Applying for first time cpc card

aaronduffy18

I'm applying for my cpc card and on the declaration form to apply for it, it says about competing the cpc periodic training do I need to do that before I think about applying for my first cpc card or do I leave it blank, thanks in advance

Ellfish

As far as I remember, you apply for the card initially when you're entitled to it, then you hold the card and do your periodic (ie once a year) cpc training. The training days are recorded in your online cpc portal. If you have just lorry then you've 5 cpc modules to do in each 5 year period. If you also hold coach D licence you've one extra cpc module to do (so total 6 cpc days each 5 year period). So to answer your question, leave it blank. The RSA description of how to gain CE, D licences and associated CPCs really needs to be referred to the Clear English Campaign. Its almost as if they purposefully provide poor and confusing contradictory information about each step of the process. Its quite simple to do once you've done it all, but to try and figure it out using the information on the RSA website had me pulling my hair out - they used a number of similar but slightly different terms to refer to the exact same thing/step/test which is unnecessarily confusing for someone new to it all, especially when some of the steps are describing very similar things in the first place eg "practical knowledge", "walkaround", "practical driving test" etc. Good luck with your driving!