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Recognised Blue Light Responder Qualifications


Accepted Blue Light Certificates

Internal NHS Ambulance Service emergency blue light responder certificate (more information)
Edexcel / IHCD Advanced Ambulance Driving (D2) / BTEC Level 3 in Emergency Ambulance Driving (more information)
FutureQuals FAQ Level 3 Certificate in Emergency Response Ambulance Driving (more information)
Qualsafe Level 3 Certificate in Emergency Response Ambulance Driving (RQF) (CERAD) (more information)
DTAG approved ambulance blue light bridging course for Police and Fire & Rescue Service personnel
HPAC can only accept blue light certificates or training that's recognised by the NHS Ambulance Service Driver Training Advisory Group (DTAG). Typically, these are issued via an NHS Ambulance Service or a DTAG approved external training provider such as Qualsafe L3 CERAD or Futurequals L3 CERAD.

For clarification, an NHS Ambulance Service” means—

(a) an NHS trust or NHS foundation trust established under the National Health Service Act 2006 which has a function of providing ambulance services;
(b) an NHS trust established under the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 which has a function of providing ambulance services;

(c) the Scottish Ambulance Service Board.


Police or Fire & Rescue Certificates

If you hold a Police or Fire & Resuce blue light certificate, you must have completed an ambulance patient conveyance conversion course. These courses are generally provided by NHS Ambulance Trusts or through a DTAG-approved, Ofqual-accredited Level 3 CERAD conversion course. Recognised providers include awarding bodies like FutureQuals or Qualsafe.


Points on your licence: If your Driver's Licence has seven points or more, we will not be able to add you to the *blue light register or reflect you as a blue light driver on your HPAC profile. Additonally you will be removed from the blue light register if you acquire seven points or more on your driver's licence at any point during your registration with us. It is the registrant's responsibility to inform us if the points on their licence are reduced to below six points if they wish to be added or re-added to the blue light register.


*A registrant is not required to be on the Blue Light Register to appear on the public register for their primary clinical grade. For example, an EMT may register as a non-blue light driver. However, if a registrant is removed from the Blue Light Register due to conduct that endangers themselves or the public, a case may be referred to a fitness to practice review panel.


HPAC recognised 4x4 emergency response driver entitlement:  You must supply evidence of having completed specialised training for the operation of 4x4 vehicles in combination with a DTAG recognised blue light driving qualification. If no 4x4 training certificate is supplied in your blue light evidence section, by default 4x4 will not be included on your HPAC blue light driver's licence card and 4x4 as a blue light vehicle class will be removed from your profile if you have selected it. HPAC reserves the right to reject a 4x4 course if we are unable to verify the legitimacy/quality/content of the course or company named on any certificate supplied as evidence. 

Category C:  You must supply evidence of having completed specialised training for blue light response in vehicles over 7.5 tonnes, e.g., HART vehicle or Fire Appliance.

One of the underpinning principles of the HPAC is to simplify and assist NHS Ambulance Trusts (and the wider arrangement) in standardising practices across the UK, meaning that in the area of driver training, the focus is ambulance centric. It is not, therefore, the function of HPAC to recommend qualifications for acceptance. Should NHS Ambulance Trusts, at a point in the future, decide to accept a currently "unaccepted qualification" for this role, applicants who possess these are free to apply to the register. Equally, should recognition or acceptance of a currently accepted qualification be withdrawn by the NHS, then the HPAC would no longer be able to maintain such registration on our system.


Section 19 ready L3 CERAD Pathways from FutureQuals: visit this awarding body's website for the latest information

Qualification Pathways Pathway Description Vehicle Information
Pathway 1 CERADL3P1 Class 3 Ambulance Vehicles Ambulance (medium) vehicles with 4 or more wheels and a gross vehicle weight not exceeding 7500kg
Pathway 2 CERADL3P2 Class 2 Ambulance Vehicles Ambulance (light) vehicles with 4 or more wheels and a gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3500kg
Pathway 3 CERADL3P3 Class 2 Ambulance Cars Ambulance response cars (RRV, RRU, SRU, FRV and PRU) with 4 or more wheels and a gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3500kg
NB:  Learners who completed a P2 or P3 you must have completed a familiarisation course with their employer to operate vehilces of a higher pathway.

Section 87 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

Exemption of fire brigade, ambulance and police vehicles from speed limits. E+W

(1)]No statutory provision imposing a speed limit on motor vehicles shall apply to any vehicle on an occasion when it is being used for Fire and rescue authority], for ambulance purposes or police purposes, if the observance of that provision would be likely to hinder the use of the vehicle for the purpose for which it is being used on that occasion.


Subsection (1) above applies in relation to a vehicle that, although not being used for ambulance purposes, is being used for the purpose of providing a response to an emergency at the request of an NHS ambulance service.

(1B)In subsection (1A), “an NHS ambulance service” means—

(a)an NHS trust or NHS foundation trust established under the National Health Service Act 2006 which has a function of providing ambulance services;

(b)an NHS trust established under the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 which has a function of providing ambulance services;

(c)the Scottish Ambulance Service Board.

Section 50 of the Deregulation Act 2015.

Ambulance Purposes was defined in the case of DPP v ISSLER where an Ambulance is described “the vehicle had to be designed or adapted so that it was capable of conveying sick, injured or disabled persons and to do with a frequency such that the core activity might fairly be designated as its primary use.” Critically this approach focused on the sole or primary use, not what the vehicle was being used for on the day.  It was ruled that a car could never fulfil the definition of an Ambulance as the existing legislation was held to be correct that

“Ambulance” means: “A Vehicle which is constructed or adapted for, and used for no other purpose other than, the carriage of sick, injured or disabled people to or from welfare centres or places where medical or dental treatment is given and is readily identifiable as a vehicle used for the carriage of such people by being marked “Ambulance” on both sides.” Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1997

An “Ambulance” is:

“A Vehicle specially designed for that purpose, the vehicle should have the facility to secure a recumbent person in a stretcher, or it should be fitted with the necessary ramp or lift and  clamps to enable a person or persons to be safely loaded, unloaded, and transported in a wheelchair.” H.M. Customs & Excuser.: Item 11 of Group 7, Schedule 9 to the VAT Act 1994 Exemptions.