A new qualification for all professional lorry drivers - the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) – will be launched on 10 September by the Driving Standards Agency. New drivers entering the industry will need to pass the Driver CPC initial qualification exams as well as holding the relevant vocational driving licence. Those who hold a full licence to drive a lorry before 10 September will not be required to take the initial qualification examinations. However, they will need to complete 35 hours of periodic training by 2014 and every five years thereafter if they wish to continue driving professionally.

http://www.dsa.gov.uk/PressRelease.asp?id=SX829F-A7832654

Hundreds of thousands of young motorists across the UK are on the roads illegally because they don’t have any insurance. The penalty for driving without insurance is 6-8 points + a fine. 6 points in the first two years of a driving licence when a driver is in the “probationary period” means immediate revocation of the licence, the return to being a learner driver and thereafter a re-test.

New figures seen exclusively by BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat programme show more than one in five 17 to 20-year-olds aren’t covered.

Most say it’s too expensive or they didn’t know it was a legal requirement.

Read the full article on BBC.co.uk

MP’s have called for the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), the agency in charge of safety-testing lorries and buses, to be given extra powers to get unsafe foreign vehicles off the road. This follows a report by he National Roads Policing Intelligence Forum which indicates that foreign HGV drivers were often a danger, having circumstances reported of foreign drivers falling asleep.

Read the full article on BBC.co.uk