Which training school

Hello
I would be greatfull of any help.

I am interested in doing a C+E training course and am looking for a training school.

I have heard a lot of good reviews for Peter smythe training.

What I want to know is what is it like learning to drive and doing a driving test in that area ?

I did my class c in Hull and it wasnt easy, very busy, lots of traffic, a couple of unpleasent roundabouts that should have traffic signals.

Lots of very small mini roundabouts and tight turns where I couldnt imagine a full size artic could go (but probally do).

What I would really like is a nice laid back test route with no difficult manouvers, and a easy going examiner prepared to turn a blind eye here and there.

Any help appreciated regards.

Tseal:
Hello
I would be greatfull of any help.

I am interested in doing a C+E training course and am looking for a training school.

I have heard a lot of good reviews for Peter smythe training.

What I want to know is what is it like learning to drive and doing a driving test in that area ?

I did my class c in Hull and it wasnt easy, very busy, lots of traffic, a couple of unpleasent roundabouts that should have traffic signals.

Lots of very small mini roundabouts and tight turns where I couldnt imagine a full size artic could go (but probally do).

What I would really like is a nice laid back test route with no difficult manouvers, and a easy going examiner prepared to turn a blind eye here and there.

Hi Tseal,

What I’m about to do might seem a little harsh at first, but please bear with me…

Tseal on Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:38 pm:
I passed my class 2 last Feb on my third attempt with 14 minors.

Your two quotes might lead some people to a certain opinion of you, if you get my drift. :wink:

My honest advice couldn’t be simpler… have a think about what you want, then if it’s C+E that you really want, I’d say you need to reconsider your approach and decide to listen very carefully to your instructor, then carry out the instruction.

If you do that right from the off, my guess is that you’ll need fewer lessons and fewer attempts at your driving test next time, with the added bonus that you’ll even score fewer minors too, and then it won’t matter where you take your test because you’ll be properly up to standard.

Peter Smythe’s place would be a good place to go to, but TBH you’d need to have given my advice above some thought before you go anywhere.

It’s not rocket science mate, honestly. :smiley:

In the nicest possible way here goes.

3rd attempt and 14 minors which is only just a pass as I think it’s still 15 minors for a fail but I could be wrong can’t quite remember…

So based on that have a good hard think about things.

To have had 3 tests and passed with 14 minors something clearly isn’t right. Not sure if that is you the place you learnt at or the examiner or just how it’s gone on the day.

Think hard before shelling out more money on lessons and tests. Driving an artic is harder than a rigid absolutely no doubt about that, but it can be done.

At the end of the day you know how to drive as you have passed a car test all you are doing is learning how to pass a test again and getting used to a larger vehicle for both classes.

Something is definitely amiss here and I hope it’s just a bad school you learnt with.

The only other thing I can suggest is ask a trainer for an hour lesson and to do a mock exam and see how you get on. If everything is OK then it proves the issue isn’t with you.

The problem is some people are pretty natural drivers and some people naturally drive larger vehicles. Some people don’t.

Only you know what you like in that regard and sometimes that might mean being more honest with yourself and really scrutinise your driving.

As an aside we’ve heard stories of people taking many attempts to pass even car tests let alone LGV tests. I am a firm believe there should be a maximum number of tests you can take for any class of vehicle. The whole point of training is to learn the correct way of doing it and to pass a test and prove you are a competent driver. If it takes more then a couple or 3 attempts to pass a test generally I think people should seriously think hard about why they can’t pass a test.

Now maybe I am being a little biased. I would have passed my first car test had I not screwed up the reverse parallel park 3 times in succession. So didn’t pass until my second attempt. I passed my C first time and I can’t remember how many minors at the time but think it was around 6 or 7 from memory. I also passed my C+E first time with no minors but I had an excellent school (namely PSTT) for my C+E both times I had been driving for a number of years so plenty of time to get into really bad habits. 8 years after car licence and 20 years respectively.

The point of this info is not to be big headed or go look at me, it’s purely the fact I could have passed all 3 first time, which regardless of my ability I must have decent trainers all 3 times pretty much and things went well on the day.

Have a good think about the minors you got a what they were for try and remember where the might have happened for example at a roundabout on a dual carriageway etc. If you can figure out a pattern then you have something to work on.

But as I said an hour lesson with a decent school should be able to give an indication of how much work you will need to pass.

Personally I would rather a rained be honest and say look your really not cut out for this if that was the case rather than wasting money on lessons. I am sure PSTT would be able to judge your ability quite easily as would any other decent trainer.

Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck and I hope this is read as it’s meant as I can see how it could be read in a different manner.

Another point is the time you have your test can be a big factor as well.

School times and rush hour can be a nightmare for a driving test. Equally rush hour means less time spent driving so can actually be a benefit as less time driving to make silly mistakes.

What I want to know is what is it like learning to drive and doing a driving test in that area ?

It’s a straightforward area in which to learn and test. No huge roundabouts with multiple lanes, no busy town centres. Having said that, the standard is the standard and must be achieved no matter where you are. But maybe the straightforward area might help achieve this. Our examiners are fair - but the huge majority are all over the UK.

I like to think that the things that set us apart are the quality of the training (all trainers fully trained, registered, qualified, quality checked on a regular basis and updated) together with an excellent fleet with absolutely no old bangers. Then add in the private test centre with your reversing practice being conducted on the bit of concrete on which you’ll be tested and it adds up to a good prospect.

Hope this helps, Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Thanks for advice everyone its helpful.

I passed my cat c on the third test with 14 minors and the examiner said himself I wouldn’t advise you do a class 1 without getting some rigid experience.

But here I am a little confused because on the second driving test I failed with 7 minors and one serious, and the examiner (a different one) said I had a very good standard of driving, but he had to fail me due to the serious.

The first time I failed was just down to my own stupidity I could of kicked myself.

I had a driving assessment in a class 1 and was told I was ready, but to be honest I think it would be repeat of the same thing I went through getting a class 2.

Tseal:
Thanks for advice everyone its helpful.

I passed my cat c on the third test with 14 minors and the examiner said himself I wouldn’t advise you do a class 1 without getting some rigid experience.

But here I am a little confused because on the second driving test I failed with 7 minors and one serious, and the examiner (a different one) said I had a very good standard of driving, but he had to fail me due to the serious.

The first time I failed was just down to my own stupidity I could of kicked myself.

I had a driving assessment in a class 1 and was told I was ready, but to be honest I think it would be repeat of the same thing I went through getting a class 2.

No disrespect meant to your good self but the guy doing your assessment assuming he’ll benefit financially from you if you take your class one maybe has an ulterior motive in telling you that you’re ready…wait until you feel you’re ready.

Peter Smythe:

What I want to know is what is it like learning to drive and doing a driving test in that area ?

It’s a straightforward area in which to learn and test. No huge roundabouts with multiple lanes, no busy town centres. Having said that, the standard is the standard and must be achieved no matter where you are. But maybe the straightforward area might help achieve this. Our examiners are fair - but the huge majority are all over the UK.

I like to think that the things that set us apart are the quality of the training (all trainers fully trained, registered, qualified, quality checked on a regular basis and updated) together with an excellent fleet with absolutely no old bangers. Then add in the private test centre with your reversing practice being conducted on the bit of concrete on which you’ll be tested and it adds up to a good prospect.

Hope this helps, Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Thanks for the advice a straightforward test route would be lot less stressful on a driving test.

simcor:
Think hard before shelling out more money on lessons and tests. Driving an artic is harder than a rigid absolutely no doubt about that, but it can be done.

I was told by my instructor that rigids were harder to drive.

Tseal:
I passed my cat c on the third test with 14 minors and the examiner said himself I wouldn’t advise you do a class 1 without getting some rigid experience.

Hi Tseal,

Both of the examiners’ comments could well be accurate because they tend to comment objectively on what they’ve just seen.

As Peter intimated, and I agree, the examiners are as ‘standardised’ as possible in their approach and scoring of errors.

:bulb: One of those tests might just have caught you on an off-day.

I’m off to Peter Smythes next week. Youre welcome to pm me after for my opinion :slight_smile:

I didn’t pick there because I want an easy time though, id rather have as much chucked at me as possible while I’ve got the instructor with me! I don’t think looking for the easiest possible pass is going to set you up for a good future

Saabdude:
I didn’t pick there because I want an easy time though, id rather have as much chucked at me as possible while I’ve got the instructor with me! I don’t think looking for the easiest possible pass is going to set you up for a good future

I think you are right.

What if I was given a driving assessment after applying for a job, if I wasn’t properly trained and prepared to do the assessment I would be screwed. :cry:

Some of the things I had to do training for my cat c seemed stupid, such as checking my mirrors again and again as I accelerated and again and again as I slowed down.

Another was having to check my blind spot every time I moved off (even if stopped at traffic lights) I cant see the point of this.
I noticed on the test clip board Charlie next to me moving his pen often when I did this. I am not sure if I was not doing it properly or was it because I was checking blind spots when I shouldn’t.

I may well PM you too see how you got on there
Thanks T.

xichrisxi:

Tseal:
Thanks for advice everyone its helpful.

I passed my cat c on the third test with 14 minors and the examiner said himself I wouldn’t advise you do a class 1 without getting some rigid experience.

But here I am a little confused because on the second driving test I failed with 7 minors and one serious, and the examiner (a different one) said I had a very good standard of driving, but he had to fail me due to the serious.

The first time I failed was just down to my own stupidity I could of kicked myself.

I had a driving assessment in a class 1 and was told I was ready, but to be honest I think it would be repeat of the same thing I went through getting a class 2.

No disrespect meant to your good self but the guy doing your assessment assuming he’ll benefit financially from you if you take your class one maybe has an ulterior motive in telling you that you’re ready…wait until you feel you’re ready.

Yes I agree.

simcor:
Something is definitely amiss here and I hope it’s just a bad school you learnt with.

I think the school was ok, I thinks its more I didn’t listen to my instructor.

Thanks for all the advice everyone

I think my greatest fear of doing c+e course is getting stuck on a mini roundabout or going down a 7.5 ton restricted route or something similar, and feeling
a right plonker.

regards T.

Tseal:
Thanks for all the advice everyone

I think my greatest fear of doing c+e course is getting stuck on a mini roundabout or going down a 7.5 ton restricted route or something similar, and feeling
a right plonker.

regards T.

Your instructor will show you the hard ones and make you practise them. Mine certainly did. I remember the one when you go left from the test centre and if you have to turn right it’s moderately tight. Pete will know what I’m talking about. But my instructor made me do it a few times and it wasn’t a worry on test.

For what it’s worth I failed class 2 twice. And passed on the third attempt. I did my class 1 on a full size artic and passed first time. I wouldn’t say class 1 is easier - but if you have a little bit of experience of driving bigger vehicles only the reversing really got me worrying. Apart from that on the road I found it relatively easy. Just listen to the instructor - they know wha they are talking about. After passing you can always go back to one hand on steering wheel and it’s not a crime to clip a kerb if it’s tight.

sammym:
it’s not a crime to clip a kerb if it’s tight

And you can bill the local council for doing their job of kerb cleaning :unamused: :wink: :laughing:

Peter Smythes .

sammym:

Tseal:
Thanks for all the advice everyone

I think my greatest fear of doing c+e course is getting stuck on a mini roundabout or going down a 7.5 ton restricted route or something similar, and feeling
a right plonker.

regards T.

Your instructor will show you the hard ones and make you practise them. Mine certainly did. I remember the one when you go left from the test centre and if you have to turn right it’s moderately tight. Pete will know what I’m talking about. But my instructor made me do it a few times and it wasn’t a worry on test.

For what it’s worth I failed class 2 twice. And passed on the third attempt. I did my class 1 on a full size artic and passed first time. I wouldn’t say class 1 is easier - but if you have a little bit of experience of driving bigger vehicles only the reversing really got me worrying. Apart from that on the road I found it relatively easy. Just listen to the instructor - they know wha they are talking about. After passing you can always go back to one hand on steering wheel and it’s not a crime to clip a kerb if it’s tight.

I am glad to see I am not the only one who had numerous attempts at passing, theres people on Trucknet that have passed on there fith attempt !

I don’t think its a big deal really.

If I went in for a car driving test now I am sure I would fail even through I have been driving many years.

It doesn’t mean I am a bad driver its just I have picked up some bad habbits which really don’t matter in the real world.

Tseal:

sammym:

Tseal:
Thanks for all the advice everyone

I think my greatest fear of doing c+e course is getting stuck on a mini roundabout or going down a 7.5 ton restricted route or something similar, and feeling
a right plonker.

regards T.

Your instructor will show you the hard ones and make you practise them. Mine certainly did. I remember the one when you go left from the test centre and if you have to turn right it’s moderately tight. Pete will know what I’m talking about. But my instructor made me do it a few times and it wasn’t a worry on test.

For what it’s worth I failed class 2 twice. And passed on the third attempt. I did my class 1 on a full size artic and passed first time. I wouldn’t say class 1 is easier - but if you have a little bit of experience of driving bigger vehicles only the reversing really got me worrying. Apart from that on the road I found it relatively easy. Just listen to the instructor - they know wha they are talking about. After passing you can always go back to one hand on steering wheel and it’s not a crime to clip a kerb if it’s tight.

I am glad to see I am not the only one who had numerous attempts at passing, theres people on Trucknet that have passed on there fith attempt !

I don’t think its a big deal really.

If I went in for a car driving test now I am sure I would fail even through I have been driving many years.

It doesn’t mean I am a bad driver its just I have picked up some bad habbits which really don’t matter in the real world.

I’m racking my brains to come up with a bad driving habit that doesn’t matter in the real world! :open_mouth: Let’s hope that pulling out when you can’t see to go isn’t one of them! Robert