It covers both LGV and PCV drivers, and potentially LCV drivers towing large trailers who drive professionally throughout the UK, and was developed as a requirement of the EU Directive 2003/59, which is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of professional LGV and PCV drivers throughout their working life.

For drivers new to the LGV / PCV scene who acquire a PCV vocational entitlement (D1, D1+E, D, D+E licence) after the 10th September 2008, and/or an LGV vocational entitlement (C1, C1+E, C or C+E licence) after the 10th September 2009, they will have to obtain the Initial Qualification in addition to their licence to drive professionally.  There is also the National Vocational Training programme route where they are still able to obtain a vocational licence but can defer the Initial Qualification by up to a maximum of one year, whilst still being able to drive professionally.

Drivers like myself who have been driving for a few years (well, ok, a lot of years!) are exempt from the Initial Qualification through the “acquired rights” rule but – and there’s always a but – all professional drivers must complete a total of 35 hours Periodic Training every 5 years following their “acquired rights” or Initial Qualification to keep their Driver CPC valid.  Existing drivers must complete their Periodic Training by September 2013 and September 2014 for PCV and LGV, respectively.

Of course, there are conditions for both the driver and the vehicle in which a driver’s CPC is not necessary.  For instance, when driving a vehicle for non-commercial carriage of passengers or goods for personal use or if the vehicle you drive is being road tested after repair, maintenance or technical development.  Or it could be the case that the vehicle is new or rebuilt and hasn’t yet been put into service for instance. These are a couple of examples (and there are others) but for the vast majority of professional commercial vehicle drivers, a drivers CPC is going to be mandatory.

Professional drivers must undertake 35 hours of training every five years in order to meet the new CPC requirements. Commenting on the current rate of take-up, Mercedes-Benz believes that many drivers will leave it too late to sign up for courses, which means that by 2014, they will not have completed the relevant training and consequently will lose their licence.

On that basis, all truck drivers will have to complete this training by September 2014 and as long as you complete the 35 hours, it doesn’t really matter how it’s achieved. By that, I mean you’ll satisfy the requirements whether you undertake seven hours (a typical one day training period) per annum spread over five years or whether you undertake seven hours per day in the last week in September 2014. Although I suspect that week maybe slightly busy if the current sign up rate continues!

Of course, the introduction of the Driver CPC is an issue that affects everyone within the heavy commercial vehicle industry and therefore is not specific to any one truck manufacturer, but many are starting to offer this type of training through either a central facility or from their dealer network – but why are truck manufacturers apparently taking up the training challenge so vigorously?

Now, unless you have been living on a desert island or locked yourself away in a cupboard for the last 18 months, you may have noticed truck sales (or any type of automotive sales for that matter) have been at their most depressed in probably a generation.

It would appear that the combination of 450,000 drivers (or their employers) having to pay somewhere in the region of £100-£200 (excl. VAT) per day for 35 days (I make that around £1.5bn – £3bn) has attracted the attention of the ‘big wigs’ of most truck manufacturers to help supplement the rather battered revenue streams experienced over the last couple of years.

So the battle for this rather lucrative and (perhaps more importantly) mandatory market has begun and every manufacturer has started marketing their respective credentials to woo the truck driving public.

As mentioned there are many players in the market for this “slice of the action” and the choice appears to fall into two categories: do you want to just do the training and tick the box or do you want to learn potentially valuable skills at the same time?

I say this because the over-riding aim of the driver CPC is (intentionally or not) a “tick the box exercise” as there appears to be a very loose set of guidelines published from government and therefore, most of the “necessary” training appears to be very broad brush  or widely encompassing.

So when you do look around for a training provider, make sure, at the very least, you have an idea of what you want out of the course and at £100-£400 per day, choose your provider carefully.