Independent Quality Management System Audits
Goods Vehicle Operators are expected to have an independent operator licence compliance audit at least every two-years, Truck UK can help.
We provide a service that will fulfil the above requirement, carried out by a qualified and competent road transport specialist auditor, at a realistic price and providing a wide range of information within the resulting audit report.
We are proud of our auditing service and the pre-audit guidelines and post-audit information provided as part of our audit package.
We provide independent compliance audits to satisfy the requirements of the traffic commissioners' and our audit reports always contain a wealth of information to assist the operator in their need to comply with the obligations and declarations entered into when the licence was initially granted and to be met throughout the life of the licence.
If you require such a service please contact us via e-mail to:
compliance@truckuk.net
Driver & Management In-house Training Courses
Truck UK provide in-house training for goods vehicle operators, transport managers and professional vocational drivers.
We provide one-day Operator Licence Awareness Courses (OLAC) and two-day Transport Manager Refresher training courses, to the level of knowledge as expected by the Traffic Commissioner's and as is expected to be undertaken at least every five years by those named on operator licences.
DVSA Approved Driver CPC Periodic Training for professional vocational drivers.
As all our training courses are presented in-house we can tailor the content of each individual course exactly to the clients needs and use company specific documentation within each course.
The training we provide is produced and presented by professional qualified trainers, all with a genuine road transport background.
For information, contact us via e-mail, to:
training@truckuk.net
Tachograph Analysis and Drivers' Hours Management
It is essential that every goods vehicle operator is regularly checking and actively managing drivers' hours and working time records.
At Truck UK we provide clients with our own web-based tachograph system at www.truckuk-tachomaster.co.uk
and various types of of drivers' hours and record keeping management packages.
As well as digital tachograph services Truck UK are one of the few analysis providers that continue to provide expert analogue tachograph records analysis.
All analysis is carried out by qualified transport managers.
Operators have the option of either investing in tachomaster software and records database for £1.00 per week per driver and 50 pence per week per vehicle, or signing up to a complete drivers' hours record keeping management package, with Truck UK working alongside the transport manager or responsible person.
To find out more contact us by e-mail at: tachographs@truckuk.net
Truck UK provide tachograph analysis using truckuk-tachomaster software, recognised worldwide as simply the best and the easiest to use tachograph analysis software available. truckuk-tachomaster
provides assimilated drivers' hours; EU drivers' hours; GB domestic rules and working time analysis and a huge choice of reports, as well as a comprehensive database where the drivers' hours and the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 records are stored, both in their raw data form, as well as in an easy to understand format.
There are three levels of service available through Truck UK, beginning with simply using the truckuk-tachomaster
analysis software yourself at a set cost of £1.00 per week per driver and 50 pence per week per digital tachograph vehicle unit, payable per use and not with any commitment for a long term contract to be entered into. Or, you can use Truck UK tachograph specialists to regularly check your records and provide you with electronically generated reports and infringement letters, as required, sent directly to the transport manager or responsible person as required. The third option is to enter into a retained client contract with Truck UK and enjoy the ongoing advice, information and services that we provide through a total compliance management package, which includes a complete tachograph service that is second to none. This is a tailored package that is put together by the transport specialist that will work with you throughout your time with us.
Our guarantee to you - We do not employ any in-house sales people, or third-party sales companies, nor do we employ any third-party tele-sales companies to contact operators in our name. We do not cold call and we do not harass operators' by 'phone and/or post if they have been named in the weekly publication - Office of the Traffic Commissioner Applications and Decisions (A's & D's).
Whenever any contact is made with Truck UK, by 'phone or e-mail, you will always be dealt with by a qualified transport manager who knows the road transport sector and is up to date and aware of the compliance requirements goods vehicle operators face every day.
Truck UK is a small independent family company, based on the borders of East Anglia and the East Midlands and we have been involved in road haulage within the United Kingdom since 1974 and specialist operator support services from 2007 onwards.
Since 2022 Truck UK has been managed by the second generation of the Williams family and we continue to be committed to providing best practice services to the UK based goods vehicle operator's that we work with.
Professional driver and management training
As a DVSA approved training centre (AC00184) and a provider of transport manager refresher and operator licence awareness training to the level of knowledge as expected by the Senior Traffic Commissioner, Truck UK have been providing specialist training to goods vehicle operators and their drivers since 2007. This includes Driver CPC approved periodic training, toolbox talks and all types of induction and refresher training.
Driver CPC approved periodic training courses presented by Truck UK are available in-house for goods vehicle operators that want to provide their professional vocational drivers' with top quality and well presented training sessions. Since 3rd December 2024 DVSA approved training centres in the UK have been able to provide courses that meet either National (N) or International (I) Driver CPC criteria. Truck UK have approved courses that include drivers' hours, vehicle maintenance; safe and secure loading; health & safety, avoidance of bridge strikes, manual handling, working at height, emergency first aid at work (max 12 on EFAW course) and road risk. We do not
provide remote online driver training.
When considering management training and the need for operators' and transport managers (standard operators) / responsible persons (restricted operators) to meet continuous professional development (CPD) requirements, as expected by the traffic commissioner, our one-day Operator Licence Awareness Course (OLAC) ensures that operators' are up to date when it comes to licence compliance and that the requirement for a minimum of such training having been undertaken within every five years by all those named on operators' licences is fulfilled.
For transport managers and responsible persons, we provide both one-day and two-day transport manager refresher courses/transport manager practical courses, as every nominated transport manager / responsible person is now expected to attend such a course at least once in every five year period.
Should you believe that we could work with you to provide in-house tailored training for your staff, contact us by e-mail to: training@truckuk.net for no obligation detailed information to be sent out to you electronically, which will include a breakdown of the course content, timings for the course completion and a priced quote. If you would rather discuss your requirements over the phone or in person, telephone 01832 274762 between 09.00 and 16.00 Monday to Friday and we will do whatever we can to meet your needs.
Truck UK do not employ sales people, nor do we ever use third-party tele-sales. When you discuss your training needs with Truck UK you will always be talking to qualified and experienced persons that deal with goods vehicle operator licensing every day.
Reform of the Driver CPC - National (N) and International (I)
As mentioned above, reforms to the Driver CPC were introduced in the United Kingdom on Tuesday 3rd December 2024.
The reforms that are now available include the seven - hour 'return to driving'
course and the National (N) Driver CPC.
- National (N) Driver CPC 'return to driving' - As mentioned above, the changes introduced in 2024 and now in place include the introduction in the United Kingdom of the option of undertaking a seven-hour 'return to driving' approved Driver CPC periodic training module, to enable those that have left the industry for more than 60 days and less than two years, to start driving professionally on completion of this one seven-hour course, enabling them to return to driving professionally within the United Kingdom as soon as the DVSA approved training provider has recorded the undertaking of the course, but this does NOT permit driving professionally outside of the United Kingdom.
The returning driver then needs to complete a further twenty eight hours of approved Driver CPC periodic training within twelve months of finishing the 'return to driving' course, to stay qualified. The additional 28 hours of approved training can be either as National (N) or International (I) courses, dependent on what type of work the driver is being used to complete (domestic or international)
The 'return to driving' course can only be used to return to professional driving once every five years. Truck UK does be provide this course. Approved training providers that can provide the 'return to driving' course can be found by going to the DVSA Training Accreditation website at: https://www.jaupt.org.uk/#search
- The introduction of the National (N) Driver CPC, which is available alongside the International (I) Driver CPC, with the undertaking of the National (N) Driver CPC approved periodic training courses leading to the issuing of a National (N) Driver Qualification Card (DQC), that will enable vocational HGV drivers' to drive professionally within the United Kingdom only.
This reform allows DVSA approved training centres, such as Truck UK, to present National (N) Driver CPC training courses in blocks of 3.5 hours whenever is convenient, rather than forcing drivers to commit to 7 hour training days in a classroom that is completed within a 24 hour period, thereby allowing greater flexibility to domestic operators and drivers, which in our opinion is a far more realistic and sensible length of course for those professional vocational category drivers' that work within the United Kingdom to sit through.
At Truck UK we intended to adopt the new 3.5 hour course option, as we believed that drivers' and operators would much prefer the shorter course options.
However, despite making the recommendation to all our retained client operators that they plan for an ongoing training commitment for their drivers' to undertake two half-day approved courses within every twelve months, from 2025 onwards, no one we have spoken to has made such a commitment. Unfortunately, this is more to do with the difficulty most goods vehicle operators have with making any decision, rather than being against this new option.
As a provider of goods vehicle operator support services we believe that this new approach to Driver CPC training will greatly improve the training experience for domestic (UK only) drivers, with the result that shorter courses will lead to a better teaching environment, an improved understanding of the course content and thereby improved road safety, which is what the whole process has been aimed at since the Driver CPC was very first introduced for the HGV sector in 2009.
But, for now at least, we have been proved wrong, as all the national operators that we regularly work with are so far unwilling to take advantage of this alternative option for approved periodic training and so we have only planned for two half day courses to be approved from September 2025 - 'Avoiding Bridge Strikes - 3.5 hours' and 'It's the law - 3.5 hours'.
- International (I) Driver CPC and International Driver Qualification Card - This is the seven hour training days that have been in place since 2009 and remain in place across all of the rest of Europe, in that all operators' that send any driver abroad while assigned to drive a commercial vehicle authorised on a UK goods vehicle operator licence will still be required to undertake what is now referred to as International (I) Driver CPC courses, that will remain at a minimum of seven hours of approved training within any 24 hour period, five times within every five year period.
Undertaking 5 x 7 hour International (I) Driver CPC courses will to lead to the issuing of what is now referred to as an International (I) Driver Qualification Card (DQC), as required by member states of the European Union. So, if you intend to send your commercial vehicles abroad, your drivers' must still meet the European requirements, rather than the requirements of the United Kingdom.
We live in hope that UK based goods vehicle operators that we work with will eventually forward plan effectively for Driver CPC training, rather than following the current five-yearly mad rush to get courses undertaken just before driver qualification cards expire, but then again perhaps we are not being realistic. Time will tell.
The number of delegates that can be accommodated within any training course provided by Truck UK depends on the size of training room available and the adequacy of welfare facilities on-site on the day of the course, with the ration of 20:1 trainees against trainer being the maximum permitted by DVSA. *The only exception to the 20 maximum is currently the Emergency First Aid at Work Course (ICRS30799/184) that is approved against the International (I) Driver CPC seven-hour course, which has a maximum number of attendees set at 12. To ensure that the facilities available are satisfactory, a first-time visit would be required to be completed by Truck UK before any training booking is confirmed.
KW - May 2025