Depending on your age and industry, you may not be familiar with the term ‘grandfather rights’. It’s a legal term that goes across multiple industries, and essentially means that when a new standard or law is brought in around skills needed for a job, people already doing that job are protected and considered qualified, rather than forced to down tools and train to meet the new standard. It’s designed to keep things moving smoothly and allow change to happen at a reasonable pace. Today, we want to talk about how grandfather rights apply to the HGV industry, particularly in terms of the Driver CPC qualification.

What Is The Driver CPC?

CPC stands for “Driver Certificate of Professional Competence”. It is a qualification for professional drivers of goods and passenger vehicles and was developed as a result of EU Directive 2003/59, which requires drivers to be continuously trained throughout their working lives. Drivers must only be trained using approved training courses and should complete 35 hours of approved training in every period of five years.

How do Grandfather Rights affect me?

If grandfather rights weren’t applied when the Driver CPC was introduced, the haulage industry may not have survived. Think about it – in 2009 the Driver CPC was created, stating that all HGV and LGV drivers needed to hold the qualification in order to legally work as professional drivers. This would have meant that all drivers currently working would have had to stop, immediately, and go through training and testing. This would have meant the whole industry ground to a halt, goods didn’t get moved around the country and general pandemonium.

Grandfather rights mean those drivers who were already working didn’t need to stop working – they were protected and considered qualified under the new law. The Driver CPC only needed to be earned by any new drivers moving into the industry. This means haulage could continue, and new drivers simply had a bit more training to do before they could start work.

Who needs a current Drivers CPC card?

*Everyone who wants to drive a HGV professionally, in one way or another.

If you’re a large goods vehicle driver and you gained your licence prior to 10th September 2009, then you have Grandfather/acquired rights. This applies to Cat C, C1, C+E and C1+E licences. If you gained a bus or coach driver and gained your licence D, D1, D+E or D1+E before 10th September 2008, you also apply for Grandfather/acquired rights. This means you don’t have to do the full Driver CPC, but you are still fully qualified. But don’t think you’re completely off the hook! You still have to complete your 35 hours of training every 5 years in order to keep that status up.

Everybody else, especially new drivers after this date, needs to fulfil the requirements for a Driver Certificate of Professional Competence to legally be allowed on the road as a professional driver of goods and passenger vehicles. This means training, medical exams, tests and regular ongoing training to gain your license.

What if my Drivers CPC expires?

If you are a new driver looking to take your first steps into the world of HGV driving, then the Driver CPC is your first port of call. If you try to do any other kind of training without it, then you will be turned away. The Driver CPC is the baseline that all other training is built on, so you can’t do anything without one. If you do get a job as a professional driver without doing one, you are committing a crime, and opening yourself up to some pretty hefty fines and maybe even prison time.

If you’ve been driving since before the Driver CPC implementation date, then you don’t have to go and do your Driver CPC, and you can still stay on the road. However, you will need to apply for grandfather rights (since they are not granted automatically), and make sure you complete your 35 hours of training every 5 years to stay qualified. If this lapses, then you may have to go and do the Driver CPC after all!!

Attendance on our Transport Managers Refresher course will count as 14 hours’ mandatory Driver CPC training (2 days, JAUPT approved).

Prosecution regulations tightened on the use of hand-held mobile phones at the wheel. 

• government strengthening existing laws making it illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving under virtually any circumstance
• follows public consultation which found that 81% of people supported such a move
• highway code will change making it clear that hand-held phone use at traffic lights or in traffic jams is illegal

Police will soon be able to more easily prosecute drivers using a hand-held mobile phone at the wheel after the government strengthens existing laws to further improve road safety.

It is already illegal to text or make a phone call (other than in an emergency) using a hand-held device while driving. Next year, laws will go further to ban drivers from using their phones to take photos or videos, scroll through playlists or play games.

This will mean anyone caught using their hand-held device while driving will face a £200 fixed penalty notice and 6 points on their licence.

Drivers will still be able to continue using a device ‘hands-free’ while driving, such as a sat-nav, if it’s secured in a cradle. They must, however, always take responsibility for their driving and can be charged with an offence if the police find them not to be in proper control of their vehicle.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

Too many deaths and injuries occur while mobile phones are being held.
By making it easier to prosecute people illegally using their phone at the wheel, we are ensuring the law is brought into the 21st century while further protecting all road users.
While our roads remain among the safest in the world, we will continue working tirelessly to make them safer.

The number of bridge strike incidents in the UK remains alarmingly high. In 2020/21 there were 1624 incidences on the Network Rail infrastructure alone. There are many more incidences of commercial vehicles using inappropriate routes, including not complying with weight limits, which results in damage to roads, congestion and risks the safety of other road users.

One of the reasons for these incidences occurring is poor route planning and the reliance on inappropriate satnav systems, which lack commercial functionality to warn the driver of all the critical points on routes.

Whilst satnav technology can be employed effectively and efficiently, the devices used must be fit for a commercial role. Good satnav devices will regularly be updated with up-to-date information on the road network, including height restrictions.  

Having suitable satnav equipment is not a substitute for effective route planning, but it may assist the driver to avoid some of these incidences, especially when routes change during a journey.

The traffic commissioners expect operators and drivers to treat this issue seriously and take responsibility. Any failure to do so could lead to an operator or driver having to appear before a traffic commissioner. 

• Make sure your satnav is a commercial vehicle satnav, not one designed for a car! 
• Make sure that if satnavs are provided to drivers, they are trained to use them and, importantly, the correct checks and procedures are in place to ensure they do! 
• Have a satnav policy within your operation. 
• Don’t assume you know the restrictions on a road, check first!
• Double check on an up-to-date map. You could use Google Street Views to get a sight of an unfamiliar route or junction, including delivery or pick up points. 
• Know your vehicle height, width and weight, and ensure your drivers do – provide height conversion charts.