robroy:
Hmm do I smell the fragrance of vested interest here? 
I think there’s already enough of that on TN don’t you? 
What interest I have is not as I expect you’re imagining it.
As a TM with a number of drivers as my responsibility, I have a vested interest in making sure my guys go for their DCPC where they will learn the things they need to know to keep themselves out of trouble, and by association, make my life easier.
Have you any idea how much of a ballache it is for an external TM when some I-know-it-all-DCPC-is-load-of-crepe-2nd-rate driver can’t do a proper walkaround check and make sure his tyres are roadworthy? It’s a royal PITA and I don’t have the time of day for those guys.
As an ADR trainer, my candidates can get a minimum of 21 hours hours in, 28 hours if they’re taking sufficient notice of my advice, so I’m interested on their behalf
As for run of the mill DCPC for anyone who isn’t one of “my drivers”, I have pretty much zero interest.
robroy:
Thing is mate, how long as it been out now?
At a guess 5 to 6 years?
Longer. It started 09/09/2009, I did my first bout of it as a driver in 2010 (21 hours of ADR plus 14 of other stuff).
robroy:
I don’t know about you but I can not say there has been a vast improvement in ‘professional competence’ amongst drivers since it took off. …ie the raison d’etre 
.
(or at least the OFFICIAL reason ,.let’s not mention the revenue generated and the businesses started up on the back of it #cynicalasever)
It was a sound idea but very badly implemented, with repetition allowed and some atrocious standards of trainer “ability”, and no official testing - that’s the biggest weakness to me - and widespread potential for doing it “bent” (still exists if you know where to look).
So, no, not a massive improvement because of the rubbish way it was thrown together and the rubbish way JAUPT/DVSA “assess” a trainer and course (seriously, it’s a laughable tick box exercise that any moderately capable person could be trained to pass muster with)
robroy:
As for the examples you list…aye fair enough, but they are maybe like me, learning stuff on a strictly need to know basis,.and getting by quite fine on what they/I do know in fact.
If that method was working well DVSA would be sitting around twiddling their thumbs, instead of (at last count with the stats I’ve personally looked at) dishing out an average of 16 prohibitions per day.
Number one prohibition for roadworthiness? Tyres. About 20% of all stops had drivers getting done for that. 
Not exactly rocket science to check tyres is it?
robroy:
It did achieve one thing,.an abundance of vastly experienced drivers saying ‘[zb] this’ and leaving the job 5 or so.years early,.and being replaced with many who are terminally incompetent.
An abundance? I haven’t seen any hard data to back that up. Yes, you said you knew three who had done that, someone else said they knew three. But extrapolating that to an idea that everyone here probably also knew three as well, doesn’t work for me.
I don’t personally know anyone who did this. I did know someone (one of my former drivers) who couldn’t BA to do it again, and this co-incided with his requirement for annual medicals, which he tried unsuccessfully to BS his way out of so he threw the towel in. Wasn’t a loss to me or the operator, he was replaced within about 48 hours.
More to the point, DfT couldn’t care less about the CBA-throw-the-towel-in drivers, only a small number of operators care about that; the cowboys don’t care, nor do “the big boys” like DHL, Kinaxia, Culina et al. As time passes the proportions of (i) “drivers who saw it introduced and complain incessantly about it” compared to those who have (ii) “lived with it since they began driving” is moving in favour of the latter, so eventually the issue will disappear of it’s own accord.
robroy:
Say what you like mate it has done the far end of f/all to improve this industry, it is just a exercise to be seen to be '‘doing the right thing’, but with no real substance…improve things in grass roots training for starters,.that would be sonething actually genuine.
And as for repeating the whole procedure of b/s every so many years, surely one refresher session would be quite adequate.
A pure PR excercise,.and a costly one to boot.
It was an EU requirement, so in that respect it was kind of a case of '‘doing the right thing’, unfortunately doing it in a very crappy way.
As for one refresher session? No. Explaining EU 2020/1054 and everything that goes with that (including full recording of all activities) is itself at least a half day. Running drivers through DVSA-standard walkaround checks is another half a day. Then there is Load Security: how many people on TN are aware of the changes to the penalties for inadequate load security?
You’ve no idea how many would-be drivers fail to get a start when they’re asked to give the vehicle a once over before taking it out on the road. That whittles it down by 50% easily. Getting them to show you how to do a manual entry whittles it down again by a good percentage.
Speaking purely for the north-east region, there is no shortage of people with an HGV entitlement at all, in fact there’s a surplus, what there is a shortage of are people who fit the bill of being “a driver”, that being someone who can do the job to the required standard and not cause grief for the operator/TM.
You’ve said you used to have your own O-licence, look at the standard of some of the muppets you see on the road and ask yourself if you would want them driving on your O-licence?
Does them having their DCPC guarantee they’ll be “a driver” as I’ve defined it? No, but at least it shows they shouldn’t be too resistant to being told what is expected of a professional driver.
