We have a dire shortage of HGV drivers you would think they would speed up licence applications but No

JockandRita said:
Apparently I had gone 5 x minutes over the maximum 6 x hours working time Richard, without showing a break. :doh: Nothing at all to do with the Tachograph Rules & Regs.


Surely if that was the ruling, it would apply right across the EU, and in non EU countries which choose to comply with the EU Rules?

Cheers,

Jock. :)
Click to expand...
It’s all down to interpretation and if people do not like the interpretation they could just blame the EU then point to other countries within the EU and say the same rules do not apply to them.
 
JockandRita said:
Apparently I had gone 5 x minutes over the maximum 6 x hours working time Richard, without showing a break. :doh: Nothing at all to do with the Tachograph Rules & Regs.


Surely if that was the ruling, it would apply right across the EU, and in non EU countries which choose to comply with the EU Rules?

Cheers,

Jock. :)
Click to expand...

I THINK? That IF you do not spend at least 15min on ones 'watch around before taking over a vehicle' this can also contravene 'working time directive' as well as tacho requirements, It may have changed since I was a Transport manager/Owner?? :unsure:
 
Coolcats said:
It’s all down to interpretation and if people do not like the interpretation they could just blame the EU then point to other countries within the EU and say the same rules do not apply to them.
Click to expand...
BUT that interpretation is down to the agency that is in control of your Operators Licence AND have the powers to withdraw it.
When I did international haulage, the UK was the ONLY country that abided with ALL the directives, is there any wonder that the Cabotage has been extended to oversea's operatives???

Of course, my comments were given as it stood BEFORE any special Covid rule were brought in, NOW they may have changed!
 
Neil S said:
Well there you have it , I had a letter from HMG asking me to help out in the driver shortage even though I surrendered my vocation
Well like a dutiful citizen I’ve been for the medical at my expense ((£90)and passed , booked my DCPC online
Sent my application away and those wonderful gems in DVLA have now told me it will be probably next year before I get my LGV reinstated on my licence .
Why did I bother
Click to expand...
Reality always outweighs what's portrayed but I have to say when I'm on them motorways I don't see a shortage of LGVs. Is it just crazy consumerism or laziness that we all want everything on our doorstep 🤔 just a mad after drinking wine thought 🎺🥂
 
Wtd is the most common cause of problems for drivers I was told on one cpc course. They advised putting it on poa at every possible chance to delay the 6hr cut off so not getting in to trouble. It’s a pain what ever way you look at it.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
L' Hobo said:
I THINK? That IF you do not spend at least 15min on ones 'watch around before taking over a vehicle' this can also contravene 'working time directive' as well as tacho requirements, It may have changed since I was a Transport manager/Owner?? :unsure:
Click to expand...
I don’t think that there is a actual time specified for checking the hgv, just an accepted time of 15 minutes.
 
I've been thinking for a while about making a suggestion, so yesterday I sent this to Grant Shapps


Dear Mr Shapps
Speaking as a C+E licence holder for the past 30 years can I suggest that the easiest way to alleviate some of the HGV driver shortage is to make the driver CPC a oneoff event. Its never really been fit for purpose and is widely seen amongst drivers as either a tedious waste of time or a skive.

The problem is that its keeping many experienced part timers off the road because they wont continue to do the courses, OK part timers ( mostly older guys) but the driver shortages have been around for years and the way the hauliers have dealt with it has been to feed in part-timers frequently though employment agencies to keep the lorries moving. Even to cover the gaps caused by people taking time to do the driverCPC

The Driver CPC requires all drivers to do 35 hours of training in every 5 years. I've now done 10 and they've all been rubbish, anecdotally I could have done the same one 10 times. So after 70 hours of training have I learnt anything? Not one thing. None of them have contributed in anyway to making me a better, safer driver.

My suggestion would be to require all new HGV drivers to complete the course before they take to the road, capture their email addresses on a central database and email them any changes to the laws, and maybe have an assessment over 1 day every 10 years, this wouldnt be a bad idea for all road users actually.

His email is advertised as shappsg@parliament.uk so fingers crossed it gets through.
 
What I do when I enter the digi Tacho card, is put it on work mode straightaway, thereby showing a work period before driving off, during which time the daily checks are carried out. I too reckoned 15 x minutes, but was quickly advised recently that the gaffer only allows for 8 x minutes, to do daily checks.

jongood. Nice one Jon for taking the time to contact Grant Shapps. I do hope you get a decent reply, recognising the problem the tedious and repetitive DCPC courses are creating, toward the driver shortage. 👎

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
Just managed to stay awake through the select committee on Road Freight Supply Chain. Many interesting points raised but as one of the witnesses pointed out the same issues were raised last in 2016!

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
jongood said:
It was a bigger problem because it was affecting London!!
Click to expand...

The talk amongst my Transport Manager friends, at the time, was that ONLY BP were short of 4 drivers at one depot and sent an email to their garages informing them that there MIGHT be some delays in delivery.

This was picked up by the media and then the panic buying started and THAT'S what caused the shortage of fuel? (Just like the toilet rolls)
 
L' Hobo said:
The talk amongst my Transport Manager friends, at the time, was that ONLY BP were short of 4 drivers at one depot and sent an email to their garages informing them that there MIGHT be some delays in delivery.

This was picked up by the media and then the panic buying started and THAT'S what caused the shortage of fuel? (Just like the toilet rolls)
Click to expand...

A BP representative didn’t dispel fears of a shortage.

In fact was very good at making it look like a Country wide issue regarding lack of drivers.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Silver-Fox said:
A BP representative didn’t dispel fears of a shortage.

In fact was very good at making it look like a Country wide issue regarding lack of drivers.
Click to expand...
I remember the interview,

How could he, there WAS shortages at a FEW of HIS garages AND there IS, and has been for a long time, a shortage of drivers.

I don't remember him LINKING the two specifically, but I may be wrong.
 
DVLA received my D2/D4 forms on the 16th of November (proof of postage) I just need my previous entitlement on a new licence. We will see how long it takes.
I'm not holding my breath.
 
Clean bill of health my C+E took ten weeks to come back.
 
Good afternoon all. :)

Neil S. Any progress with your licence renewal Neil?

My Class 1 HGV & PSV licence expires in March, so due to the perceived delays and as an experiment, I had my medical on 18th December, sent off the D2 & D4 forms by recorded delivery on 20th December, and received my new HGV & PSV licence back this morning ..................... with an expiry date of March 20th 2023. :dance2: I am surprised at how quick it took, but pleased for once to be praising DVLA rather than running them down. :)

As a "belt and braces" job, I included a recent photo, along with a cheque for £17.00......................which they saw fit to refund (y) possibly because they used my passport photo, (same as the one sent in).

As these will be annual medicals now, my plan is to do it all again, but in November this time, (medical is valid for 4 x months), so that my new licence should arrive in December, before we leave for Spain in January...........................which is where we should be right now. :(


jongood said:
I've been thinking for a while about making a suggestion, so yesterday I sent this to Grant Shapps


Dear Mr Shapps
Speaking as a C+E licence holder for the past 30 years can I suggest that the easiest way to alleviate some of the HGV driver shortage is to make the driver CPC a oneoff event. Its never really been fit for purpose and is widely seen amongst drivers as either a tedious waste of time or a skive.

The problem is that its keeping many experienced part timers off the road because they wont continue to do the courses, OK part timers ( mostly older guys) but the driver shortages have been around for years and the way the hauliers have dealt with it has been to feed in part-timers frequently though employment agencies to keep the lorries moving. Even to cover the gaps caused by people taking time to do the driverCPC

The Driver CPC requires all drivers to do 35 hours of training in every 5 years. I've now done 10 and they've all been rubbish, anecdotally I could have done the same one 10 times. So after 70 hours of training have I learnt anything? Not one thing. None of them have contributed in anyway to making me a better, safer driver.

My suggestion would be to require all new HGV drivers to complete the course before they take to the road, capture their email addresses on a central database and email them any changes to the laws, and maybe have an assessment over 1 day every 10 years, this wouldnt be a bad idea for all road users actually.

His email is advertised as shappsg@parliament.uk so fingers crossed it gets through.
Click to expand...
jongood, Did you ever get a reply from Grant Shapps, Jon?

Cheers for now,

Jock. :)
 
JockandRita said:
Good afternoon all. :)

Neil S. Any progress with your licence renewal Neil?

My Class 1 HGV & PSV licence expires in March, so due to the perceived delays and as an experiment, I had my medical on 18th December, sent off the D2 & D4 forms by recorded delivery on 20th December, and received my new HGV & PSV licence back this morning ..................... with an expiry date of March 20th 2023. :dance2: I am surprised at how quick it took, but pleased for once to be praising DVLA rather than running them down. :)

As a "belt and braces" job, I included a recent photo, along with a cheque for £17.00......................which they saw fit to refund (y) possibly because they used my passport photo, (same as the one sent in).

As these will be annual medicals now, my plan is to do it all again, but in November this time, (medical is valid for 4 x months), so that my new licence should arrive in December, before we leave for Spain in January...........................which is where we should be right now. :(



jongood, Did you ever get a reply from Grant Shapps, Jon?

Cheers for now,

Jock. :)
Click to expand...
Jock I got my HGV and PCV entitlement renewed eventually .
It took about nearly 9 weeks from the date I sent it away which was around 14th October .
I also included another photo even though it wasn’t needed .
We were supposed to be leaving for Spain at the beginning of January but due to the uncertainty of omicron we have delayed our departure to February 25th .
I have my CPC booked for the end of April .
Won’t have a problem finding work my old firm will take me back on a part time basis
Actually looking forward to getting back behind the wheel .
hoping to do Germany again this year probably around September time again .

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Neil S said:
Jock I got my HGV and PCV entitlement renewed eventually .
It took about nearly 9 weeks from the date I sent it away which was around 14th October .
I also included another photo even though it wasn’t needed .
We were supposed to be leaving for Spain at the beginning of January but due to the uncertainty of omicron we have delayed our departure to February 25th .
I have my CPC booked for the end of April .
Won’t have a problem finding work my old firm will take me back on a part time basis
Actually looking forward to getting back behind the wheel .
hoping to do Germany again this year probably around September time again .
Click to expand...
Just be careful out there, unfortunately nowadays the roads are full of numpties who only know how to drive an auto box, don't know what "handball" means and have no idea of what courtesy to other drivers is all about. Oh, and car drivers don't give a rubbish either.
 
Paulypaul said:
Just be careful out there, unfortunately nowadays the roads are full of numpties who only know how to drive an auto box, don't know what "handball" means and have no idea of what courtesy to other drivers is all about. Oh, and car drivers don't give a rubbish either.
Click to expand...
No I am at home. Haha
 
All you oldies looking for work, I would struggle to get in the cab now let alone the trailer, would probably pass the medical though.
Let mine lapse in 2006.
 
Neil S said:
I have my CPC booked for the end of April .
Won’t have a problem finding work my old firm will take me back on a part time basis
Click to expand...
Nice one Neil, though I would have thought you'd have got in earlier than that. :whatthe:
I too am with my old part time employer. Work was mad on the run up to Christmas (food distribution), but as expected, has slackened right off now, and won't pick up again until Mother's Day with the demand for flowers, and then Easter again for produce and flowers. My gaffer distributes both, so this time of year would have been ideal to be sat in the sun, then back for March. ;)

Neil S said:
Actually looking forward to getting back behind the wheel .
Click to expand...
I find it enjoyable, but only doing 2 x days a week, or 3 x when exceptionally busy. The units are all autos now Neil, which does take away some of the enjoyment of driving for me. :(

Neil S said:
hoping to do Germany again this year probably around September time again .
Click to expand...
Snap. (y)

Paulypaul said:
Just be careful out there, unfortunately nowadays the roads are full of numpties who only know how to drive an auto box, don't know what "handball" means and have no idea of what courtesy to other drivers is all about. Oh, and car drivers don't give a rubbish either.
Click to expand...
You are not wrong Paul, soon reminding me why I was happy to walk away from it a few years ago. :(
Every man and his dog is in a hurry, mainly car drivers, one of which nearly had me off the road, out in the Lincolnshire sticks. He overtook me on a dark unlit road, which wasn't wide enough to do so safely. I struggled to keep my front nearside wheels from catching the soft verge, leading down an embankment. :madder:
I caught up with him at a T junction to the busy A17. He was indicating right but couldn't exit the junction due to traffic coming from the left. As soon as I pulled up behind him and applied the handbrake, he suddenly turned left into a gap in the traffic from the right.....................heading in the opposite direction to where he wanted to be. :devil: :devil: :devil:

Cheers,

Jock. :)

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Last edited:
JockandRita said:
Nice one Neil, though I would have thought you'd have got in earlier than that. :whatthe:
I too am with my old part time employer. Work was mad on the run up to Christmas (food distribution), but as expected, has slackened right off now, and won't pick up again until Mother's Day with the demand for flowers, and then Easter again for produce and flowers. My gaffer distributes both, so this time of year would have been ideal to be sat in the sun, then back for March. ;)


I find it enjoyable, but only doing 2 x days a week, or 3 x when exceptionally busy. The units are all autos now Neil, which does take away some of the enjoyment of driving for me. :(


Snap. (y)


You are not wrong Paul, soon reminding me why I was happy to walk away from it a few years ago. :(
Every man and his dog is in a hurry, mainly car drivers, one of which nearly had me off the road, out in the Lincolnshire sticks. He overtook me on a dark unlit road, which wasn't wide enough to do so safely I struggled to keep my front nearside wheels from catching the soft verge, leading down an embankment. :madder:
I caught up with him at a T junction to the busy A17. He was indicating right but couldn't exit the junction due to traffic coming from the left. As soon as I pulled up behind him and applied the handbrake, he suddenly turned left into a gap in the traffic from the right.....................heading in the opposite direction to where he wanted to be. :devil: :devil: :devil:

Cheers,

Jock. :)
Click to expand...
Jock were hopeful to go to Spain for
5-6 weeks returning around the 10th of April hence the later booking for my CPC .

Agree with you about automatic trucks , I’d far rather have a
4 over 4 with split any day
But then that was what I was brought up with
Or even better Eaton twin split they took a bit of mastering
Yep had a good old ERF for about 4 years back in the 90s great old motor
 
Vacancies maybe, look at the salaries.
I have had a call around with current ADR, if they think I would work for what's on offer, they can think again.
No shortage in my view merely people have tired of exploitation.
 
You lot will be talking about the man with the red flag on front if you go back much further :eek:
 
JockandRita said:
You are not wrong Paul, soon reminding me why I was happy to walk away from it a few years ago. :(
Every man and his dog is in a hurry, mainly car drivers, one of which nearly had me off the road, out in the Lincolnshire sticks. He overtook me on a dark unlit road, which wasn't wide enough to do so safely I struggled to keep my front nearside wheels from catching the soft verge, leading down an embankment. :madder:
I caught up with him at a T junction to the busy A17. He was indicating right but couldn't exit the junction due to traffic coming from the left. As soon as I pulled up behind him and applied the handbrake, he suddenly turned left into a gap in the traffic from the right.....................heading in the opposite direction to where he wanted to be. :devil: :devil: :devil:
Click to expand...
I know what you mean Jock. Trust me, it doesn't get any better when you've got a 13'8" wide load with an escort behind you and orange lights flashing in all directions, on the M4 a couple of days before Christmas. Cars trying to overtake me on a 2 lane section of roadworks then a couple of trucks too...like I don't have anything else to worry about?

Stay safe Jock.

Paul
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top