Have your say on proposed changes to vocational licences

The Department for Transport (DfT) is consulting our industry on amendments to licensing restrictions.

We will be engaging closely with our members and DfT over the coming weeks to inform our response to the consultation.

These are for coaches, HGVs and buses – and part of their work to reduce the respective driver shortages.

The main asks are:

Remove the 50km restriction if bus and coach drivers aged 18 to 20 are driving a regular service.

Allow a person to undertake the theory and off-road manoeuvres tests required to gain their driver certificate of professional competence (DCPC) before being granted a provisional bus, coach or heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver entitlement.

The DfT says they acknowledge training and licensing differences between passenger and HGV sectors – but that the second proposal could be applied to people doing tests for either type of driving.

We would encourage you to have your say on the proposals through DfT’s consultation.

The deadline is 11:59pm on 5 June.

The consultation applies to England.