on my 1st meeting with ins. (for artic training), me and other trainee are sat in cab, instructor gets in and says 1st off " christ, i hate this zb job" and, he evidently did ! he hated everything ! so, next day i made sure i was out with another instructor , took me 2 attempts , but hey, i wan"t a guy on my side every time
when you fail that test then you normaly feel bad as i did the first twice On CE but i never felt bad for the Instructor that time as he was not botherer he spent most of his time on the phone 
so why should I be he shoudl not be in the job … But when I changed to Paul at Hindley green and I did feel it for Paul when i failed as he had worked so hard with me to get rid of the roundabout phobia caused be my previouse trainer shouting and balling … And i know Paul was as upset as I was But when I passed on my 2nd attempt with Him I felt good not just for me but for Him aswell because he had done what the other guy would never have done in A million years and that prooves a point a good instuctor does care 
…
4 tests 3 fails and they say the schools dont care.
I am absolutely gutted. The only reason I have made this post is to try and explain to the new guys how we feel.
You are proper upset when you fail but not as much as an instructor that cares
3 fails 1 serious on each. The usual MAKING SOMEONE SLOW DOWN AT A ROUNDABOUT
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Pulling out when turning right and not looking left 1 minute into the test. (I cant beleive he did not look left)
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See 1
I cant beleive you guys want to spend another £300-400 instead of concentrating just that bit harder.
I am not having a good night. 2 tests today 2 fail that is not my game
John
Flair
While i was training, our instructor also said simular. He did say he cared for his trainee’s alot when they went for their tests, and it hits him just as much as it would us if we failed. Shows that instructors do care alot.
I had brilliant instructors for both my C and C+E, cracking blokes who both wanted the best for us and were hoping that we had passed on our big days!!!
brawngp:
While i was training, our instructor also said simular. He did say he cared for his trainee’s alot when they went for their tests, and it hits him just as much as it would us if we failed. Shows that instructors do care alot.I had brilliant instructors for both my C and C+E, cracking blokes who both wanted the best for us and were hoping that we had passed on our big days!!!
LGVTrainer:
The usual MAKING SOMEONE SLOW DOWN AT A ROUNDABOUT
On my C+E test i could of sworn i caused someone to slow down abit on a roundabout too, i came to the Springvale Ind est roundabout and all was clear so i went, next thing this bloody taxi driver pedal to the metal comes tearing around, i put my foot on it but i would of judged that as touch and go situation but luckily examiner let it slide, so must have been ok!!!
You are proper upset when you fail but not as much as an instructor that cares
During my instructor training in 1971 it was made very clear to me that if you stopped caring about your candidates and the results, it was time to knock it on the head. Take note, I haven’t “knocked it on the head”. Indeed, when I’m on holiday I call the office 4 times every test day to get the test results. Drives them mad but that’s the joys of working for me!!
they say the schools dont care.
And in some cases, that’s true to the point of being criminal. In Nottingham there is one instructor who never taught the gear exercise (when it was part of the test). Naturally, the vast majority of his candidates failed first time. He once told me that the retest fees paid for his exotic holidays. Another local instructor cares to the point that he shouts and bawls at his candidates. I’ve inherited more than a few of his “failures”. Most of them report an overwhelming desire to thump him but they all exercise self restraint! Pity.
So yes, I’m sure the vast majority of instructors genuinely care - - just watch out for the rogues!
Once again, it seems appopriate to mention it’s a good plan to visit your proposed trainer to make your own assessment unless you’ve got reliable recommendations to go on.
As for John and his lousy day; we’ve all had them. We’ll have them again. But provided the results are normally the other way around, something must be right.
All the best everybody 
I had an assesment drive for C+E a few weeks ago and the instructor was telling me that the Belfast test centre was caught on failing people (including car/motorcycle tests) for silly things so they would have to pay for a retest! Supposidly the quantity of people putting in for different tests has dropped dramatically so they are doing anything to get the work in even if it is re-tests! Cant say for sure if this is the case just what ive been told, my instructor has me well warned not to make any slip ups or it could be a serious awarded for something that would normally incur a minor!
Cheers Pete
Even after decades of this it stil hurts. Of course we move on. We know it is not us that makes the careless errors. We know we have done and said every possible thing and word to get that pass.
I would ask even beg that every candidate tasking a test, along with thinking about every 1 of those 3600 seconds a test lasts, thinks about how the guy that has taught you feels.
The ONLY job satisfaction is hearing the words “I am pleased to tell you …” WE do it to hear those words. Not for the money.
Peter is right. Dont waste money on bad trainers. You only ever get 1 shot at getting the correct choice.
Keep the faith
Regards
John
Flair Training
“I am pleased to tell you …” WE do it to hear those words. Not for the money.
TBH, I do it for both!
All the best everybody
When I was doing mine for cat C i did change trainers most days some were better than others ( my dairy is on here )
When I came to do my CE the trainer took a dislike to me ( why I dont know hadnt had anything to do with him until CE training ) !st he didnt take time to show me anything about the truck ( think he thought I would know where everything was etc )
Due to not being the tallest person or the heaviest I did make some suggestions to try to help but every time I did he totally dismissed them with a slight attitude & he did not get me ready for test ( & he knew it as he said I would fail ) but due to snow test was cancelled ( but that is another story which has been said on these forums ) needles to say when I eventually took test nearly 3 mth later I did fail 
that was just over 2 years ago not taken again due to me not having the funds ( due to being on the sick )
This instructor was fine with the males ( maybe due to them paying for it them selves or the company but mine was funded which he didnt like )
So just because you go to visit speak with the instructor you will have for the days you are with them
I always tell my pupils that we are in it together, so when they pass my beer always tastes a lot sweeter.
But when I get a fail it tastes a little sour.
The day I dont care if one on my pupils passes or fails is the day I will stop training.
But I feel this is a long way off because nothing gives me greater pleasure than helping someone to gain a LGV licence.
Hello chaps , I passed my cat c on my 3rd attempt couple weeks ago and my licence came back yesterday so time to try and find a job !!
On my second day of training after nailing my reversing we took a long drive back to the yard , after a couple of mins I thought my trainer was a bit quiet had a quick glance across at him only to see he was fast asleep !!! After a further 15mins we were approacing a junction and had to wake him for directions( me not very impressed , though enjoyed the free drive)
The day before my test we did a vehicial check fluids , tyres, lights, etc only to find the dipped headlight bulb had gone . He said he would change it that evening when we got back to the yard .
7.30 the morning of test the trainer and another chap having his test that morning picked me up,I asked trainer straight away about bulb , his reply was no he hadnt changed it but dont worry about it !
After a short while of the other candidate diving I noticed he was doing block changes , somthing not mentioned to me over the previous 3 days . Cocked up my test my fault ,
Next test went really really well till a right plonker in a Transit came hammering round a blind bend when I was pulling out from a parking exercise . My fault Fail .
Next test , met trainer at test center . Had an hours drive before test , the truck stank of B.O !!! yuk . All through my test there was a wood screw rolling around in one of the little cubby holes infront of my examiner , really off putting . Passed test 3 minors .
Its nice to know there are trainers out there whom care , dont think mine did . So does anyone out there know a good trainer in the South Wales area to train me for my C+CE .
Great site thanks
Welcome to the site Muir Hill Phil.
Take a look at the following link. It contains training schools that have been recommended by others on here.
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=44667&p=503949#p503949
It sounds like you had to work a bit to get your ‘C’ license.
Hopefully your ‘CE’ will come a bit easier.
Dean
I’ve done a variety of tests over the years and the major reason is nerves and how they are dealt with. They can be perfect whilst training but a back of glass shards on the test. I did try and check my mirrors a lot and in the right order and thankfully a narrow bit through a housing estate was easier to manage than on the main roads because I was used to the former with my service bus driving.
Even spotted some old woman stepping off the kerb (between cars and when she stepped off the kerb she vanished behind the cars!) before the examiner did but I still picked up minors, and they were for failing to check left before leaving a roundabout after the previous exit. It was quite a small roundabout anyway and I thought I was checking it enough but I think at the time I ended up getting distracted for a moment. But I carried on and passed, thankfully.
Phil, when I did my test back in 2002 (failed it 3 times then too) the instructor barely taught me anything, we drove an old B registered ex removals wagon that was horrible to drive and I had 4 days of training of 4 hours and shared with another driver, so 2 hours a day each!
It is annoying when the instructor or time isn’t up to par and the whole thing drags you down. I figured with my bus training going to a truck would be a doddle but it seems it wasn’t. It took me a couple days just to get used to the gears, power available and the handling.
After a day I was with another instructor and were driving down an A road and he said
“So, what’s the speed limit” we’d just past a 50 sign and I was doing 45
"50, we’ve just passed a sign "
"Really? How about 40? " 
"Ahh, um, yeah, ok then 
Further down the road misread a sign, and we were still doing 40 towards a narrow bridge and the road narrowed too. He came down on me pretty hard for that one and I didn’t make the same mistake again 
I think at the time when we are doing our training/tests we become so consumed with what we have to do we forget that the instructor/training company is invested to the same extent the learner is. Maybe not financially but certainly emotionally.
I remember it took me a good couple of days before I really got my “hgv head” on at roundabouts. After messing up on the same roundabout after what must have been the 3rd or 4th time I was given quite the dressing down by my instructor. When I got home that night I considered jacking it in but I stuck with it and it worked, that bollocking was what I needed to get my head on straight. Granted I still made mistakes but it made me think more and tighten up the areas that were really going to hurt me on the test.
Looking back you can see how happy the instructor was when I was making progress and how dissapointed he was when I cocked up but at the time I was too wrapped up in what I was doing to notice. It is appreciated retrospectively as a good instructor can make your first foray into driving a better experience with the right outcome. Sometimes people need to be given a wakeup call, sometimes people need to be given reassurance and the best teachers know how to do both.
At the end of the day though, with all the teaching in the world it only takes one error to throw £1400 away on the test and that is on our shoulders