Skills and experience that will help in increasing your chances in landing the right delivery career

Training To Become A Delivery Driver

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Working as a PCV or HGV delivery driver requires extensive knowledge and experience, many dedicated schools and colleges offer training and courses for drivers with different skill sets.

Different qualifications for working as driver:

What is the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC?)

This was introduced by the European Union and is mandatory for all EU based HGV and PCV delivery drivers to complete. The main reason the CPC certification was to improve the knowledge and skills of professional HGV and PCV drivers around the EU including the UK.

CPC was introduced in 2008 for PCV drivers including D, D1, D+E and D1+E license holders and the policy was enforced for LGV drivers in 2009 including C1, C1+E, C and C+E license holders.

Please note this is now a mandatory certification that must be held by all professional drivers withier you’re a delivery, LGV, bus or coach driver this qualification must be completed.

What is the HIAB Certification Course?

The HIAB is an additional certification for lorry’s that have a mounted crane, the course usually lasts for 1 or 2 days and will cover all health and safety regulations under the Safe Use of Lifting Equipment 1998 (ACOP) LOLER Regulations.

Most HIAB Certification courses will have a structured training programme similar to the one below:

• Course Introduction
• Legislation
• Introduction to Loader Crane
• Pre-operational Checks
• Maintenance Instruction
• Lifting Equipment / Attachments
• Sitting the Loader Crane
• Deployment of Stabiliser Legs
• Use of Controls
• Preparing the Loader Crane for use
• Operating the Loader Crane
• Stowing Procedure
• Theory and Practical Assessment
• Final Administration and Candidate Feedback
• Additional attachments available, per course, are:
• Brick Grab
• Clam Shell
• Remote Control
• Forked
• Winch
• Auger

Once the HIAB course has been completed and you have passed you will receive a certification, this will be a bonus and can improve your CV as this qualification is an industry standard.

What is the ADR Certification Course?

ADR which is short for “Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route” this is a mandatory qualification that is required for delivery drivers that will be carrying dangerous goods under the following classes:

• Class 1 Explosives
• Class 2 Gases
• Class 3 Flammable Liquids
• Class 4 Flammable solids
• Class 5 Oxidisers Organic Peroxides
• Class 6 Toxics / Infectious
• Class 7 Radioactive
• Class 8 Corrosive
• Class 9 Miscellaneous

The course will give drivers an understanding of the hazards and safety measures to be maintained to prevent an accident as well as training on emergency procedures. The ADR certification needs to be renewed every 5 years and only the modules currently held can be renewed.

What is Digital Tachograph Training?

This qualification is now a legal requirement in the UK and will considerably increase your chances in successfully landing delivery jobs if you already posses this qualification.

The Digital Tachograph Training was introduced in May 2009 so that all drivers and management understand and now how to operate the Digital Tachograph.

The basic course structure for Digital Tachograph Training will be:

Basic modules Introduction

• Legislation
• System overview
• Smart Cards
• Data storage

Requirements & Responsibilities

• Drivers
• Companies
• Authorities
• Calibration Centres

Correct Operation of the Digital Tachograph

• Operating controls and menus
• The display
• Printers
• UTC and local time

Specialised Modules Drivers

• Normal work routines

Fleet Management

• Changing to the new systems (introducing work routines, special cases and driver duties)
• Organisation aids (Classroom training and other activities, archiving data, testing equipment)
• Combining traditional analogue and digital Tachograph data to ensure complete records

Trainers

• Changing to the new systems(Training drivers, introducing work routines, special cases and driver duties)
• Organisation aids (Classroom training and other activities, archiving data, testing equipment)
• Teaching aids and the use of e-learning combined with practical real-life examples
• Highlighting differences between makes of instrument

What is the SAFED Certification Course?

This course will usually be undertaken with drivers currently employed and will help the drivers in accident prevention and help with more fuel efficient driving. This course is usually a one day of the job course with the instructor examining your performance before and after the course.

This course does pay for itself as the fuel savings over a given time will provide a return on the investment the company have paid.

What is the Manual Handling Course?

The course was developed to reduce the amount of injury’s that occur while lifting heavy items, the course will provide training one how to correctly lift heavy items as well as information on keeping within health and safety guidelines.

This course if already completed by the applicant can increase the chances of employment as this is one of the training courses that recruiters give a lot of importance on but very few obtain this qualification.

How to obtain Training on the above or other driving courses?

There are many training centres setup across the UK we will be writing a separate article with recommended training centres from our applicants but if you would like to find out about a local training centre please leave a comment below and one of Job Recruitment Experts will give you some recommendations.

We hope you found this article useful and if you are interested in learning more about increasing your chances of securing a delivery job we recommend you checkout our “Tips and Help for Delivery Drivers” section where you will find the latest articles from our Job Recruitments Experts.