Will I need to get a CPC license?
Discussion
Would the OP be able to operate under a restricted national licence? Assuming they still exist.
I used to run a fleet like this, and it is a little simpler.
Personally I'd advise getting the cpc as it gives you a lot of useful knowledge that will help you remain on the correct side of the law.
I used to run a fleet like this, and it is a little simpler.
Personally I'd advise getting the cpc as it gives you a lot of useful knowledge that will help you remain on the correct side of the law.
There are three types of O licence. Restricted, National and International. It sounds as though the OPs business needs a Restricted licence. This is a licence for the carriage of the holders own goods. The good news is that there is currently no requirement for the holder of a Restricted licence to employ the services of a transport manager holding an operator's CPC.
If the OP's business is involved in the carriage of goods for hire and reward, then a transport manager with an operator's CPC is required.
That said, the driver of a vehicle with a GVW over 3500kg will need to hold a driver qualification card after 10th September 2014. This, confusingly, is also known as a CPC, but a driver CPC. It requires 35 hours of tedious training for the driver.
I've applied for a Restricted O licence for a customer in the past. It's simple enough, but all the details need to be correct, and it can be time consuming.
If the OP's business is involved in the carriage of goods for hire and reward, then a transport manager with an operator's CPC is required.
That said, the driver of a vehicle with a GVW over 3500kg will need to hold a driver qualification card after 10th September 2014. This, confusingly, is also known as a CPC, but a driver CPC. It requires 35 hours of tedious training for the driver.
I've applied for a Restricted O licence for a customer in the past. It's simple enough, but all the details need to be correct, and it can be time consuming.
If own goods & a van & trailer can fit in your deliver locations, then you would need no o licence or driver cpc assuming a sub 1020kg (unladen) trailer, just need a tacho in the van, digital post 56 plate, analogue 06 & older. Depending on the van & trailer combo, this can give a greater payload of up to a tonne more than many 7.5t trucks.
My friend owns a company in exactly the same line of business as you, I help him out on occasions as I have a grandads licence with the deliveries.
He went over to 5gvw VW crafters with tachos fitted a couple of years ago as they can carry considerably more bottles of water than a 3.5gvw transit. (For other posters benefit the bottles are 19l and weigh circa 20kgs each) He has a fleet of 7 vehicles so the cost of the Operators licence is outweighed by the extra amount of bottles each van can carry.
The manager is the transport manager, you need to bear in mind that the vehicles need regular checks to comply with the O licence.
He also has a 7.5gvw purpose built water delivery vehicle which I assume you're looking at purchasing, I driven this on a number of occasions. This is quicker to load / unload as it's done by fork lift and it's also quicker for the driver to deliver as you don't have to fight your way through loads of empty bottles to get to the full bottles. Another benefit is if you deliver to a large building site or a festival etc who order a large amount and have their own forklift they simply unload an entire stillage with their forks and when you restock they load the still of empties and take off a still of full bottles.
My friend is not looking to go back to 3.5gvw vans so I assume the overall cost is offset by the savings in the extra payload and the vans not having to drive back wards and forwards to the yard to reload as they used to do.
Do the BWCA not have advice on this matter?
Incidently my friend has some kind of deal with Zip Van where they provide the vans and service them, if you're within the M25 this may be worth looking into as he also gets discounts when he rents additional (Smaller) Zip Vans when he's busy.
Have you been fined by VOSA for being overloaded yet as this is one of the reasons my friend went over to 5gvw and 7.5gvw.
Also bear in mind, on occasions he will deliver items for third parties if you do this you need to follow the advice from other posters
He went over to 5gvw VW crafters with tachos fitted a couple of years ago as they can carry considerably more bottles of water than a 3.5gvw transit. (For other posters benefit the bottles are 19l and weigh circa 20kgs each) He has a fleet of 7 vehicles so the cost of the Operators licence is outweighed by the extra amount of bottles each van can carry.
The manager is the transport manager, you need to bear in mind that the vehicles need regular checks to comply with the O licence.
He also has a 7.5gvw purpose built water delivery vehicle which I assume you're looking at purchasing, I driven this on a number of occasions. This is quicker to load / unload as it's done by fork lift and it's also quicker for the driver to deliver as you don't have to fight your way through loads of empty bottles to get to the full bottles. Another benefit is if you deliver to a large building site or a festival etc who order a large amount and have their own forklift they simply unload an entire stillage with their forks and when you restock they load the still of empties and take off a still of full bottles.
My friend is not looking to go back to 3.5gvw vans so I assume the overall cost is offset by the savings in the extra payload and the vans not having to drive back wards and forwards to the yard to reload as they used to do.
Do the BWCA not have advice on this matter?
Incidently my friend has some kind of deal with Zip Van where they provide the vans and service them, if you're within the M25 this may be worth looking into as he also gets discounts when he rents additional (Smaller) Zip Vans when he's busy.
Have you been fined by VOSA for being overloaded yet as this is one of the reasons my friend went over to 5gvw and 7.5gvw.
Also bear in mind, on occasions he will deliver items for third parties if you do this you need to follow the advice from other posters
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