Stow College

New Road Safety Course at Stow

A new course where bus, lorry and coach drivers can get clued up on their road safety and accredit their skills is due to open this month at Stow College.

The College is set to offer the new Driver CPC (short for 'Driver Certificate of Professional Competence') qualification, a new compulsory certificate required by drivers of light goods vehicles and passenger carrying vehicles throughout the EU. Working in partnership with GRT Road Transport Consultants, the course aims to ensure drivers stay up to date with the latest knowledge and skills, helping to raise road safety and the profile of professional drivers, by accrediting them with a qualification.

Douglas Thomson, Team Leader of Business Development at the College, said: “Stow College have a first-rate building centrally located and easy to get to for students on the course. As many of them may have been some years away from education, it is hoped that training at Stow will leave them with a good impression of education for the future.” 

To maintain a Driver CPC certificate, professional drivers are required to undertake 35 hours of training every five years. In order to help drivers reach this target, Stow College have put together a range of interactive workshops, giving drivers the chance to keep informed on the latest legislation and safety practices that may affect them.

Each workshop contributes 3.5 hours to their total and covers a range of subjects. Discussion and debate on the issues covered by class is encouraged.

Douglas said: “Our students will have access to trained professionals, web access, library / flexible learning facilities (if needed) and will be able to study in a comfortable classroom environment. The majority of the work will be done in tutor-led discussions and group work, allowing each driver to bring his/her experiences and perspectives to the training.”

It is hoped that this partnership with GRT will expand in the future and Stow College are also keen to work with other businesses - giving them the chance to develop their workforce within the facilities at the College.

He added: “We are eager to encourage other organisations to take advantage of some of the excellent facilities here at the College. In the future we hope to work with more businesses to come up with new, cost effective workforce development projects.”