As you may know the test for my first candidate was unfortunately cancelled yesterday due to industrial action by the examiners.
Out of the blue I received a call from the DSA office at Newcastle. As you will imagine the DSA was a little hectic yesterday as examiners chose not to work Saturday’s overtime. The same industrial action resulted in Newcastle running on a skeleton staff. I spoke at length to one of the managers @ Newcastle primarily to arrange another test date. The problem is that as the truck works through the week a Saturday test is required. However until the dispute is resolved the DSA anticipate further Saturday tests to be cancelled at short notice.
I have been offered another test date for Ian on Monday 15/3/04. Ian can get the day off work but it’s just whether I can arrange to have the truck (as a one off I cannot see a problem but I won’t know until Tuesday when I see Ronnie.)
The manager @ Newcastle was very helpful and has given me some great advise on registering with the DSA. All the relevant information is being sent out to me and sometime in the next month Specialist Transport Services (training) will be DSA registered.
I’m really very pleased about how things have worked out. I have shown that the vehicle can cover it daily workload in conjunction with the training. I have shown that I have the ability to prepare candidates not only to test standards but also give them a firm understanding of many other areas of the industry. I feel certain that had it not have been for the test cancellation Ian would have being going into work on Monday with not only the qualification to drive his employers truck, but also with the ability, and training needed to work that vehicle in a professional and safe manor.
After many years of complaining about the poor way new drivers are prepared for the job, I’m very proud to be able to offer something that I believe is quite unique in the industry. A comprehensive practical training course at a very reasonable price.
I also think it’s important to acknowledge the important role that TrucknetUK and some of its members have played. (Cheers Rikki & Krankee)
Well Phill, an impressive title and well deserved, its been great following Ian through his training with you and im sure he will be ok on his test, i would like to wish you the best of luck with any future training and hope that you keep us up to speed on your activitys, best of luck to you, Also to Ian on his test.
hi marlow,just read your thread, hopefully ian will be put through his test very soon.it’s good to see someone like yourself that realises the difference it makes doing your lessons with a loaded vehicle as this will advantage all your students to get gainful employment at the end of the course.some people don’t reallise the difference untill they get hit with a heavy load. after looking through your site you seem to get a wide variety of deliveries and as you know no 2 deliveries are the same,you might go to one where there is plenty of room then the next one your student will be thinking to himself are you serious we won’t get in there,but once you show him then he’ll think i never thought i’d get that in there.i hope your company will grow and prosper as we need more companies like yours who show the new drivers every aspect of this job and it ain’t as bad as some people make it out to be.good luck and keep up the good work. please let us know how ian gets on and we all hope to see him behind the wheel without you sat next to him.
Ian has his test booked for next Monday (15 March) and I have every faith that he will be seen driving next Monday afternoon doing our last job of the day without me being sat along side him (I’ll be on the bunk Zzzzzzz )
Specialist Transport Services is not my company though. I have only been with them since last October. It’s a cracking little company (4 trucks) and being only a small company, Ronnie, my gaffer was happy enough for me to develop the idea.
What we need now are candidates. I hope that the promotion on TrucknetUK along with advertising on the truck will be enough. This will mean that STS (training) will be able to contribute to the running of the site helping to ensure that Rikki’s long held ideal that ‘no driver will ever have to pay anything towards the running of the site’, will remain long into the future.
Everything a new driver is ever likely to need can be found within the forums @ TrucknetUK and more besides. Where else could I have gone to have a banner made up to promote our services and come up with such a fantastic result as the one below. (thanks lostpup your a star )
So lets just hope that anyone considering taking there LGV ‘c’ thinks about STS. If they do I’ll guarantee that they will receive twice the amount of training at half the cost of other training schools. For anyone that is considering taking there test and wanting to know how STS differs from other schools see this thread trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2154
Well done Marlow. I wish I had on the job practical training instead of being taught how to pass a test. The type of training you offer should be standard.
Good luck to Ian but by the sound of it luck will not be needed.
Well today was the day of reckoning as Ian was on his test. Unfortunately he failed it. To be honest I don’t know who was more disappointed.
A serious fault was recorded after the examiner told Ian to follow the road ahead. He should have turned left as the road ahead had a 7½ ton weight limit. Ironical really when the examiner told him later in the test to ignore the weight restriction sign as test vehicles were exempt. Then missing the 30mph sign on the slip road of the A1, earned him another one. A couple of other minors were picked up for other bits and bats.
I’ve just come off the phone and we have carefully gone through the faults. When all is said and done the last time he sat a test under that type of pressure was 20 years ago in a car.
So I’ll put in for another test date, and we’ll go again.
Its amazing what nerves can do… they can make or break you. The presuure you feel when you have got someone new in the cab with you, watching your every move, puts so much pressure on you to perform well, that it all goes out the window.
I failed on my reverse… but all week, I had got it in the box… ALL WEEK!!.. never missed it once. I was even so confident at it, that I gave up some of my time, coz My buddy wasnt getting it… guess who passed and guess who failed!!!. … I hit the B cone in the middle…
Never mind, He’ll get it next time. At least he now knows what to expect, and thast the main battle, being prepaired…
I think you’re being a bit harsh there dude. I failed my test the first time for stupid mistakes which I shouldn’t have failed on ie: accidentaly putting the wagon into reverse instead of first when pulling out of a junction. That had nothing to do with the instructor.
Personally I think what Marlow is doing is something every driving school should be looking at. I held out on going for a class1 job for 8 years - sticking to rigids - because even though I had the license I didn’t know how to hook up/drop a trailer and other basic things which a driving school should teach you but didn’t. A license doesn’t give you the confidence to go and get a job. I and most of the folks on this forum (back me up here guys ) are behind Marlow on what he is aiming to achieve - a comprehensive driver training scheme.
Well said Lostpup. I was in a very fotunate position when I started, after failing first time, that my significant other had 20 years experience and could come out with me on occasion or was always on the end of the phone. The test pass means nothing. I learned in an old daf with a 33’ skelly. then was given a brand new daf with a 45’ fridge loaded with tomatoes, I will freely admit I was terrified and for the first few months, even with all the help on hand i could have asked for, was a total wreck… I think its a brilliant idea and i sincerely hope it takes off.
Wether or not the idea works, basically it’s a sound one. You are taught to pass the test, nothing more when you go for driver training. Anything that adds to that has to be a big bonus for anyone seeking their HGV licence to earn a living. I was lucky to find a company that was prepared to take a chance on me, as I had zero experience in the world of commercial driving.(Either that or they were really desperate for a driver!!) To those with the experience everything seems simple, to those that have none it can seem impossible.
Keep at it Marlow, you are doing the right thing.
I agree with Marlow, you’re a bit harsh there Houdini.
Anyone can fail a driving test. I, for eg, passed 6 out of 7 driving tests. I failed the 6th, my first attempt at HGV1 but passed it on the second attempt. I failed for; thumping a kerb, impatience at a narrow piece of road, with parked cars narrowing the road to one lane and a very poor view to allow passing, and failing to see a car, hiding behind my mirror on a roundabout.
Once I started working as a commercial truck-driver, I found that the course I had done on leaving the army, was quite unusual. It had contained a 2 week classroom period, during which time we did a large portion of the then CPC. I new how to complete a tacho chart and about drivers hours and what a GV9 was etc. It wasn’t till I started to talk to other drivers on the road, that I found out that most people had to pick it up as they went along.
I personally think that Marlows idea is a good one. It was unfortunate that Ian failed his test on the first try, but many others have done so too. You can’t knock him down for that. Anything which helps a new driver, once they are on the road, can only be a good thing.
I would be interested in Ians and Marlows experiences since.
It is very easy to make statements about people you don’t actually know. As a company we have dealt with Marlow on a number of occasions. We have always found him to be completely honest, trustworthy, and entirely open in his business dealings with TruckNet (Europe) Ltd.
…On a Personal level I have known Marlow for a number of years, he has always been one of the biggest supporters of this site and me in my endeavors. I count Phil as a personal friend.
Your comments are completely out of line and i feel are an attack on an honourable man. My fellow Director has decided that your comments just fall within the rules. Any more such unfounded derogatory comments will not be tolerated unless you have proof of your claims.
Take heed. If you make statements on this forum be prepared to back them up with facts.
Come on guys the freedom of free speach and all that. He has being on
here telling us all how good he is at getting people up to test standard,
for them then to fail, i am sure he is a great guy and all that but your better
of bragging about something after you pass, that way your not setting your
self up for a fall. And giving some wind up merchant like me a chance to
get you all at it . So calm down you will all be back in your cabs tomorrow,
good buddies, come on,10-4 over and out.
True Houdini, but I was taught by a professional instructor who’d been doing it for years, and I still failed my first shot at class 2. So what’s your point?
i also failed my test first time due to having a ex coach driving examiner who failed me on traveling to close to the vehicle in front on the m6 at jnc10 at dinnertime.
does that make my instructor a bad one!!!.
i did my class 2 with another bloke at the sametime i passed, he failed.the point being is its down to the individual person on the day how well they cope with the pressure.
Houdini I think you are beeing totally unfair. I failed my HGV 1 twice passed on the third go. I used a training school, when the test comes along there is only one person that can fail or pass it and that is you the student. It is amazing what nerves can do to you.
Can I ask do you have a class 1 licence and if so how many tests did you sit before passing and answer that honestly.
Marlow probably did have Ian upto test standard but there is little Marlow can do once ian gets behind the whell for the test. I for one think it is great what Marlow is doing.
