What is it?
CPC is a Certificate of Professional Competence. You must do training every 35 hours worth of training every five years in order to legally drive a lorry, bus or coach.
If you don’t have the correct CPC required, you can be fined for up to £1,000 for driving professionally without the qualification.
You can refer to the government website to check how much training you’ve done in the past 5 years.
If you drive both buses and lorries, you will only need to complete one set of training every 5 years. You must complete the training in the country that you normally live in.
When to do the CPC training
Your Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) qualification is valid for five years. In order to keep your Driver CPC you must do the 35 hours of training required before the 5 year period is over. The deadline you must complete the training by will be printed on your card.
It is entirely your choice when you complete the training courses, as long as they are complete by the 5 year deadline.
It is illegal to drive professionally if you have not completed your training by the five year deadline.
Drivers with ‘Acquired rights’
If you are a driver with ‘acquired rights’ this means that because of existing driving experience, you don’t have to do the Driver CPC initial qualification.
Drivers are exempt from the Driver qualification if you adhere to any of the following:
If you drive a lorry and got your vocational license before 10th September 2009
If you drive a bus or coach and got your vocational license before 10th September 2008
If you drive a bus or coach (not for hire or reward) and you got your vocational licence after 1991
If you drive a minibus (not for hire or reward) and got your license before 1997
