Fleets running light goods vehicles that are ‘in-scope’ are being reminded that the deadline for their professional drivers to complete their mandatory training and renew their CPC licences is fast approaching.
The reminder comes from Licence Check, which has developed an automatic re-check feature within its existing cloud-based Driver and Vehicle Information Solution brand, DAVIS so that companies can automatically carry out a licence check of their drivers when the certificate expires.
Under CPC rules, the current training period ends in just seven weeks on 9 September 2019. By this date, drivers must have completed 35 hours of training – a mandatory qualification period every five years – to be issued with a new Driver Qualification Card (DQC) to prove they are CPC-qualified.
If the training is not carried out by this date, the CPC will no longer be valid and these drivers will not be legally permitted to drive an LGV professionally from that date.
The training renewal is applicable to those drivers whose usual activity of professional driving is ‘in-scope’ and covered by the legislation. Those drivers that hold a vocational entitlement, but don’t actually drive are not in-scope. Similarly, those vehicles used for non-commercial carriage of passengers or goods or used for carrying personal goods are also out of scope.
A fine of up to £1,000 for driving professionally without a valid CPC can be levied on both the driver and their employer.
As such, a re-check should be carried out the moment the card expires to ensure a new CPC card has been issued and the driver continues to be permitted to drive professionally.
The new re-check feature within Licence Check’s DAVIS brand can help fleets with this, markedly reducing the amount of administration required in such checks by eliminating all manual tasks.
If any drivers have not renewed their CPC by the five-year anniversary of acquiring the certificate, the system automatically flags up on the DAVIS dashboard that urgent action is required. It is also sends an email to the system administrator reminding them that action needs to be taken.
The re-check is mainly aimed at drivers who driver professionally for a living but could apply equally to fleet and transport managers who occasionally need to move heavy goods vehicles, say from one depot to another, for business purposes and require a driver CPC qualification to do so.
Terry Hiles, general manager at Licence Check (see our Spotlight here), explained: “By activating the automatic re-check of a CPC card in DAVIS, a check will be carried out the moment the card expires, ensuring the driver is still eligible to drive as well as updating the driver record to the new date. So, taking a few minutes now to alter the settings in DAVIS will save companies a lot of time and effort later.”
The automatic re-check is just one of a number of functions within DAVIS which are designed to make users’ working lives easier. Other features include new ‘Onsite’ functionality, which was introduced earlier this summer and allows users to ‘onboard’ drivers to the DAVIS system more quickly so that they can, in turn, carry out licence checks more rapidly and any issues with their licences be quickly identified.
Hiles added: “Our sole raison d’être with DAVIS is to make our users’ operating livers simpler and more straightforward. That’s why we have built in so many features aimed at making the licence checking process faster and more efficient.
“Compliance is an extremely important issue and companies need to make sure they tick all the legal boxes they are required to. The automatic re-check for Driver CPC is just one example.”
