UK operators won't be able to recruit from abroad to meet any Driver CPC shortfall

Last week The Hub asked the question “could German and Spanish drivers plug the Driver CPC gap?”.

The answer in short appears to be no, they can’t.

Vosa has today confirmed that yes, while 10 September 2014 is the deadline the UK is running to for Driver CPC, it is not the ultimate deadline set out by the European Commission directive.

That is 10 September 2016 and some of our Continental rivals are working to this, some two years after our own self-imposed deadline.

So if you are a professional driver in Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal (for those over 50 years old), Belgium, Spain (specific to particular licences), Sweden and Norway (those with a current licence expiry dates of 2018) you have until 10 September 2016 to complete your training.

However, due to an agreement between member states, Vosa will not enforce Driver CPC for drivers based in countries outside the EU until their own deadlines have come into effect. So a German driver undertaking cabotage in the UK has until 10 September 2016 to complete his training, and won’t fall foul of Vosa until then (if he hasn’t).

But, and it’s a big, driver-shaped but, if a foreign national was recruited to drive for a UK employer – even on a temporary work permit – then they come under UK Driver CPC rules and would need to have completed their training the same as UK drivers from 10 September 2014.

So if there is a driver shortage for the autumn peak in 2014 in the UK as a result of the Driver CPC, we won’t be able to look beyond our borders for a temporary fix.