Environmental Driving and Fuel Efficiency
This domain tests eco-driving as a professional skill: how your driving style, vehicle loading and route planning affect fuel burn, emissions and noise, and which habits the examiner expects you to reject as myths.
Anticipation and smoothness
Read the road 12–15 seconds ahead, lift off early for red lights and junctions, and avoid stop-start driving. Every hard acceleration in a laden coach is paid for at the pump. Progressive acceleration to cruising speed, early gear changes and steady throttle typically cut fuel use by 5–15 per cent in urban service.
Speed and gears
Fuel consumption rises steeply above about 80–90 km/h because aerodynamic drag grows with the square of speed. On motorways, the legal limit is a ceiling, not a target. Use the highest comfortable gear, keep the engine in its efficient band, and use the retarder and engine braking rather than riding the brakes downhill.
Idling and auxiliaries
Switch the engine off during longer stops, loading and layovers, subject to keeping heating or cooling available for passengers. Air conditioning can add a noticeable share of fuel use, so pre-cool on a layover rather than running it continuously. Keep windows closed at speed.
Vehicle condition and loading
Correct tyre pressure reduces rolling resistance; under-inflation both burns fuel and overheats tyres. Remove unnecessary mass, keep the roof clear, and check that the roof rack or box is not creating drag. AdBlue and a well-maintained exhaust after-treatment control NOx and particulates; a vehicle with an active fault warning should be reported.
Route and traffic
Plan routes to avoid congestion and steep gradients, use low-emission zone information where applicable, and combine stops where the timetable allows. Eco-driving also reduces noise in residential areas, which matters for night services.
Worked example
A coach covers 900 km a week at an average of 30 L/100 km, using 270 L. Smooth anticipation and a 10 km/h lower motorway cruising speed cut consumption to 27 L/100 km, saving 27 L a week - around 1,200 L a year across the fleet, plus a matching fall in CO₂.
Traps
- Believing coasting in neutral saves fuel; modern injection cuts fuel on the overrun, and coasting forfeits engine braking.
- Ignoring tyre pressure because the tyres look fine.
Professional Driver Conduct
This domain tests the standards expected of a paid passenger-transport driver: legal limits on working time and alcohol, behaviour towards passengers and colleagues, and the commercial and ethical duties that come with a professional licence.
Working time
Directive 2002/15/EC applies alongside the driving rules. Average working time, including driving, must not exceed 48 hours a week over a reference period of four months (extendable to six). In any single week it may reach 60 hours only if the average is still respected, and night workers are limited to 10 hours in each 24-hour period. Breaks are required after no more than six consecutive hours of work: 30 minutes where daily work is between six and nine hours, 45 minutes where it exceeds nine hours.
Alcohol, drugs and fitness
In Greece the general blood-alcohol limit is 0.50 g/l, but professional drivers of buses and lorries are subject to 0.25 g/l, as are drivers in their first two years. Refusing a test is an offence. Medicines, illness and fatigue must be declared to the operator; driving while unfit is a disciplinary and criminal matter.
Conduct with passengers
The driver is the company's face: greet passengers, keep information clear during delays, assist passengers with reduced mobility and never refuse carriage on discriminatory grounds. Do not use a hand-held phone, keep arguments with passengers calm and report incidents rather than escalating them. Respect confidentiality about passenger information and do not discuss other passengers' details.
Relationship with the operator and authorities
Follow the timetable and route instructions, record incidents honestly, never falsify tachograph records or the service sheet, and cooperate with inspections. Present yourself and the vehicle in a clean, professional condition.
Worked example
A driver finishes a night shift at 05:00, sleeps four hours, and is asked to cover an evening service. Even if the tachograph rest can be arranged, the driver is not fit: fatigue plus the night-work limits and the weekly average must all be satisfied. The correct answer is to decline and inform the planner, not to accept and rely on coffee.
Traps
- Applying the 0.50 g/l limit to a professional driver.
- Treating the 60-hour week as available every week.
- Signing for a tachograph record you know to be inaccurate.
Passenger Safety and Documentation
This domain tests how you keep passengers safe in motion and in an evacuation, and which documents must be on the vehicle for a domestic or international journey in Greece.
Restraints and standing passengers
Seat belts and suitable child restraints are mandatory where fitted. The driver is responsible for ensuring that passengers under 12 use the correct restraint and that adults are told to belt up where belts are provided. Standing passengers are carried only where the vehicle and the service are approved for them, and never on seats, in the aisle of a coach or in luggage areas.
Doors, exits and evacuation
The doors must be closed before moving off and must not be opened until the vehicle is stopped. Emergency exits, hammers and handles must be unobstructed and explained to passengers at the start of a coach journey. In an evacuation, stop in a safe place, switch off the engine, apply the parking brake, use the emergency door release or break-glass hammer, and lead passengers away from traffic to a assembly point upwind of any fire. Keep a fire extinguisher accessible and use it only on a small, contained fire.
Emergency equipment
Fire extinguisher, first aid kit, warning triangle and high-visibility vests are mandatory. Check them on the daily walk-around, not when you need them.
Documents
On the vehicle: driving licence with the correct category, driver CPC card, registration certificate, valid third-party insurance, current ΚΤΕΟ roadworthiness certificate, tachograph records and, for international work, the Community licence, the passenger waybill or passenger list, and any permits. For regular services the timetable and fare conditions must be available.
Worked example
An international coach service is booked but the driver finds only a copy of the registration certificate and an expired insurance certificate in the folder. The vehicle may not depart: no insurance means no cover and an offence, and the original documents must be available for inspection at the border. Correct action is to contact the operator and delay the service.
Traps
- Assuming the tachograph record is not a document to be carried.
- Leaving luggage blocking the emergency exit.
- Relying on a photocopy of the insurance certificate.