Truck Driving - Returner

I would appreciate some advice from drivers please about whether you think that I am taking the right route back into the industry. Please accept my apologies if this turns out to be a long read with some very basic questions.

History
I passed my HGV3 test back in 1979 whilst in the Army. I assume that this is now category C1. I drove Bedford RL and MK trucks with radio relay equipped box bodies. I occasionally drove a Bedford TK. Later I passed my tracked vehicle test and drove AFV 439 armoured vehicles fitted for radio relay.

On leaving the Army in 1986 I worked for a frozen food company driving Leyland fridge trucks around 3 towns on the south coast, delivering to shops and cash and carry outlets. In those days you could drive these trucks on a car licence. I was later offered longer distance work in a truck that you needed an HGV3 licence to drive. This meant nights out but I turned it down as there wasn’t a decent increase of money to make it worth it.

I then moved house and drove a van for a couple of years around West Sussex and South London. I was keen to earn more so I started working as a casual driver for a truck contract hire company in the evenings. This meant driving empty trucks such as Mercedes 1617 and Volvo FL6 and FH6, Scania and MAN box-bodies flatbeds or curtainsiders and the occasional Volvo unit to/from customer premises, garages for service and the company headquarters at the end or start of the contract hire period. These were the days of paper tachographs and no compulsory CPC.

Being a keen individual I wanted to earn more and have a more interesting job so I got into a mechanical service tech job. Then moved into manufacturing moving through production scheduling, then staff supervision and onto product design. I then moved into the media industry as a mobile IT tech with a car and 30,000 miles on the road each year. Sometime within this period I believe that my licence was grandfathered to HGV2, or what I believe is now category C.

I moved house after a marriage breakup to a place at the opposite end of the country and found myself working in various roles such as IT Training, administration, stores, mobile IT support then finally as an information analyst.

Current Situation
I have been working as an info analyst for the last decade and the lure of the office died a long time ago. I have got 5 years until retirement and some money in the bank so I can afford to jack it in and go back to the job I most enjoyed; driving. I live in an area of the country with little traffic, and the job of a truck driver is not as bad as being stuck in the Deep South of England or perhaps on the M25. There are apparently more trucks than available drivers here, and there are large civil works projects ongoing and have been for years.

Having been away from truck driving for so long, much as changed, and as I am now over 45 and never bothered with the medicals every 3 years, or CPC, which I only found out recently I have much to do.

My plan was to try to get a job on tippers. Being 4 axle medium-sized trucks I just checked my licence to see if I had the necessary category C entitlement, but it isn’t there. A bit of research into this, and please correct me if I have misunderstood this, seems to show that I lost the entitlement as I had not done the five sessions of CPC between Sep 2009 and Sep 2014. This throws a spanner in the works as I have little interest in spending my money to get the category C entitlement. I needed a new plan and decided that palleted loads or skip trucks would offer me a route out of the office hell. I could drive them on a C1 licence. In my early 60s I am too old to be hand-balling loads from trucks to premises.

The steps that I have taken so far are: -

• Obtaining D2 and D4 forms
• Passing an opticians eye test. I needed this as my 2-yearly checkup was due anyway
• Booking an HGV medical test for the rest of the D4 form completion
• Researching CPC requirements
• Trying to find somewhere to do the 5 sessions of CPC online. So far the only company I requested prices from has asked me to ring them instead of just answering the questions in the email that I sent
• Researching Tacho card application process and costs

What I need to do is: -

• Attend and pass the HGV medical test at the test location, and have the GP complete the D4 form
• Complete the D2 and D4 forms and send off to DVLA
• Take the 5 CPC sessions and pass any tests if there are any, and obtain the CPC card from the training organisation
• Apply for and receive the Tacho card through DVLA
• Apply for and secure a job

There is a slim possibility that if I managed to get into one of the companies here they would pay for me to get through the category C test. To me this isn’t the huge step of rigid to artic.

So, am I following the right route? Have I missed anything out? Could you recommend a CPC training company provider who offers online training?

Any other advice gratefully accepted. I have already been told to get all of my paperwork in order before I approach anyone!

Thank you in advance.

All you need is a medical. Send it it with licence application and you’ll get your Cat C again.

You’re correct in thinking you’ll need Driver cpc.

Good luck with it, Pete S[emoji16][emoji16]

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

Here’s a recent thread about online CPCs
trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewto … &p=2825854
Good luck with getting back into it.

Thanks Pete and Driveress. I will try to keep this thread up to date with my journey back to the cab in case it assists anyone in a similar position.

Doing the 35hrs route to your CPC would mean that there are no tests involved.

If you are pushed for time and don’t want to spend 35 hrs, I believe you might be entitled to take mod 2 and mod 4. This route would be more expensive and does involve tests, but would only take a day and a half I believe instead of a week.

To apply for your tacho card
gov.uk/apply-driver-digital-tachograph-card
It’s £32. You can do it straight away, but the 5 year life will start to expire. Comes quickly in a few days.

Seamaster:
I passed my HGV3 test back in 1979 whilst in the Army. I assume that this is now category C1.

That is now Cat C - generally up to 32 tonnes
C1 is 7.5

If youre confident, you could just go for it. But since you havent been behind the wheel of a truck for ten (?) years maybe investing in an hours drive with a school would be a good move? You dont want to pass up on a job where they give you an assessment drive because of any rustiness that could be knocked off in an hour or so behind the wheel.

Some excellent information there folks. I might as well apply for the Tacho Card once I have my medical completed. I will see if I can get a couple of hours in the local driving school’s truck. That should prove enlightening!

Thanks for the help.

Seamaster:
I will see if I can get a couple of hours in the local driving school’s truck.

Where in uk are you?

ROG:

Seamaster:
I will see if I can get a couple of hours in the local driving school’s truck.

Where in uk are you?

Scotland. Well outside the sprawling urban conurbations.

From what you’ve said about previous experience I wouldn’t be unduly concerned about stepping back in

My own journey was quite similar

I worked on Class One general haulage for a variety of operators for ten years after passing my test in 1986 - working out of a north west sea port predominantly for Irish outfits and their subcontractors was a pretty steep and eventful learning experience constantly chasing boats or chasing delivery times going through other way

After ten years I moved into something completely different and remained in that “industry” for 26 yrs

Left and draw a half decent pension but not ready for the scrap heap, I took a part time job with a well known supermarket chain delivering groceries and looked into renewing my quals on the arctics - I never let my licence go, but had to do 35 hrs CPC which I did a mixture of on line and at a local training centre

I also went for a 90 min assessment at that training centre to see where I was at with driving arctics - “after a wee while away”

Basically the instructor said I didn’t need any which whilst was a relief it was also daunting after so long away - BUT it really is like riding a bike - you do not forget

So I paid for my digital card and also renewed my class one - as it was that time - including a medical due to age

All set for work I enquired internally about moving to the logistics side of the business and was offered an assessment which consisted of a multi choice paper exam on CPC, road traffic law and tacho / working time hours and a driving assessment on the road and in the yard for manoeuvring which I passed

I’ve been working full time for several months now and frankly, it’s a ■■■■ site easier now than I recall it being my first time around

No push, up to date units, all auto and all with driver aids , all back door delivery with fridges

I’m glad I believed in previous experiences and applied myself to do the necessary to get CpC etc

The moral of this lengthy post is believe in yourself and your experience and do it

Thanks a lot Shinken, that’s very encouraging. I have to attend my medical tomorrow, then all being well I will book the CPC to be done online. I am looking forward to seeing how trucks have improved over the years. My first experience in a truck was a Bedford with a crash gearbox and no power steering.

Just a further update on the path to getting back into the cab.

I attended my medical examination this morning and all went OK. I had already had the optician fill in the D4 as I needed an eye test. I wanted to make sure that I was filling the acompanying D2 form before sending it off to DVLA so I gave them a ring. There was a 10 minute period when I was on hold. The operator confirmed that I was filling in the form correctly, advised me that I only needed to send in the plastic driving licence card, and when asked about category C being crossed out on my licence she advised that I will only get category C1 on my new licence as my cat C has lapsed. That doesn’t agree with what has been said earlier in this thread so I will report back when I get the licence back.

I have received my digital tacho card, so I just need to sort out the CPC. Thanks to Driveress again for pointing me to the relevant thread.

Seamaster:
when asked about category C being crossed out on my licence she advised that I will only get category C1 on my new licence as my cat C has lapsed.

If you are a pre 1997 licence holder I suspect she meant you will get that C1 showing until the D4 medical has been approved but in saying that it would be odd to get the licence back before they have sorted the D4

Be interesting to see what happens

Things have moved on since my last post. It looks like those who said that my Cat C would be re-instated were correct, and the young lady at DVLA was mistaken, but I could say charitably that I misunderstood. Today I checked on the DVLA Licence Checker here:

Cat C has been added as full licence, and CE has been added as drawbar trailers only. CE has also been added as provisional for artics. The plastic card should be arriving back with me soon.

I have contacted the local truck training organisation and asked for half a day pottering around in the truck to get my hand back in.

I will soon book online CPC training.

Aberdeen Training Services look like the most likely place for me to go for artic training. I found them on the hugely useful LGV Training Tips etc here:

A lot of work went into that page, which I appreciate a great deal. Thank you ROG.

I have only got 4.5 years until I retire so artic training might be a waste of money for me, so that is still in the balance.

Once again, thanks a lot for all of the input.

Congrats on getting your C+E restriction code 102 back! ( That’s going to be a challenge for ROG’s fireworks [emoji6])

An interesting dilemma as to whether you go for your unrestricted CE. All down to the work available where you are I guess, good luck.

Fireworks will come when full CE is gained

To get full CE in your situation it can be weird because you can driver to test centre in a W&D without L plates then put on L plates for CE test and pass or fail drive away without L plates
Pass and you get full CE

An update…

The local truck driving school no longer have their one truck, so self drive hire of a tipper might be the best bet to familiarise myself with the controls.

I booked an online CPC for week beginning the 12th Sep 22 with VR services, which I found through this forum. Thanks.

The local council have a youth and employability service. I am a long way from being a youth, but I can still get help and advice for getting back into work. I fall into the several categories of over 54, ex-forces, etc. etc., which can get help. They are going to assess my case and decide whether they will accept me or refer me to another service. If I get the help I will have someone assigned to my case to help me get some truck experience, possibly some funding towards my C+E proper, and help to get me into employment. Just what I need.

A further update…

I have been assigned a caseworker by the local employability service, and also completed 35 hours of online D-CPC training with VR Services. As was suggested above, there was no exam. I have registered with http://www.theorytest.org.uk and have been going throught the tests there just to get my knowledge built up.
I have also bought a Highway Code, three books from DVSA and the Driver Handbook from Logistics UK, formerly the FTA. My knowledge is still weak on driver’s hours, load width and height limits etc. It’s just a case of reading and practicing. The theory tests I have done have all been completed with scores of between 85 and 96, but mostly 92-94. It would be nice to get 100%.

I am all legal to drive now. My caseworker has contacted a number of local companies. She told me that one had asked for my CV straight away. I suggested that she shouldn’t get excited as that appeared to be their modus operandi from previous experience. I think that they either collect CVs or they go in the round file! She was due to chase them up today, but I have heard nothing from her.

If I haven’t got a job by mid-Nov then I will try to find a training organisation with a residential offering, and the option of guaranteed pass, that can train me for C+E. Before the course starts I will hire a cat C vehicle to have a potter around in as we no longer have an HGV driver trainer here.