Driving school waiting times

Evening everyone,

New to the forum with my theory,HP and mod2 booked for Friday.

Assuming I pass everything first time does anyone have any idea how long I can expect to wait to get on a course for class 2 after contacting a training provider?

I know every company will be different but a rough idea would be great if anyone has any recent experience.

We normally have a lead time of around 3 - 5 weeks. But, for instance, someone got in on 2 days notice last week. So stuff changes and this affects lead times.

Select your trainer on quality and put up with the lead time is the best advice.

Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Class 2 was pretty quick - I booked it before actually finishing all my theories. Accepting that if I failed I’d lose out financially. Think it was about 2 weeks between booking and doing the course.

Class 1 is further away - booked it last week (I think, been on holiday and timings messed up) - and I won’t do it until the middle of April. But I wanted to do it over a weekend. And I wanted to do it in a full-size artic. So it depends on how flexible you want to be as well. I’m happy to keep on class 2 for a bit anyway - so no dramas for me.

I wouldn’t worry about waiting. There are more important things to focus on. Make sure you do it in an auto. Make sure the trainer is decent. Try and do the lessons in a modern wagon - honestly on agency I drive some total nails and I wouldn’t want to learn in them - even the legal ones. Being paid to drive them is one thing - but paying to have to fight the vehicle to do it’s job isn’t what you want. Make sure you instructor is not a total ■■■■… There are a lot of shouty people who drive trucks, and there is no way I’d put up with it whilst training.

Oh and when you do your training ask your instructor to briefly show you how the tacho unit works. When having coffee or something. I’d actually recommend getting your tacho card beforehand and asking to use it. If this is actually allowed - not sure. You will learn what buttons do what and it won’t be a drama when you do your first job. You are unlikely to register an infringement on it during training so I see no downsides. On my first job I must have done about 6 printouts before I worked out how to put it on break.

Digicard can be obtained with just a B licence

Once I’d passed my medical/theory/CPC I was itching to do the driver training/test ASAP since I was so fed up with my old job.

The training provider was very busy at the time and ended up quoting me a course waiting time of around 2 months. I didn’t want to wait that long so I told them I’d be flexible if they had any odd days here and there. I ended up doing the 4 days training over the following 3 weeks and I don’t think splitting the course up like that had a negative effect.

For comparison I did my class 2 over 3 weeks and did my class 1 as a 4 day block course. I failed both tests first time and passed both tests the second time around which leads me to believe there isn’t much difference.

So if you’re worried about waiting times you could be flexible with your availability and speed up the process. Good luck.

Thanks for the help everyone

The reason I ask is I could have a potential job opportunity if I can get my licence quick enough.

Passed the three theory tests today so can start researching training providers and prices and get it booked :smiley:

Saintman:
The reason I ask is I could have a potential job opportunity if I can get my licence quick enough.

Passed the three theory tests today so can start researching training providers and prices and get it booked :smiley:

Congrats on the theory.

But don’t worry about job opportunities. There are loads of jobs* for class 2 drivers. I’ve been offered full-time jobs and I’m not remotely looking for them.

If the offer is amazingly good then ignore that. By amazingly good think well over 30k a year. Getting 30k a year as a class 2 driver isn’t that hard. Getting much over that is rare from what I’ve seen.

*This is true for the midlands. I’m not sure if it’s true for all parts of the UK.

Hi Sammy

The job was for class 1 so would have to get through that quickly as well. Possibly not possible within my time frame but would like to try.

Although as you say I’m sure there will be other jobs if I can’t complete it in time

How long before they’d want you to start the job?

You need to add in 2/3 weeks for your licence to come back before you can do class 1 training. And you’d have to presume you pass both tests the first time.

If you have a decent offer for a class 1 job then crack on though. Getting a class 2 job seems easy. I have heard class 1 without experience is much harder. I’m sure you can make it work if you put your mind to it.