Driving Permits

N Smith

[1][FOI #19611 email]

07 October 2009

Dear N Smith

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 200090514

Thank you for your request for information in relation to:

1) What levels of driving permits are offered?
2) What do each of the driving permits allow the holder to do?
3) What training is required for each of the driving permits and
how are the candidates assessed? How long in length are the courses
for each of the respective driving permits?,
4) Are any of the driving permits offered by your Force, offered in
a modular basis, (i.e. are they offered in modules of 1 week at a
time until the course is complete etc),
5) Which of the permits are available to Special Constables?
6) If any modular courses are offered, are the available to Special
Constables?,
7) How many Special Constables in your Force have driving permits
which allow them to respond (i.e. use blue lights, sirens and
allowed the holder to utilise the relevant exemptions afforded to
them in law with respect of speeding, going through red lights
etc),

I would appreciate any information that is available, in particular
the information that relates to Special Constables.

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances South Yorkshire Police may be unable to
achieve this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a
revised time-scale at the earliest opportunity

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

Please Note – Responses are published on South Yorkshire Police
disclosure log, which can be found at the following link:
http://www.southyorks.police.uk/foi/disc...

If you have any enquiries please contact the Information Compliance Unit
on the numbers below.

Yours sincerely,

Martha Robinson
Information Compliance Clerk
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

External T/N
0114 292 1797
0114 292 1798

South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination
of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to
request such a review and having followed the Constabulary’s full
process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your
comments to Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

Citizen Focus: Improving Satisfaction and Confidence is a Priority for the
Force

CITIZEN FOCUS: Our commitment is to understand what the public want – so
that we deliver what they need.

show quoted sections

22 October 2009

N Smith

[1][FOI #19611 email]

Dear N Smith

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 20090514

Thank you for your request for information in relation to:

The term "driving permits" refers to any prerequisite training or
experience that an officer is required to have prior to being allowed by
the Force to drive Police owned, insured or hired
vehicles.

The term further refers to the different levels of training courses open
to Police Officers'

I wanted to enquire about the driving permits offered by your Force to
Police Officers. The questions I have are:

1. What levels of driving permits are offered?
South Yorkshire Police train in Standard, Advanced and Tactical Pursuit
Containment (TPAC)
level driving. There is also a Basic grade which is not trained, but is
tested.

2. What do each of the driving permits allow the holder to do?
Basic grade allows officers to travel from A to B, but not utilise any of
their exemptions or use any warning equipment.

Standard level allows officers to drive standard grade vehicles, respond
to incidents using warning equipment and utilise their exemptions in law
for example, speed limits, red light and bollards. They can also engage in
initial phase pursuits.

Advanced level allows officers to drive advanced vehicles and as above.

TPAC trained officers are advanced trained and are also able to implement
tactics in order to stop vehicles.

There are numerous specialist training courses for example, four wheel
drive, Large Goods Vehicle, Passenger Carrying Vehicle etc.

3. What training is required for each of the driving permits and how are
the candidates assessed? How long in length are the courses for each of
the respective driving permits?
Students are assessed against the competencies set in the National Police
driving manual.
Basic grade is a 1 hour test drive
Standard 2 weeks 3 days
Advanced 4 weeks
TPAC 1 week

Specialist driving tends to be a days course. However licence acquisition
courses are longer.

4. Are any of the driving permits offered by your Force, offered in a
modular basis, (i.e. are they offered in modules of 1 week at a time until
the course is complete etc)
There are no modular courses.

5. Which of the permits are available to Special Constables?
Special constables are offered non operational courses to drive certain
police vehicles for example, Standard cars, personnel carriers and some
specialist vehicles.

6. If any modular courses are offered, are the available to Special
Constables?
There are no modular courses offered to Special Constables.

7. How many Special Constables in your Force have driving permits which
allow them to respond (i.e. use blue lights, sirens and allowed the holder
to utilise the relevant exemptions afforded to them in law with respect of
speeding, going through red lights
etc)
Special constables are not allowed to respond as they have not received
any training in this area.

Also please see link to ACPO driver training manual:
[2]http://www.acpos.police.uk/Documents/Pol...

I hope the information we have provided is of help to your enquiries and I
would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
South Yorkshire Police.

Yours sincerely

Frances Wilson
Freedom of Information Compliance Clerk
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

External T/N
0114 292 1795
0114 292 1793

Email - [South Yorkshire Police request email]

Please note that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely
required to provide information and statistics to government bodies and
the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for
recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used
locally in capturing the data. It should be noted that for these reasons
this forces response to your questions should not be used for the
comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination
of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to
request such a review and having followed the Constabulary***s full
process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your
comments to the Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

The South Yorkshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under
sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the
enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988. However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed
information will continue to be protected by law. Applications for the
copyright owner***s written permission to reproduce any part of the
attached information should be addressed to The Force Solicitor, South
Yorkshire Police, Police Headquarters, Snig Hill, Sheffield, S3 8LY.

Citizen Focus: Improving Satisfaction and Confidence is a Priority for the
Force

CITIZEN FOCUS: Our commitment is to understand what the public want *** so
that we deliver what they need.

show quoted sections