News

TNT has confirmed that it will seek to become an accredited training centre under the recently published driver training guidelines.

The express parcels and mail giant says it will pay the £1,500 fee to become accredited under the DSA's guidelines for providing the required 35 hours of periodic training every five years under the EU Driver CPC Directive due to come in force in 2009 (MT, February 22). "It's hardly a massive amount of money," says TNT's senior operations training officer  Dave Copping, who adds that the firm was expecting an accreditation charge.

The company is setting up a working group to look at the implementation of the new legislation in the second quarter of this year. It "would like to have something in place by the back end of 2008", and is considering regional training centres to cover the 2,000-strong fleet of drivers. "Basically, it's about minimising the cost [of training]," Copping says.

But he confirms TNT is not looking to obtain the provision for freight companies to conduct driving tests for their own staff.

Driver training firms have reacted positively to the proposed guidelines. Richard Armitage, training programmes manager at driver recruitment specialist Driver Hire, says that the introduction of the DCQ is "a massive positive for us and, I believe the industry as a whole. CPC drivers should carry their card and be proud of it".

He adds that Driver Hire is "very much in favour" of accreditation  for training centres, but questions the move to add more questions to the theory test. "Perhaps a better way to improve the quality of the test would be to increase the pass mark," he says.

Hargreaves Training says a mass move for hauliers testing their own drivers is unlikely. "Some large hauliers may go for this option. However, for the majority of the logistics industry outsourcing with a quality accredited training provider will be the preferred option thereby avoiding the cost of administering the scheme themselves."