Should you be doing more van training within your business? Van drivers are cover the most miles of any logistics transport within the UK. However, unlike other heavy goods vehicles there is no legal requirements about their level of training.
For some van drivers their daily routine is not much different to a heavy goods vehicle haulier, they will arrive at work ready to make deliveries or transport goods to their destination. So why do van drivers not have to complete training like HGV drivers? Well the main reason behind this is the significantly lower payload that they are transporting. Unlike a HGV which can carry up to 44 tonne, a van must not exceed a payload of 3.5 tonne which includes the van, the driver, fuel and the goods being carried. This means that a HGV driver could be transporting up to 10 times the weight that a van driver transports on a daily basis, the extra payload affects lots of different safety areas that people do not normally take into consideration. The safety requirements of a HGV are much more complex than they are with a van, this is due to the potential danger that comes with operating a 44 tonne vehicle. The safety requirements associated with a HGV include a range of stuff that you would not do with an everyday van such as daily walk around checks, inspections every 6 weeks and driver defect reports.
Although you could argue that these two professional drivers in the main do the same job their everyday working life is very different, that is one of the main reasons a van driver does not have to complete the same amount of training as a HGV driver. Instead, van driver training is seen as an optional benefit that companies may want to pursue to increase the standards of driving within their fleet, it is an investment to develop their employees further. Van smart training is a prime example of this, there are no legal requirements stating van drivers need to complete training, while there is an argument that it could make our roads safer there are not any requirements for van driver training. However, it is a very beneficial course that teaches everyday van drivers about the most common issues on the road at the moment. We deliver van smart training for you at your office no matter where you are based, we bring all the equipment required for the training to be completed to you. Meaning your drivers can complete this professional development course while causing minimal disruption to your everyday operational activities.
If a driver is operating a rigid vehicle, articulated vehicle or any form of drawbar combination they will need to complete Driver CPC training to maintain their license for these vehicles. As well as van smart training we can also offer periodic Driver CPC training modules.