Five ways to get the most benefit out of driver CPC training

Driver CPC training was introduced as a compulsory part of every lorry and bus driver’s training schedule in 2014. So, if you’re a lorry or bus driver you will either choose your driver CPC training or the company you work for will choose for you.

It’ll help you improve your knowledge, increase your safety and make you more employable. You have to do 35 hours of training every 5 years, and it’s best to break this down to one day per year so it’s not a huge burden in your fifth year when you’d have to take a week out to complete it.

You might have been driving for 30 years, but remember that there are always updates in technology, laws, techniques and more that you might not come across in your day-to-day driving, but could be important to you, and help you make more money, reduce your stress, be safer and so on.

How do you make the most out of your CPC training?

1. When choosing a course, you need to consider your current job and your future jobs. If you are thinking about changing jobs, pick a course that will make you more employable when you advance or change your career; if you are staying in your current job, pick a course that will improve your skills and make it more likely you will get a pay rise, or will survive any redundancy rounds. Courses that deal with any changes in legislation that have happened recently are particularly useful.
2. Make sure to put your courses on your CV and your LinkedIn profile so that prospective employers can see your skills.
3. When you take a course, share the learnings with others in your organisation so that you are seen as a more valuable part of the team. Sharing the knowledge will also help you remember the training.
4. Picking courses that are most interesting to you will help you get the most out of them.
5. See if you can get your employer to pay for all or part of your training.
6. Research the course before you get there and do any pre-work or reading about the topic so that when you do the course it will seem more familiar and you will be able to more quickly learn the materials.

You can search for courses on this website.

They fall into a number of categories:

• Vehicle Systems (Transmission System)
• Vehicle Systems (Safety Controls)
• Loading/Unloading (LGV)
• Customer Service / Disability Awareness (PCV)
• Loading/Unloading (PCV)
• Legislation (including Drivers Hours, Rules and Regulations and the Working Time Directive)
• Regulations for Carriage of Goods (LGV)
• Regulations for Carriage of Passengers (PCV)
• Health, Safety and Emergencies
• Prevention of Criminality and Trafficking
• Personal Health and Wellbeing
• Physical/Mental Health and Wellbeing
• First Aid
• Professional Driver and Company Issues
• Economic Environment for Carriage of Goods (LGV)
• Economic Environment for Carriage of Passengers (PCV)
• Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving