My journey to obtaining my C licence in Ireland

Long time lurker first time poster

I have read quite a few posts on here documenting drivers in the UK’s journey to obtaining their C license, so I thought I would document my progress towards getting my C, and possibly my C&E. I would post this on an irish forum only it’s dead and the irish facebook group is full of bitter angry men and ‘tangs’

Background

I’m in my 40’s,grew up around trucks as my grandfather and uncles both drove,I have not drove a truck since I was 15 and they were a Berliet TR300 and a Scania 141, FL10 volvos, so I’m going into this totally raw.
Worked for many years as welder making and repairing truck bodies in Holland for a Dutch haulage firm. quit that and went and got my masters degree in IT, worked in IT and left after 10 years as office life was killing my will to live, then moved into youth services, got sick of that and asked for my contract not to be renewed. Went to sign on and saw an advert for a government funded course with would pay for your C license,done the theory for the C&D(done the D for the bus as it was only a few quid more) 140 questions(scored 131 out of 140). Applied for the course a few weeks ago, have to go in 1 hour for an interview and a quick driver assessment.

About the course

The course is government funded, you keep your dole while you do the course. It is 12 weeks long(split into 2 sections) With an option to continue to another 6 week course to obtain my C&E license

Section 1 is 8 weeks long and consists of

4 hours driving instruction a week for 8 weeks(1hr every day)
ADR certification
Manual handling certification
Safe Pass certification
Driver Certificate of Professional Competence
Forklift driving certificate
Truck mounted crane operators certificate

Section 2 is 4 weeks long and consists of

Minimum of 40hrs a week work experience, I’ll be expect to approach haulage companies and spend a month as a drivers mate, no problem here as I can work with friend and neighbours who drive. After the work experience I will have to do my test(which they pay for)

So that’s it, I’ll update this as I go along and document my progress, the course has a very high success rate, so far running at 90-100% pass rate

First the interview and driving assessment.

First update soon.

Slightly confused as it seems an odd way to do it with doing the 8 weeks of lessons then taking your test over a month after unless I’ve read it wrong?
Also tbh not sure what the point of work experience is as I’m assuming you won’t be able to drive during it as you won’t have a licence so 40hrs sitting in the passenger seat ain’t really work experience in terms of driving.
Good luck with it though

@xichrisxi I’ll ask that about the gap in lessons while doing work experience, no problem here though as I got a deal on 8hrs lessons so I’ll schedule them during the work experience. I also agree with the pointlessness if the work experience, but it’s probably there for people who are totally new to the game, and it provides an opportunity to learn about loading and load types, and prevents some on the job learning.

But still the course is good, the government is aware of the upcoming driver shortage and is doing something about it.

Suppose it’s their game & their rules but if it saves you a few grand having to pay for it yourself what’s not to like
I’d definitely carry on and get your c+e even if you don’t use it straight away it’s done ready for when you do want to do so.

Crazy long course. But you’d be a mad man not to get the class 1 if it’s free and you keep your dole money. After the course come over to England and get a job. A driver of my caliber (zero experience) as an experiment applied for a load of jobs (as people on here say you need 2 years experience) - full-time class 1 role applied for and offered assessments a few weeks after passing:

DHL - Avonmouth.
XPO - Co-op contract Andover
Stobarts - Southampton/Rugby (pretty much said I could work where I want)

And a few other smaller logistics companies. I don’t think any company actually knocked me back - but I didn’t bother applying if they asked for more experience than I had. I did this in about 20 mins on Indeed. And probably spent about 10 mins on the phone in total.

Every company was direct - and I didn’t even bother to write a driving CV. I just gave an email and telephone number and said I had a class 1 but no experience.

It just goes to show there is work all around the country. And that you don’t need years of experience to have a chance. I also think it shows the knocking on doors of smaller companies doors isn’t required in this day and age. Nor is having to go through an agency.

37 people turned up for 10 places, random mix of people, some guy who was banned from driving thought he could do the course while banned, random Nigerians, some 18 year olds and a few pensioners.
The interview was more intensive than I was expecting, they were looking for people that can and would pass and who were genuinely interested in driving as a career,that might explain their high pass rates. They were very happy to hear that I wanted to go on if I passed and do the C&E with them, happy because they get paid for having me there, the longer the better, plus a bonus if i pass .

After the interview I went to drive the truck, it was a DAF CF 310, with an 8 speed splitter box, basically had to drive down the road on the industrial estate , do a 3 point turn and drive back, the instructor gave me a quick run down and let me on.
The driving went ok(ish) thought the huge brake pedal was the accelerator, he didn’t notice that(luckily) and the air filled seat was bouncing around and as a result my foot was bouncing on the accelerator making the truck jump a bit,had no problem with the gear shifting or the splitter, drove down the road took the sharp left corner well, and done a nice wide swing, drove to the end of the road and pulled off a shakey 3 point turn. Drove back to the starting point and pulled into the curb nicely without mounting it. He said I was a bit nervous, but handled the splitter box well and that he would recommend me for the course.

Went back in and was told to head home and they would be in touch shortly via mail or phone if I got accepted or not, got the call about 15 minutes ago that I have to start monday! Application form to be filled out are in the post and I have to call to the dole office to get a form filled out by them, the training company will pay my dole, for the duration i’m on the course, plus a travel allowance and meal allowance for the training centre.

So Monday I start.

Really looking forward to it

sammym:
Crazy long course. But you’d be a mad man not to get the class 1 if it’s free and you keep your dole money. After the course come over to England and get a job. A driver of my caliber (zero experience) as an experiment applied for a load of jobs (as people on here say you need 2 years experience) - full-time class 1 role applied for and offered assessments a few weeks after passing:

DHL - Avonmouth.
XPO - Co-op contract Andover
Stobarts - Southampton/Rugby (pretty much said I could work where I want)

And a few other smaller logistics companies. I don’t think any company actually knocked me back - but I didn’t bother applying if they asked for more experience than I had. I did this in about 20 mins on Indeed. And probably spent about 10 mins on the phone in total.

Every company was direct - and I didn’t even bother to write a driving CV. I just gave an email and telephone number and said I had a class 1 but no experience.

It just goes to show there is work all around the country. And that you don’t need years of experience to have a chance. I also think it shows the knocking on doors of smaller companies doors isn’t required in this day and age. Nor is having to go through an agency.

Not stressed about finding work, the training centre said they have a list of employers would take me after I pass as they are desperate for drivers.

WOW!
This sounds like an absolute dream come true! ALL paid for!

So, how you getting on there, Jonny? Still on the course?