In a last-ditch bid to get the secretary of state for
transport, Patrick McLoughlin MP, to
reconsider his decision, The British Aggregates Association (BAA) wrote to him
demanding that he he suspend the “ill-considered
and unnecessary” Large Goods Vehicle Certificate of Competence or DCPC .
BAA chairman and ex-haulier Robert Durward, owner of Cloburn
Quarry, wrote to the MP: “I wish to
complain in the strongest possible terms about the ongoing damage that is being
inflicted on the transport sector by ill-considered and unnecessary legislation.
“The negative effects
on the wider economy are going to be significant unless your department takes
immediate action.”
The response from the secretary of state was less than satisfactory,
according to Robert, who issued a press release stating that the Department for
Transport (DfT) were in denial, because they were insisting that the DCPC was
‘wonderful’. The BAA disagreed in the strongest terms, and said that they only
hoped that nobody famous was ‘flattened’ by a DCPC-qualified HGV driver as a
result.
Robert is concerned that members of the BAA are already
finding it difficult to source drivers, and believes that introducing the EU
Directive-led legislation will force HGV-qualified drivers to retire or change
careers – making it even harder for quarries to transport their deliveries.
“This has got to get worse after the Driver CPC comes into force,”
he told Commercial Motor. “Many quarries
now have a waiting list for deliveries, which is unprecedented.”
He continued: “We are
not against training but it has to be targeted and the sort of thing drivers
aspire to,” adding that the current process was a box-ticking exercise. “While many drivers may not be academic, they
take pride in their job and they have been grossly insulted [by the Driver
CPC]. They have been told to sit in a classroom and be taught by someone that’s
often [not] qualified.”
It seems that, according to industry experts like Robert
Durward, this whole exercise is likely to cause economic damage, even possibly
even lead to loss of life, and it’s all down to superfluous and badly designed
legislation.
Whilst everyone in the BAA fully supports appropriate
training, the worry is that the new legislation will force experienced HGV drivers,
some with over forty years behind the wheel to give up driving, leading to a
lack of qualified drivers and backlogs in deliveries that impact everybody.
Time will tell whether Robert’s predictions are correct, but
the DfT don’t appear to be budging and so for now, the legislation is in force.
