EU regulations: no CPC license needed for crane drivers

It clarified the 2009 EU law requiring that all drivers of Large goods or passenger carrying vehicles (LGVs) in the EU get a CPC license.

These included truck, bus and coach drivers, or large goods vehicle license holders (LGVs), who have to complete CPC training by September 9, 2014.

To fulfill the requirement, drivers have to complete 35 hours of training by that date and obtain a CPC license.

Governments of individual EU states have for the most part applied an exemption to the rule for mobile crane drivers, except the governments of some countries, like the UK.

The UK Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) lobbied the UK government's Driving Standards Agency (DSA) to exclude mobile cranes on the basis that they are not goods carrying vehicles.

The DSA asked the EU Commission for clarification on applicability of the CPC license to mobile cranes.

At the start of August, the DSA sent out a letter confirming the EU Commission's opinion that the CPC license is not needed for mobile cranes.

The EU Committee on the Training of Professional Drivers (Directive 2003/59/EC), meeting on 25 June, said that the scope of vehicle drivers needing the CPC should take into account that the vehicles must be goods carrying vehicles.

In response, the CPA told its members that, while the EU Commission's view is that mobile crane drivers are not legally obliged to get the CPC license, if they ever need to drive conventional LGV trucks, which carry goods, then they would require the Driver CPC by September 2014.

Colin Wood, Chief Executive of the CPA, "We have been trying to get a resolution on this matter for three years, and we're pleased to have this clarification from the EU Commission which confirms that drivers of mobile cranes and similar vehicles are outside of the scope of the Driver CPC scheme."