Firstly, am so glad i found this forum. Been looking for a while but didn.'t really come up with anything. Also delighted that theres loads of new drivers on here asking for advice like myself from the more experience drivers.
Well my first question is : Well iv passed my theory looking to do my c2 course and test in a couple of weeks. Well i was under the impression it was a 3 strike and out rule for passing, if you fail you cant take it for another year…? Have i got this wrong?
Secondly im from luton and would be intersted to find out from anyone about the training in my area. Theres clearstone, West herts triaining and commercial transport training plus others. Has anyone passed or had experience with these?
Thirdly(and finally your thinking!!) My big worry is getting lost and being miles behind on time. Is it worth getting a sattelite nav , and as tomtom seems to be the prefered one,what is the best tomtom to buy?
Thanks in advance guys, nice to know theres plenty of people out there willing to offer advice to new drivers
Firstly welcome to trucknet and ask away with the questions
chenn_uk:
Firstly, am so glad i found this forum. Been looking for a while but didn.'t really come up with anything. Also delighted that theres loads of new drivers on here asking for advice like myself from the more experience drivers.
chenn_uk:
Well my first question is : Well iv passed my theory looking to do my c2 course and test in a couple of weeks. Well i was under the impression it was a 3 strike and out rule for passing, if you fail you cant take it for another year…? Have i got this wrong?
no but if you fail you have to wait a minimum 3 days inbetween tests
chenn_uk:
Secondly im from luton and would be intersted to find out from anyone about the training in my area. Theres clearstone, West herts triaining and commercial transport training plus others. Has anyone passed or had experience with these?
sorry i havent but i am sure someone will answer that for you
chenn_uk:
Thirdly(and finally your thinking!!) My big worry is getting lost and being miles behind on time. Is it worth getting a sattelite nav , and as tomtom seems to be the prefered one,what is the best tomtom to buy?
Thanks in advance guys, nice to know theres plenty of people out there willing to offer advice to new drivers
personally i have sat nav it is a very useful tool have a look arount the forums and i am sure that you will find threads on the subject
finally dont be afraid to ask no matter how stupid it may seem to you and good luck with the training
shaun
Hi ChennUK, Firstly welcome to TN
I’m not sure where you heard the 3 strike rule but its not true, as Shaun has said 3 days between tests, but you can retake as many times as you can afford too!, depending on the company you can retake about a week or so later but its about £200.00 a time.
As for training in your area, im not too sure I passed with Roadtrain for both stages of my LGV and recommend them I believe they do have a place in South Mimms roadtrain.co.uk/ if that isn’t too far for you
As for getting lost, I wouldn’t worry about that for the time being just concentrate on sorting out your licence rather that unnecessary expense at this stage, as shaun mentioned there are lots of articles to search under on here regarding GPS systems
Keep us informed and good luck
Welcome to TruckNetUK, chenn
If you key in “tomtom” or “satnav” into the search facility (top of page, just to the left of ‘memberlist’,) it will direct you to previous topics with that particular keyword in it - some as recently as only about a week or so ago in the case of “tomtom” 
Sorry I can’t help with your other questions personally, but I expect other TruckNet members will be along soon…
Welcome to trucknet chenn_uk and enjoy your
training and good luck 
.
Isn’t Clearstone one of those well get a loan for you organise training for you companies that charge well over the norm for training ?.
I could be wrong but I have a feeling it’s a name that has come up several times before & in a negative way.
Sorry I forgot to say Welcome to TN UK.
I’ve just done a search for mentions of clearstone on here.
Found these.
trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … clearstone
trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … clearstone
There are others but these are the main ones of interest.
PLEASE READ THESE BEFORE YOU HAVE ANY DEALINGS WITH CLEARSTONE.
Thanks guys for all the help. Regarding clearstone, i wasnt going to apply for a loan, i was going to pay it myself. Heres the deal they told me
5 full days training. i think they said 8 or 8.30 till 430
Price of the test included,whether or not that means just one, im getting the stuff through the post any day.
They charge £949.00 for full training ie, theory and £909.00 for the driving.
What should you expect to pay for training, ie 5 days
Clearstone do not do the training they pay other companies to it & then take their profit or % of the deal.
I would personally do some phoning round to companies who provide the training themselves as ONE they should be cheaper & TWO they will be able to provide you with details of who will train you, what vehicle will be used, what their pass rate is & if they are DSA registered, (DSA registration is voluntary for HGV instructors.)
chenn_uk:
Firstly, am so glad i found this forum. Been looking for a while but didn.'t really come up with anything. Also delighted that theres loads of new drivers on here asking for advice like myself from the more experience drivers.
That’s the first thing you’ve learnt. If in doubt ask . Stops you dropping one :p:
Well my first question is : Well iv passed my theory looking to do my c2 course and test in a couple of weeks. Well i was under the impression it was a 3 strike and out rule for passing, if you fail you cant take it for another year…? Have i got this wrong?
Secondly im from luton and would be intersted to find out from anyone about the training in my area. Theres clearstone, West herts triaining and commercial transport training plus others. Has anyone passed or had experience with these?
No idea, but I’m sure someone will be able to put you straight.
Thirdly(and finally your thinking!!) My big worry is getting lost and being miles behind on time. Is it worth getting a sattelite nav , and as tomtom seems to be the prefered one,what is the best tomtom to buy?
Thanks in advance guys, nice to know theres plenty of people out there willing to offer advice to new drivers
It is a fantastic piece of kit, but it has to be used with a lot of common sense and some experience thrown in to get the best out of it. I use one myself and think they’re great, but at the end of the day, I’ve now got that little bit of experience (not a lot at 2 years Class 1I know 
) that allows me to use it sensibly. I would say start with the maps, as it’s a skill in itself, then go onto SatNav once you’ve got fed up with getting lost on paper .
Lastly, WELCOME to TrucknetUK.
Cheers
Ian.
I foud out about clearstone on here and avoided them like the plague. The same for sterling.
I did my training with Qualitas who are based in Chelmsford. (not to far away)
They have an advert in the national press. Have you done any 7.5t driving?
I ask because they give a discount to 7.5t drivers and PCV. The standerd of training was excellent and I passed class 2 first time with them. I am also going back to do class 1 with them in march.
ps, I’m from cornwall!!!
Good luck with what you decide and
Welcome to trucknet
Secondly im from luton and would be intersted to find out from anyone about the training in my area. Theres clearstone, West herts triaining and commercial transport training plus others. Has anyone passed or had experience with these?
first welcome to trucknet chenn
reference luton,if i’m right one of the mods goes by the name of coffee( yes drinks it by the gallon) neil is his real name he lives in your neck of the woods.he is overseas at the moment but once he gets settled for the night and gets his laptop up and running i’m sure he’ll give you some tips.watch this space chenn,he’s never far away m8.good luck
Hey Chenn welcome to Trucknet mate! I hope you find it as useful as i do!! Good luck for your training and remember to enjoy it just as much as you take it seriously!!
Why is everyone putting clearstone down?? I happen to think they are a very good company for a number of reasons…
- I wanted to do Cat C and C&E…i had no cash saved but wanted to do it asap…they sorted my loan out for me, sorted the training out for me and sent me a couple of letters confirming dates…lovely!!
*I am a little lazy when it comes to getting things sorted…so for someone else to sort all of my loan out and training, well thats worth it for me even if its at a little extra cost…all i have to worry about is turning upto the training.
*Clearstone have pass protection, for just £299 extra i get 3 re-tests paid for…if i do happen to use all of them that would of cost me £600-£800!!! I see that as money saved if i do have to use them 3 extra re-tests as im not paying a dime for them!! All in all i wouldnt just mock clearstone. I say clearstone suits some people but may not suit others. It depends on what you want and how much cash you have!!
when i first started driving everytime i went somewhere new i bought an a to z map you know the area ones like west yorkshire or kent and now ive got nearly all of them and dont worry about benig late my motto is… gets there when it gets there. if your gaffer phones up wanting to know where you are always tell him you are at least where you was an hour ago.