Driver CPC

Nineteen men and our companys answer to Anne Widdecombe, also known as the tacho guru are stuffed into a room for the next 7 hours with only the drivers hours regs for company.

Were all learning that we have been driving ilegally for most of our driving lives. Silly things like center field mistakes and WTD infringements make us all technically ilegal.

There are drivers in this room that have driven for over thirty years and it seems that this course or these rules will do little more than teach them to suck eggs. This job is like 2nd nature to them and by now nothing can surprise them.

It seems a shame that this course has been designed to waste so much of these drivers time and money.

Our transport manager is looking a little uncomfortable as the drivers tell our instuctor our daily driving duties and our workshop staff are finding out that they should be using charts with every vehicle movement they do to and from our four yards.

But most things we are hearing we already know and the things we didn't are not really worth knowing.

We are also learning that answering our work phone on our rest period resets that period and means we have to start it again. That made the TM sweat again.

This company will grind to a halt on Monday as all the drivers suddenly realise it's break time when the phone rings.

But seriously all we had to do was sit still in a room for a few hours and we passed module 1 of the driver CPC. If we sit still in the room again next year we pass module 2. It goes on like this until 2014 and then we get another coloured card , this time blue, to sit next to our cream driver card and our pink driving licence. All of which it's compulsory to carry at all times and all enforceable by large fines.

I can understand trying to educate an ageing workforce, it's a great time to weed out dead wood and bad habits but every body in this room with me today has at least 20 years left on the road especially the way our pensions are going, and whoever has dreamt up this scam, sorry scheme has missed a trick to really educate us on things that matter.