Licensing & duties
What is Driver CPC?
Driver CPC is the professional competence qualification a driver must hold to drive a lorry, bus or coach professionally, maintained by periodic training over a rolling cycle.
It is separate from the driving licence. A driver can hold a valid vocational licence and be unable to drive professionally because their CPC has lapsed, which catches out returning drivers in particular.
Periodic training has to be completed over a cycle, and the hours are logged centrally. Completing them all at the end of a cycle is permitted and is a poor use of the requirement.
For the operator it is an availability risk as much as a compliance one: a driver whose CPC lapses is unavailable for work until it is restored.
What goes wrong in practice
- Expiry dates held by the driver rather than by the operator.
- Training completed at the very end of a cycle, producing an availability crunch.
- Returning drivers assumed current because their licence is.