So, after a lot of lurking on this forum, the mighty efforts of two different training teams and a lot of reading blogs and watching YouTube… Holy Cow! I went and passed my C+E!
Most important- I must get the thanks out of the way:
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Martins Driver Training in Norfolk - Carol, Pam and Jan for all their hard admin efforts and Duncan, for passing on all his sage advice and experience with the utmost patience.
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Peter Smythe Training - Again such thanks to Jill and Rosina for setting things up for me, and to Callum for his time, skills and patience while we drove a lot of the Mansfield area which was new to me.
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Truck Driver Hayley on YouTube - I watched her training experiences and the emotional ups and downs as she learned (and passed!) with great interest and they were so so helpful! Definitely recommended watching, especially the mock test drive.
And, perhaps not often mentioned - the DVSA examiner (not sure if I name them?) - it was my second attempt at the on the road 3b test, and the examiner I had was clearly experienced and put me at ease early on- this got the best out of me and out of the test, and that after all is the goal, isn’t it? He is a true gentleman.
So, this is a semi retirement switch of career for me - I spent over 30 years doing something totally different, and after working through the first Covid lock down, (and hitting a young 55!) I decided I wanted to do something else. Always enjoyed driving so got my CPC and tacho and put in time on 3.5t and 7.5t C1 delivery work (thanks to grandfather rights).
Really looking forward to this - next step is to continue 7.5t, look at class 2 work and build up time on that while looking for an employer that could start me off gently on the proper big stuff.
Good luck to all here who are on the journey, and thanks also to the Mods and posters on here for all the helpful posts and advice.
Dave.
