What is the CPC?

The Certificate of Professional Competence should not be confused with the new driver CPC being implemented in 2008. This particular CPC is the exam you must take in order to become an effective and competent Transport Manager. It is a Level 3 NVQ assessed by OCR so it is not an easy exam to take, or pass!

There are three papers to take. Paper one is a 20 question multiple choice exam on ‘Legal and Business matters’, paper three is a 40 question multiple choice on general passenger transport and management matters and paper five is a written ‘case study’ paper. My case study was a coach company trip, timetables and route planning. I smiled when I turned over the paper. As soon as I read it I knew I would at least pass that one. As it turned out I passed paper three as well. Legal and business escaped me the first time and I failed.
 
The course itself was a week in the classroom and one week home study.  I do not recommend the full home study courses because it’s easy to get distracted. A classroom environment is far more disciplined and information can be exchanged with other ‘students’ to aid your eventual pass. I sat next to one of my TM’s from First Group. He was as shocked to see me as I was to see him. We worked well together, but he moved to Cyprus, so I have no idea if he passed.

The course itself is complex. There is no point saying it is easy, or saying that you’ll pass because you’re a driver or supervisor in a bus/coach company. I will admit that being a driver gave me the edge on 60% of the group. I knew timetables, if you can read them and know your hours, you can write them. I knew about the daily walk around check, I knew about road traffic law, as drivers we have to. It does give us an advantage but it does not guarantee a pass. Hard work and study gets you that big brown envelope!
 
What I hope to do is either persuade you to do it from the information listed here, or put you off. Time wasted on this course is money wasted. None of us can afford that. My course, including child care, petrol to and from and the course itself came to nearly £1,000. Some companies charge less than £200 for the course books but they don’t include the exam fees, mine did. For £695 I got the classroom, the books and my first exam fees paid. I did an additional study day, the day before the exam, which added £50 but well worth it. Be very careful who you do your CPC with. The more classroom action you get the better. I had to pay another £20 for the paper one re-sit but I passed so I am not moaning!
 
I still haven’t ‘paid’ for the course with the work I have been introduced to since passing. Transport management on a freelance basis is a difficult field to get into but if your company are paying, take it! Like the PSV/HGV, they may make you pay for it if you leave the company but the certificate is yours and yours alone.
 
If you do the CPC to become a TM remember this, it is your good repute and professional competence on the line. Forget who’s financing you. If you don’t do your job properly you will be in front of the Traffic Commissioner and a public enquiry before the ink is even dry on your certificate.

What does it involve?

How long have you got? This, as I have said before, and will say time and again, is a very hard course. Here is a 1% sample of what you need to know to be a Transport Manager.
 
Accident Reporting, Business management, Cash Flow, Contracts of Employment, Employment Rights, Fire Precautions Act, Human Rights Act, Parking, Waiting and Loading, Traffic Offences, Vat Law….running a bus/coach/private hire company is about all aspects of business, not just the drivers and the driving hours (you need to know those too!) it’s everything.
 
If you are interested in taking the CPC for transport management register here. With more and more members passing we will have up date information that can help you join the CPC Honour List!

Consider this!

I spent over £1,000 on a course I wanted to do, because I wanted to do it. If I had known what was involved….no way.
 
Take your ball park figure of £750 for the books, classroom study, extra study day and exam fees if you pass first time. Add your fuel, time off work (if you’re not being paid) or business loan budget to that and it comes out at what I paid. For the £30 I am charging you could end up saving yourself £970 or save yourself ten to twenty hours of study time. If you already know some of this before you enter the classroom you can concentrate on what you don’t know. That type of assistance would have been invaluable to me. I might not have failed the legal and business paper first time around!

If you’re interested, register here. When the information is ready we’ll email you with details on how to pay and how to access it. I can’t offer a money back guarantee because the work and study is your responsibility, plus the time I have put in is enormous but I can guarantee this. The tools given will allow you to make up your mind on whether the CPC course is for you and give you a better understanding of what makes the industry tick. I hope you do take the course, I really do, and if you do take it, and pass having used this tool, not only will we plaster your photo with certificate in our Rogue’s Gallery and tell all the members what a clever stick you are, we will also add you to the up and coming CPC register for free.
 

Amanda Smith PSVDrivers.COM