When to take training

Your Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) qualification lasts for 5 years. To keep your Driver CPC you need to do 35 hours of training before your 5-year deadline.

The deadline to do your training is shown on your card.

If you have 2 deadlines on your Driver CPC card

If your card has 2 deadlines (one for lorries, one for buses), complete your training by the earliest deadline.

The next card you get will have the same deadline for both.

If you miss your training deadline

It’s illegal to drive professionally if your training is not complete by your deadline.

You can be fined up to £1,000 for driving professionally without Driver CPC.

Drivers with ‘acquired rights’

Having ‘acquired rights’ means that you did not have to take the Driver CPC initial qualification because of your existing driving experience.

You have acquired rights if you got your vocational licence before the dates shown in the table.

Vehicle categories included When you got your vocational licence
Lorry C, C1, C+E and C1+E Before 10 September 2009
Bus or coach D, D1, D+E, D1+E Before 10 September 2008
Bus or coach (not for hire or reward) D(101) After 1991
Minibus (not for hire or reward) D1(101) Before 1997

Training deadlines for drivers with acquired rights

You still need to take periodic training, but there are set deadlines.

Lorry driver Bus or coach driver Dual-category driver (lorry, bus and coach)
First block of training 9 September 2014 9 September 2013 9 September 2013
Second block of training 9 September 2019 9 September 2018 9 September 2019
Third block of training 9 September 2024 9 September 2023 9 September 2024

If you did not do your first block of training

You can finish your training or take extra tests if you have acquired rights and your first block of training is not complete by your deadline.