annitram:
Theres going to be an awful lot of …Not Very Quick drivers around soon
or
Not Very Qualified
Any more Notable Variable Quips 
Be it NVQ or CPC, no matter what a driver puts on his CV, it will show precious little as to how good he will be at the job. Mostly because each driving job requires knowledge that can only be learnt through experience on that particular job.
Also, no matter how many qualifiactions a particular driver has, it’ll be that split second lapse of concentration which causes a big accident, or a million-to-one ■■■■ up in coupling the trailer due to a distraction which will cause the company much grief and money to put right. I can see it now: “How could this have happened, he has an NVQ!”.
I personally think it’s a waste of time for the transport industry. Most of the firms I’ve worked for aren’t interested in these kind of things, that’s what interviews are for, you judge drivers on their experience, personality and over a few weeks trial period, the ability to do the job.
I do think it’s a massive benefit for the government though as it allows them to up the UK’s percentage of skilled and qualified workers to try and look a bit better when compared to the likes of Germany.
Me? Cynical? Never… 
I have to disagree with you there manowar.
If I had to take on one of two drivers and they both had similar driving experience and were of similar age, background etc and you couldn’t put a cigarette paper between them.
Yet one had a CPC.
That would be the clincher for me.
Dazza
Agree with you if both candidates indentical but how often does that happen…
manowar
Agree with you as it has always been as you describe and I think will continue to be so.
In those circumstances for me as a hypothetically job hunting driver, you’re right, it would look better on paper, and it’s a safer bet. Infact even with my own recent class 1 pass, I’ve been able to give some of the old timers in our place a little bit of updating with regards to a few things - in the nicest possible terms though, not in a cocky manner! After talking with a local driving school I am, to a degree, encouraged by the CPC, and I do believe it’ll prove useful for me as a driver with the refreshment of knowledge it provides.
I was just getting at the fact that most of the major incidents and balls-ups that have caused our company grief and loss of money have been mistakes which wouldn’t have been prevented by driver training. They’re the kind of things which will ALWAYS happen due to unavoidable human error (concentration isn’t inexhaustable), bad luck or being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Still not sure about NVQ’s though. Especially with the reports of insultingly easy tests involved. Reminds me of my engineering training, I was forced to prove yet again that I could read, write and add things up despite receiving GCSE results all at B grade in maths, English and English literature only a year before 
Having said that, if my firm were to pay for me and also pay me whilst I was on the course, I wouldn’t be complaining. But there’s more chance of pigs flying non-stop across the channel than my firm doing that!
Ho hum.
We’re doing NVQ2 crap starting Monday (the reason for me resurrecting this thread). Personally, I don’t give a toss about it as I’m not getting any extra money for doing it. We’ve been told the assessor wants to see our work diary which we were meant to fill in over the last few months (yeah right, mine’s long gone) asks you stuff whilst driving, records your answer with a dictaphone, takes pictures of you driving, reversing etc, and then at breaktime you fill in some paperwork; That’s where my assessment will come unstuck as I have no intention of filling in crap like NVQ forms during my lunchtime.
Muckaway:
We’re doing NVQ2 crap starting Monday (the reason for me resurrecting this thread). Personally, I don’t give a toss about it as I’m not getting any extra money for doing it. We’ve been told the assessor wants to see our work diary which we were meant to fill in over the last few months (yeah right, mine’s long gone) asks you stuff whilst driving, records your answer with a dictaphone, takes pictures of you driving, reversing etc, and then at breaktime you fill in some paperwork; That’s where my assessment will come unstuck as I have no intention of filling in crap like NVQ forms during my lunchtime.
if hes anything like the assesor i had last year when i did my nvq he filled all my paperwork, did a video of me revesing into a tight site and using the hiab, asked me few questions, and that was it, he was more interested in what cafe i was stopping at for lunch 
and if i was buying the coffee
NVQ PMSL
Andydisco:
Muckaway:
We’re doing NVQ2 crap starting Monday (the reason for me resurrecting this thread). Personally, I don’t give a toss about it as I’m not getting any extra money for doing it. We’ve been told the assessor wants to see our work diary which we were meant to fill in over the last few months (yeah right, mine’s long gone) asks you stuff whilst driving, records your answer with a dictaphone, takes pictures of you driving, reversing etc, and then at breaktime you fill in some paperwork; That’s where my assessment will come unstuck as I have no intention of filling in crap like NVQ forms during my lunchtime.if hes anything like the assesor i had last year when i did my nvq he filled all my paperwork, did a video of me revesing into a tight site and using the hiab, asked me few questions, and that was it, he was more interested in what cafe i was stopping at for lunch
He’ll die of thirst before I buy him coffee or stop at a T coli van…