Wheel Nut:
tachograph:
truckerjon:
ROG:
I wonder what the fine will be for the UK Govt by the EU parliament if they ignore the current deadline?
Rog, the actual EU deadline is 2015/6. Only the UK have set 2013/4 for the implimentation
Do you have a link to that information ?
Directive 2003/59/EC clearly states that the initial CPC should start September 2008/2009 and as far as I can see the acquired rights only exempt us from the initial CPC.
[quote from Article 14 snipped]
I have the link, but my pc is having a hissy fit, and the file is saved on there. Basically the EU gave us 2 choices, one was when to start it, the other was whether to have an exam at the end, we voted for the shortest period and as an attendance only class.
For PCV, The Europeans have to be qualified by Sept 2015
HGV have to be ready for 2016
The wording in the regulation was something like; “Within a 7 year period”
You’re both right in a way.
The latest consolidated version of Directive 2003/59 is that of 2008-12-11, though the amendments are not germane here.
As tachograph says, Article 14(1) sets a transposition date, which the UK met, and Article 14(2) sets the start date for the requirement to have initial DCPC as 2008-09-10 for PCV and 2009-09-10 for LGV. From those dates, to drive the relevant categories commercially, you either have to have ‘acquired rights’ or pass the appropriate tests (in the UK, Module 2 theory and Module 4 practical).
However, it’s Article 8(2) that determines the date by which a driver has to complete his first 35 hours of periodic DCPC training. This sets the usual deadline as five years from gaining initial DCPC (via the tests or ‘acquired rights’), but gives Member States discretion to set this time limit between three and seven years to align DCPC expiry with driving licence expiry or ‘to ensure the gradual introduction of periodic training’. It was this latitude that Wheel Nut alluded to.
The UK transposed these time limits via Regulation 9 of The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/605). Regulation 9(1) sets a blanket five year time limit to complete first periodic DCPC - in other words, the UK did not avail themselves of the latitude allowed by Article 8(2)Â of the Directive.
This means ministers have the ability to grant a two year extension ‘up their sleeves’, should it be needed.
This would be relatively simple for the minister to do using her (Justine Greening MP is currently the Secretary of State for Transport) section 2 European Communities Act 1972 power to pass regulations implementing EU legislation. All that would be needed is a brief Statutory Instrument amending Regulation 9(1) of the 2007 Regulations. This would follow the ‘negative resolution’ procedure - the minister makes the regulation and lays it before Parliament. The regulation would become law without further formality unless MPs or peers pass a motion to send an address to the Queen praying for annulment of the regulations before the regulations come into force.
In practice, the minister would make the regulation as late as four weeks before the deadline and no Parliamentarian is going to pray for annulment if an extension is really needed.
However, just because ministers have the power to extend the deadline for two years, drivers should not assume an extension will happen. Ministers could decide to do nothing, and if neither ministers nor Parliament acts, those drivers who have not bothered to complete their periodic training by 10 September 2014 unable to drive LGVs commercially. The deadline in the 2007 Regulations cannot be challenged in the courts; for good constitutional reasons, the courts will not interfere with policy matters, which they leave to the discretion of Parliament and, in areas like this where Parliament has delegated powers, ministers.
If the UKÂ attempted to extend the deadline beyond 10 September 2016 without first securing a derogation from the EU (which would be very difficult to obtain), this would be likely to result in the European Commission referring the UK to the Court of Justice of the European Union under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This was the procedure threatened against France to get them to remove their import ban on British beef in the light of the BSEÂ scare that was illegal under EUÂ law (it was a barrier to free movement of goods that was not justified by a valid public health concern). Should the CJEU find against the UK, it has the power to impose a fine under Article 260 TFEU. In practice, the political pressure on the UK would become unbearable long before a fine was contemplated.
The 2014 deadline could have been reasonably predicted in 2003 when the Directive was published, and was confirmed by the UK’s transposition of the Directive in 2007. Drivers have had plenty of warning to comply and should not assume that the government will grant them any latitude if they do not take steps to meet the deadline. There is still plenty of time for everyone who needs to complete their periodic training to do so by the deadline.
Those who fail to complete their training by the deadline only have themselves to blame - you cannot pass your failure to complete the training by the deadline on to anyone else, even if your employer has a responsibility to train you. These two responsibilities are separable in law - you could take action against your employer for their failure, but that is no excuse for your failure to comply with the DCPC regulations.
‘I disagree with the DCPC’ or ‘I think the DCPC is a load of garbage and I don’t see why I should have to comply’ are certainly no defences for failure to comply with the periodic DCPC requirements.
I suspect that the doomsday scenarios of the buses and lorries stopping work will not come true. Transport managers pay increasing attention to the DCPC status of their drivers as the deadline approaches. They will be arranging training for those employed drivers that need it.
There will always be those who miss the deadline, whenever it is set. Bearing in mind we still have some 27 months to go to the LGV deadline, there really is little argument for an extension based on ‘we didn’t know it was coming’.
Drivers minded to resist the regulations should remember they are in a weak position. There is a surplus of LGV drivers at the moment, so there is unlikely to be a shortage of qualified drivers to take over their work if they choose not to comply with the legal requirement of 35 hours periodic training.
Anyone who fails to meet the deadline can regain their rights to drive commercially by completing 35 hours of training, so, with co-operation from the training providers, any shortage of qualified drivers is likely to be short-lived.
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20 mins towards another module 