From 10 Sept this year the age for LGV drivers is going to be lowered from 21 to 18.
What are your thoughts and/or questions on this 
- and yes, I expect the usual ‘spotty oik’ ones as well as the more serious 
Some of mine -
Hang on. I just tried to insure an 18 year old on a 9 year old Ford Ka and they wanted £1200!!. Because of age and no experience so more likely to have accidents. Oh i forgot. Because of this world we live in because it has been passed as law 18 year olds won’t have accidents.
Sounds like a really bad idea to me. Many 18 year olds shouldnt be behind the wheel of a saxo, yet alone an artic.
Delboytwo and myself had a discussion about this on the chatroom a while back, we came to the conclusion whoever thought of the idea is an utter ■■■■ wit 
Mainly for the reasons listed above ROG
- Is the average 18 year old going to have the RESPONSIBILTY to be driving one
- Are the insurers going to be happy to insure them
- Will companies be willing to take them on
- Is this going to compromise road safety
My considered answers:
Just to mention that I passed PSV at 18yrs and have zero accident record some 40 years on.
I’ve trained too many drivers aged 25+ who shouldn’t be let loose with a scateboard - so I really think that the age limit is arbitary. But most will discriminate against them. I’ve also trained a good number of 18 - 20 year old PSV drivers and not had unduly scary moments. Age is only a number IMO.
I’m sure this will lead to a lot of discussion but the outcome is a forgone conclusion: some young drivers will train, some will be very good, some will be very average, most will not be able to get a job unless it’s in the family or similar. So there’s no risk involved, is there?
as an 18 year old i may have the answers,
1 i think im responsable enough to use a 44tonner, your 18 year old boyracer where every other word is init and has written off every car so far he’s owned, er no.
2 er no i’ve quoted £1500 tptf for a rover 100 1.1
3 unless your dad, uncle, dads best freind ownes the company, no
4 see no 1
i’ll give it a shot though roll on september 10th
philgor
edit
i agree with what lankytim said 
A fiend of a friend a few wekks ago 18 years old rolled his car into a ditch. Lack of experience too fast into a corner on a wet road i think. Most of us have minor scrapes at 18. In a car you hope they are minor and you get away with no one hurt. As you all know touch a car with a truck and you dont just dent a bumper!. So is the training period going to be extended?. At 18 we are assuming they haven’t driven anything before. Is it going to be an extended test for them?. Or are you talking about Rog the new training i have heard about where the test is extended and you have to complete 350hours i believe; accompanied and detailed in a log book before being given a full licence and allowed to drive on your own?.
well rog i had a class 3 at 18,
psv at 19
and a class 1 at 20
just like a lot of ex military drivers on here. 
personally as long as they go about the training the right way then i see no problems. atleast they are willing to learn.
in all my time driving the most obnoxious git i ever had the displeasure to meet was a guy aged 54 at the time . he had been there done that, knew everything and if he did,nt know he would,nt ask ( friggin dangerous).
the thing is he had been a butcher all his life and retrained as a proffesional driver 4 months earlier but spoke to the younger lads ( who had more experience) like he had been a truckdriver all his life.
ps.
is this new rule on age a general thing or an extension of a young drivers scheme ■■?
Jesus, yet another well thought out government idea…
Very very bad idea IMO… I dont believe ANY 18yr old is grown up enough or mature to drive a truck to be absolutely honest. Its bad enough now with some of the new drivers you get coming thru, and some of them have held a Car licesne for 3 years or so… WTF would it be like with an 18yr old!!
tortoise:
So is the training period going to be extended?.
Apart from the new INITIAL DRIVER CPC bits added, the general training & test will be the same as now.
dave:
is this new rule on age a general thing or an extension of a young drivers scheme ■■?
General - EU ruling due to the introduction of the INITIAL DRIVER CPC the YDS is now no more.
1). I couldn`t have owned a car at 18 as I was out from thursday to sunday every week partying so no way would I have attempted to get a driving job at that age so I suppose anyone going for it will take their lifestyle into account.
2). Insurers will be delighted if their prices are met.
4). Driving at your work is a different ball game to showing off in your car so speeding and stuff shouldn`t be a big issue but question 1 comes into play, when your 18 and your at a party with your mates and a bit of stuff do you go home or have another few drinks. Now I would never drink the day before so would go home but I know what I would have done then.
Would have been the same at 21 though so is it much of a difference.
Advice from me would be if you love clubbing and drinking every weekend you are asking for serious trouble taking on any driving job.
YEAAAAAA!!! cant wait lookin forward to becomin 18 now LOL
sam
A fiend of a friend a few wekks ago 18 years old rolled his car into a ditch. Lack of experience too fast into a corner on a wet road i think. Most of us have minor scrapes at 18. In a car you hope they are minor and you get away with no one hurt. As you all know touch a car with a truck and you dont just dent a bumper!. So is the training period going to be extended?. At 18 we are assuming they haven’t driven anything before. Is it going to be an extended test for them?. Or are you talking about Rog the new training i have heard about where the test is extended and you have to complete 350hours i believe; accompanied and detailed in a log book before being given a full licence and allowed to drive on your own?.
I believe a fair number of car drivers of all ages put cars in ditches and have assorted bumps. It’s not so much lack of experience- it’s lack of training as well. True, if you bump a car with a truck it’s no laughing matter. But let’s get this thing in perspective. When those of us who held an HGV licence before 1997 took our test, we took just ONE test to achieve Class 1. These new drivers, regardless of age, will have passed SIX tests to get to Class 1.
So these new drivers will have had more training, had to demonstrate a much higher standard of driving over a longer period and on more occasions, and maybe - just maybe - quite a lot better equipped to work driving artics than any of us were.
I regularly have lively discussions with “old hands” when I’m told we don’t train adequately because we don’t use a particular gearbox, or because we’re blessed with syncromesh and power steering. Not to mention the loaded vehicle thing. How many of you were trained on every type of gearbox, load etc prior to being let loose? My guess is that the new generation of newbies will be better equipped to cope with the job than we ever were.
Regardless of their age, let’s have a bit of respect for the newbies coming into the industry having spent good money - and time - going through a process that we never had to.
I feel so much better now … time for the Horlicks!
philgor:
as an 18 year old i may have the answers,1 i think im responsable enough to use a 44tonner, your 18 year old boyracer where every other word is init and has written off every car so far he’s owned, er no.
2 er no i’ve quoted £1500 tptf for a rover 100 1.1
3 unless your dad, uncle, dads best freind ownes the company, no
4 see no 1i’ll give it a shot though roll on september 10th
You go for it son, I’m in your corner.
I passed my artic at 19 and drove 44tonne fuel tanker OSHKOSH on the road never had a accident that was my fault. But as the Army have seen there has been plenty of accidents one of my friends rolled one years ago on his first day officially on the road and closed the a12 for a fuel spill i personally believe that 21 is a good age you need experience of todays roads and you need to get that impression that everything sticks to the roads no matter what speed out of your system.
In ireland the age too do your artic test is 18 i can only speek for myself on this one i done my artic test & passed first time at 18 passed on a wednesday morning that night i was driving a 420FH 12 at 39000kg gross happy out 4years later im still out there accident free loving every day out on the road if a young person has there head screwed on they should be ok.But one thing my dad also an artic driver for 30years said too me was always take heed of advice from people who have been driving a while and never get cockey i did and i learn new things everyday
Wiseman train some drivers at 18. It is an “in house ticket”. definatleu class 2 , not sure on class1
Wiseman train some drivers at 18.
This will be under the Young Driver’s Scheme which is defunct in favour of the driver cpc
i think if family run haulage firm and they grown up around trucks its ok.my son 12 respects how dangerous they can be uderstands how they work and even drives them round yard.someone just turns up at 18 never had anything to do with them i think dangerous.
philgor:
as an 18 year old i may have the answers,1 i think im responsable enough to use a 44tonner, your 18 year old boyracer where every other word is init and has written off every car so far he’s owned, er no.
2 er no i’ve quoted £1500 tptf for a rover 100 1.1
3 unless your dad, uncle, dads best freind ownes the company, no
4 see no 1i’ll give it a shot though roll on september 10th
philgor
edit
i agree with what lankytim said
I would have loved to take my HGV at 18, and as has already been said, some 18 year olds are better drivers than 21 years olds (even though they’re 21, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have more experience than an 18 year old, and I certainly had no more sense at 21 than I did at 18
Good luck to those of you who try it