D.C.P.C. Like it of loathe it we all need to do it
But has anybody else noticed that a lot of the suppliers are seemingly engaged in " Dynamic pricing " ive done 4 at £39.99 and now the same suppier is asking £55/60 quid as it nears my card run out date …! i presume that this makes good practice for them but i do find it quite cynical
and before anybody says you should have done it earlier i agree i should have
And that is why they did not bin it after Brexit.
Despite it being purely a PR excercise with no real substance, (for anybody who can see right through the b/s) …it has become big business rasing a lot of money and tax.
So we are stuck with it.
Given that you can go to any DCPC provider in your area or any provider in the country that does online courses, I don’t see how raising prices when your card is about to expire is good business practice 
Although I hate the DCPC and what it stands for, I would gladly pay extra for a standard classroom course…which is bad enough.
But I could not think of anything worse or more mind numbingly boring than having to endure it sat in front of a computer screen for x no of hours.
Anyone who thinks they’ll have their self a stable full of Ferraris from doing DCPC, here’s the keys to the bank vault.
(Spoiler alert: Only those that have never had a hand in it believe the BS that it’s a huge moneyspinner)
I found online ok really especially as you can split it over 2 evenings.
Like. Any course though depends who’s doing It.
Had one fella he bassicly read every slide word for word
Seems a lot of paperwork and forms and money just to get started.
If anyone’s interested I did mine via enterprise. And every one I did they said were recruiting people to deliver CPC modules no experience necessary. Didn’t say what they pay was though
I do get that Zac…
It’s like those who believe all the driver shortage bullcrap,…
‘‘Get your licence, never look back, mega bucks, loads a money’’… in an Harry Enfield stylee.
, but the rest of us know different.
On the other hand I do and have done make a half decent living out of it admittedlly.
That was my point, …maybe I over egged it, but the fact that it has been made into a wide business (big bucks or not) , it will remain with us.
For those like yourself with a vested interest, good on ya as far as I’m concerned, fill yer boots etc etc, but for the rest of us who can see it for what it really is (ok you do not agree with that view, I get it) it is a complete pointless pain in the tits doing the same crap for the same amount of time (in my case my own time) when a fraction of the time refresher would be quite adequate for those of us who are not complete inept buffoons…that last bit is open to opinion btw.
Anyhoo I reckon I wont be doing another after this 5 year stint, so there you gan.
From my pov mate I aint to interested (or savvy) on anything computer…maybe apart from TN, You tube, NUFC app, and Greggs and Wetherspoons apps.
Also when I was at school I excelled in exams in subjects I was interested in, …but was a complete duffer in those I was not.
So the DCPC would come in the latter category for me…cos I aint 'kin intersted.
yes and i have gone to an alternative supplier online
i think possably its a well ive had several courses from this lot so i will stick with them also a fear of repeating the same course twice ( which i understand you cannot do now )
which really isnt a problem if you keep a note of what you have done previous
You say “vested interests”, truth is I have only a very small vested interest, and that is my ties to other business people.
It may surprise you to know those who deliver it (frequently) also find it a PITA, but for different reasons. I wouldn’t be doing it if not for these business relationships with other people, and I certainly will be doing a massive amount less of it over coming months and years.
What most of us trainers don’t appreciate is that small proportion who think they’re some kind of legend to the others by trying (but failing) to be the biggest tool to the trainer they can possibly be. They fail at this because there’s several things they don’t know.
I’ve got other things to do with my time (ADR, TMCPC, TM Refreshers, OLATs, DGSA visits and reports, and External TM work) that I find far more enjoyable than dealing with lastminute.com DCPC courses.
I couldn’t care less if people want to take risks, using their phone while driving in a vehicle they haven’t done a walk around check on, while not wearing their seat belt, and speeding (cos it’s Friday innit?), and thinking manual entries are optional. I couldn’t care less if half the population of drivers are all unable to drive on 10th September (09/09/24 being the common renewal date)
I’m giving my time because, regardless of the standard resentments, drivers need that blue card, without which they’re not legally entitled to work. As I frequently tell people (only partly tongue-in cheek) “Anyone who wants to eff on can eff off, the doors are not locked”. Zero skin off my nose if they get fined, but I expect people to behave as adults.
These days, if anyone decides being infantile is how they want to play the day, I tell them they’re free to leave:
“Worraboot me oors” they might say
“Not my problem, do them somewhere else, being ejected from the room for kicking off means your fees are forfeit, and your employer was told in writing in advance what would happen, so you’ll be explaining to him what happened.”
Having said all that, these past few months there’s been fewer than five people who’ve needed the “invite to leave”, 99.999% of drivers are quite content with how I run my courses, which when I’m left with a room full of grown ups, are usually a lot more “driver friendly” than the average DCPC. 
Ok…are you assuming I am one of those ‘Tool legends’?
Vast experience (guilty) know it alls (not guilty,.I would never profess to know it all…cos I dont) who disrupt the rest of the class …moi?
Nah seriously, I aint, far from it in fact.
If I have given you that impression, you are wrong.
I fully understand I need all that stuff (I hasten to use the word ‘crap’ ) to keep my job.
That and the fact that the trainer our lot use, is a decent enough unpretentious type lad, who knows the score himself, and does not take himself too seriously, and anyway, it aint HIS fault I have to attend either.
So trust me… I am the ‘model student’ in there…seriously,. (well at least in respect of keeping my gob firlmly shut.)
It still does not alter the fact I think it is a complete waste of my (otherwise free) time, and that 40+ hours instead of something like 4 hours in the form of a refresher would be more than enough…The amount of time required for each driver determined on the driver’s professionalism (or lack of it) over the previous 5 years, determined by his firm.
So yeah that said, I get where you are coming from, but not guilty guvnor.
Has to be done i suppose, best just get on with it and get it done 
Surprisingly to me ive got untill 18th October on my card. Got 2 more left to do.
I find it amazing that these “courses” have to be done in unpaid time.
Here, anything work related, such as courses or medicals, is on company time and paid for by them.
The last Dangerous Goods course I did, my employer paid my 4,000 km return air fares, two nights motel accommodation, taxi fares and wages.
I also find it odd that there is no exam. As a qualified instructor in non-transport subjects, the exam is a test of the instructor’s effectiveness and if he/she has achieved the aim, apart from the student’s suitability to be considered competent, at the end of the course.
Without a test, it’s just a talkfest, where the participants may, or may not, have absorbed some of the content.
Awesome post there Zac Abrams, so many generalisations, seems you know all trainers intimately. Just curious as to whether some of the “legend trainers” qualify as tools.
If you are paying yourself, I fully understand leaving it late. It is all very well people saying, ‘do one a year’, but how far in the future can anyone see? A lot can happen in five years.
As regards prices going up, to be honest if you can fill a classroom twice over the whole week when you can normally get three quarters full twice a week, then it is like any other business, make hay while the sun shines.
You don’t hear agency drivers complaining about the inflated rates available at Christmas.
The last company I worked for did pay for the drivers, and supplied sandwiches cake and coffee. But companies are under no obligation to pay for the drivers’ courses nor to pay wages for time attending them. Those who are on agency are often finding and paying for their course.
The DCPC was made a necessity by the EU in 2008: all member states needed to have a periodic training system, but each state set their own standards. Some have on road sessions, and exams, the UK chose a “don’t fall asleep” model.
Maybe an opportunity for proper training/testing was missed? Maybe not.
Maybe the attitude to it is a sign of how drivers “professionalism” is regarded, and how highly employers think of drivers!
There has been a consultation on a scheme to sit a single exam paper, with no training before needed, and if it is a pass, you avoid the 5 days of attendance, but that option will only count for UK work, whilst the 5 days training will still be required for those going abroad.
I honestly do not know what is happening there. I am not looking to get another one myself.
Not everybody does it in their own time, only ones who work for the crappy type firms, the ones who hold cynical views towards their drivers in differing degrees.
Even Stobarts who aint got the best of names who my mate works for, do theirs in work time, full pay obvs, with all refreshments supplied.
Anyone needing an annual licence renewal, or needing a five year the same year as the DCPC, and paying for the courses themselves will be waiting until they have a satisfactory medical report before deciding to renew the DCPC. Those with a licence expiry in the “wrong” months are going to be making last minute decisions whether to bother. This being particularly relevant for those who don’t drive “professionally” full time.
Our lot provide the training in house during work time. The team that put it on seem to universally over worked I assume the drive to keep it internal is so they can control the courses and content rather than saving money. (I don’t think they at a point where they have had their own modules approved but pick from a providers courses.
Suddenly I feel hard done by though as there has never been lunch, biscuits or even drinks provided though, unless you count the water cooler.