Professional & Vocational Drivers

Whenever delivering training we always try and give that bit more by advising on rules and legalities that can affect professional and vocational drivers.

Many people that drive as part of their role do not see themselves as a professional driver when they actually are.  This is something that needs to be communicated by companies and understood by drivers, as it sometimes means that they do not take the role seriously and understand the implications if something goes wrong.

However, the term vocational driver does normally refer to a driver that has completed formal training to obtain and drive under category C (Class 2) or CE (Class 1) on their licence.

Vocational drivers are under strict regulations and have many obligations when it comes to driving standards.

How many of your drivers know that they can face a four week suspension for using a mobile phone while driving a commercial vehicle?

How many drivers know that they can be suspended for six weeks for a second speeding offence?

So many drivers don’t even know the Traffic Commissioner can take action against their professional driving licences.

That’s why our vocational driver guidance has 26 different examples of how traffic commissioners deal with driver conduct.

Some of the most popular instances that affect vocational drivers differently include the following:

• mobile phone offending
• drink driving bans
• using a magnet to interfere with the tachograph
• using another driver’s digicard
• failing to respond to the directions of a DVSA stopping officer

The list above is a guidance list to the starting points which traffic commissioners consider for different offences.

If you want to know more about this subject take a look at the Traffic Commissiners report about vocational drivers conduct from January 2016 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-vocational-driver-conduct-january-2016

Alternatively if you are wanting to receive training for you or your drivers about their roles and responsibilities under current legislation, please message us info@totalcompliance.co.uk or use the contact page of our website https://totalcompliance.co.uk/