would agree with this concept.

The further idea to formally recognise that at times of ‘exceptional circumstances’ (national emergencies, pandemics and the like) that a short-term extension is available seems a sensible move too.

I am sure that there is more that can be done, and that many who are reading this would like the proposals to go further.

However, in what might be achievable in the short term, this seems a good start, and hopefully will contribute to operators being able to retain (or regain) drivers who might otherwise be lost to the coach industry.

And it allows you to get on with that all important paperwork!