Europcar Unveils New Vehicle Class for CPC Regs

Europcar, one of Europe’s leading providers of car hire, has unveiled a brand-new vehicle class designed to help clients struggling to meet the new Certificate of Professional Competency (CPC) requirements that went into effect on 10 September 2013. The requirements now mandate professional drivers operating vehicles with seating for nine or more passengers earn CPC certification to go along with their commercial driving licences.

Many of Europcar’s clients are charities and public sector organisations that do not necessarily have the financial resources to provide CPC training and certification for their drivers. The new vehicle class from Europcar addresses that problem. It consists of minibuses with seating for no more than eight passengers, making the drivers of such vehicles exempt from the regulations.

The eventual implementation of the CPC program is nothing new despite the fact that it did not begin until this year. It has been in the works in Europe for more than 10 years, and the UK government has been warning drivers here as far back as 2010. The CPC requirements have been derived in the hopes of improving highway safety among Europe’s legions of commercial drivers.

PCV drivers, including coach, bus, and minibus operators, were required to receive training and certification no later than this past September. HGV drivers have until September of next year. After that, every driver possessing a commercial licence and operating qualifying vehicles will be required to renew the CPC certification every few years by undergoing remedial training.

For charities, public-sector organisations and small businesses, the regulations do pose a significant financial burden. Even a corps of just half-a-dozen drivers could present a fairly expensive bill over both the short and long terms. Moreover, requiring drivers to pay for the training themselves carries the risk of not being able to find adequate personnel to meet staffing needs. Europcar’s solution seems ideal for this particular segment of their customers.

You Can Train with Us

If you are in need of CPC training for yourself or your driver corps, you will be pleased to know we offer it at the HGV Training Centre. We have already helped countless drivers complete their training in preparation for meeting the regulatory deadlines. We would be happy to provide the same high-quality training for you.

We also want to remind HGV operators and drivers that next September’s deadline will come more quickly than most expect. Being that it’s now already November, we are down to fewer than 11 months before drivers could face substantial fines or lose their jobs altogether. Once next spring arrives, it will be all that much harder to get yourself or your drivers enrolled in classes due to the expected high demand for training.

Right now, there is plenty of space available in CPC training classes at all of our facilities. So now is the perfect time to contact us for enrolment information. The sooner the training is complete, the sooner you can forget about it and get back to things that are more important.