By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
A new directive requiring thousands of cops to complete a course so they can legally provide a blue light response in police vans will have a significant knock-on effect, it has been warned.
About 4,000 Police Scotland officers have had restrictions placed on their driving while on duty, until they complete a one-day course to comply with regulations that came into force three years ago.
But while the move has been welcomed by the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), it has warned the force needs more driving instructors to tackle an already lengthy training backlog – stating it will take 17 years to clear the books.
Brian Jones, the SPF’s vice chair, who has been highlighting the issue for years, said the number of driving instructors has fallen from 64 on the formation of Police Scotland to 45, with six of these currently on long-term sick leave.
He argues that the force already cannot keep up with the demands of training response officers to drive under emergency conditions, on top of the refresher courses they must undertake to comply with regulations.
Brian Jones, vice chair, SPF
If officers do not complete this training, they have no legal exemptions for exceeding the speed limit or driving through a red light.
Jones said: “I applaud the executive for taking this significant step. It’s a disappointment they’ve taken so long, but they’re still doing it.
“They can get that backlog of 4,000 van drivers that they’ve identified cleared utilising every single driving instructor by April.
“The bigger problem for me though is if they’re doing all that training for van drivers, and personnel carriers, there’s no driver training going on for standard response courses.
“There’s no driver training going on for traffic courses, advanced courses, and there’s no training going on for armed response vehicles.”
Jones said there are around 2,500 response policing officers who still need “blues and twos” training.
On top of that, 5,500 officers need to undergo a refresher training course by November 2027.
“There are not enough days in the calendar in the year to complete that training,” he added.
“And if you then tie into that armed policing with the current cadre of armed policing officers getting on driving courses per year, which is sitting about 40, they said it would take 17 years to clear that backlog.”
Jones is concerned about what could happen to officers if they drive police vehicles without being covered by the appropriate authorisation.
“We have to tell our members, it’s their driving licence, it’s not the Chief Constable’s driving licence,” he said.
“So, if something goes really pear-shaped, it’s them who’s going to go to jail, it’s them who is going to lose their mortgage when they get disciplined out the service.
“They have no protection in law. The legislation made it quite clear.”
Assistant Chief Constable Lynn Ratcliff said: “Police Scotland has carried out a thorough review of our comprehensive driver training provision to understand what the Police Prescribed Driver Training Regulations mean for us.
“We have prioritised the rollout of an enhanced driver training programme to ensure we align with the regulations and provide a greater level of legal protection to our officers.
“Additional resources have been allocated to our driver training capability to expedite the programme’s delivery.
“We continue to deliver advanced driving courses to officers whose role requires that specialism and we continue to have the capability to respond to all of our emergency calls.”