From November 15th 2021 if you hold a valid UK car licence you can go straight to a Class 1/C+E course.
Some trainers are intimidating new drivers into having to drive a class 2 first before a class 1.
They say the 5 day course will be 3 days on class 2 and 2 days on class 1 or something like that, the course will be upto £1000 more than a standard 5 day class 1 course, reasons being class 2 vehicles use more fuel, insurance and some other ■■■■■■■■.
If any of you new drivers experience this please post on here in this thread or the newbies before you part with your money and ask for advice.
Class 1 20 hours £1250
Car to class 1 24 hours £1950
Is that for real, 24hrs, 3 days to get your HGV one? When I passed my class one the standard training time was two weeks!
Way I see it is if you can not learn to drive a modern ‘‘car like’’ truck in 3x8 hour day intensive one to one training, especially when you know the basics of driving with your car licence, you ain’t ever going to learn.
.You are now basically driving a big car, no constant mesh boxes to master anymore, the only actual ‘skill’ to learn is reversing.
Maybe include another few hours on theory, explaining the importance if empathy and courtesy towards fellow drivers…to decrease the d/heads passing the test.
i went from ‘car to Class 1’…in 1979 i had 9 day’s training,with another learner in the cab,then my test on the 10th day. we had to learn how to master a ‘crash’ gearbox,and reversing was a big learning curve as i wanted to make sure i passed 1st time (i did ). we have a few new passes at our place,some are good,but we’ve had a few who shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near an artic.
and my present Actros is a far easier lorry to drive than the Albion Chieftain that i had at National Carriers
welshmark:
From November 15th 2021 if you hold a valid UK car licence you can go straight to a Class 1/C+E course.
Some trainers are intimidating new drivers into having to drive a class 2 first before a class 1.
Intimidating? Consider this, for the driving school it is: their vehicles, their duty of care and responsibility for driver, vehicle and other road users, their reputation, so it is definitely their call.
This was discussed on here recently and in considerable depth (sorry, don’t have the url handy, search for posts by Pete S and you’ll probably find it) that whilst car to artic is doable, the wisdom of that depends on several criteria, including the existing ability/aptitude of the candidate and setup/quality of the instructor and driving school.
3 days, didnt realise they were that short… explains everything, and why I’m now having to be just as cautious next to some HGVs as I need to be cars with an L plate… they should make them display a large magnetic number 3 on the back lol.
Also always felt courses should hit a skid pan for an afternoon to allow opportunity to do a full on stop both dry and wet, and actually get a feel for the situation and at least maybe react better, both empty and full laiden.
Three days training and test on the fourth day when I did my class one although I seem to remember it being longer when I did my class 2 twenty three years ago.
Class 1 20 hours £1250
Car to class 1 24 hours £1950
I
.You are now basically driving a big car, no constant mesh boxes to master anymore,
I would say threading a truck through a Welsh or Cornish village, down a farm track and even many modern city centers is far more difficult then driving a car.
Conor:
When I did my Class 1 in 1994 it was 5 days then test. There were two students per wagon so you basically got 20hrs of driving then test.
I did mine in 1991, there were two of us also being taught at the same time, but we had classroom work to do too.
Chatting to someone about this yesterday, was a driving istructor for a while, he said it is like mathes, to some people it comes naturally, to some it comes after some lessons, to some it elludes them
i had 9 day’s training,with another learner in the cab,then my test on the 10th day. we had to learn how to master a ‘crash’ gearbox,and reversing was a big learning curve as i wanted to make sure i passed 1st time (i did 
). we have a few new passes at our place,some are good,but we’ve had a few who shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near an artic.
