The Petroleum Driver Passport (PDP) is now entering it’s second year

Originally developed by The Downstream Oil Distribution Forum (DODF), a partnership of industry bodies, employers and trade unions, the PDP is an industry initiative backed by the government to ensure a consistent high standard in the training of all tanker drivers in the industry.

Managed by the same people who manage the ADR qualification, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), it has seen more than 5,800 PDP’s issued in the first year and expects that around 6,500 PDP’s will have been issued by next month as all the drivers in the pipeline complete their training.

From January 2015 the PDP is mandatory

All petroleum terminals now require the driver to have a valid PDP on their person before they are allowed onsite. Safety should always be a priority in the transport industry however where dangerous goods are involved it is always paramount. A standard petrol tanker can carry over 30,000 litres of highly flammable substance and all it takes is a tiny static charge from someone wearing the wrong item of clothing and there could be a disaster.

So what does the PDP training involve?

Well similar to the ADR training the qualification is completed on a 5 year cycle. In order to maintain the qualification all drivers must attend this training every 5 years. However with the PDP drivers must also attend a refresher course every year to maintain their licence. So in a five year period the driver will actually have to attend an initial PDP in year one, a PDP refresher in years two, three and four and then another initial PDP in the fifth year which begins the cycle again.

The PDP course lasts one day and has both classroom based and practical elements to the training. In the initial courses the are examinations and just like those in the ADR examinations these must be passed to gain the qualification. In the refresher courses however there is no examination but there will still be assessments made by the trainer to ensure competence.