We seem to have had an unfortunate little run of examples of poor, unprofessional training on the forum lately. I was just wondering how much research folks do into their chosen trainer before booking.
I am not implying that people just rush into it; I’m curious to know what process folks go through.
Pete 
When booking initial training as candidates dont know what to expect its a hard thing to decide , my class 2 I saw them after visiting my hubby at work saw the veh and followed back , I had already gone the broker route and got my fingers burned managed to get my money back and went in to talk to them , after chatting with some of the trainers booked my course , I was lucky when doing my class 2 that just needed guidance on handling a bigger veh and took to the class 2 training with no problems , that influenced my decision in booking class 1 so went back and requested same trainer , unfortunately he was not very good with people who actually needed guidance and training, and was a bit impatient and not very good at getting his training across hence a few issues with class 1 , the rest is history as you know Peter hence the reason I always ask people to make sure they are happy with veh and trainer , saying that in my instance it would not have helped as wasn’t a problem until I actually needed proper help in something I wasn’t getting so I think even then one trainer can turn out to be not as good as you think , he didn’t really have to do much when I was doing class 2 , wasn’t until I had the problems getting the reverse that he had to work that the problem became apparent ,
Maybe if more people had turned round and told him to jog on when he was being rude might have changed his attitude , but when you really want to do well and made to feel its your fault many people don’t feel they can tell someone they are being a right ■■■■ , and actually maybe the reason I’m not getting it is because of your attitude ,
My hubby is a technical trainer and will explain things a thousand times until a candidate understands and if they candidate is not getting it he takes the attitude that its his fault and need to find a way to explain that the student will understand , not rocket science but it works , my hubby is always complimented on how he delivers courses and the time he takes with people , not HGV training but same principle !!!
Peter Smythe:
We seem to have had an unfortunate little run of examples of poor, unprofessional training on the forum lately. I was just wondering how much research folks do into their chosen trainer before booking.I am not implying that people just rush into it; I’m curious to know what process folks go through.
Pete
A good question. I’m still evaluating my options (a month on…)
I’d say that the paid adverts that appear at the top of a Google search have a lot to do with it. The promise of great money, a guaranteed interview, dedicated support staff, etc… - So customers/victims call these places with an initial enquiry, completely unaware they are speaking to skilled sales staff that probably work on commission.
Additional to what Peter has asked, I wonder if age is also a factor? As I think you become a little less impetuous as you get older, and don’t rush into things so quick. Or is that just me, and I’ll be doing my test with my state pension! 
Evil8Beezle I think your signature says it all 
I wonder if the trainers in question are DSA registered and if any are then what does that say for the DSA system?
My C was based mainly on cost. It was cheaper for me to travel a little further away than use a local school but I had 5 years experience driving a bus so there was very little difference between the two. The company I used for that had a dray lorry for class 1 and I made a concious decision that I wanted to learn in a ‘big’ truck, not a drawbar or something with a piddly singe axle trailer. That limited me to two local companies. Hills, who had a good name but high prices and Miller’s who were affiliated with Page transport in Littlehampton. I went for Millers as it had less of a one man band feel about it. My instructor was excellent (Steve) he could pinpoint exactly what I needed to do to correct any mistakes and was extremely professional. Any breaks were taken as a chance to talk about the theory side of things. He also spoke about his many years experience driving and explained about certain situations you could encounter AFTER passing your test. (It never felt like he was just training me to pass and nothing more)
Sadly, the parent company went bust shortly after.
I’m sliding downhill from 40 years old and on top of that a Yorkshire man so you already know my money isn’t going to be spent quickly lol
It was approx 3 months of do I don’t I before my money left my very shallow pockets and all the research was Internet based in fact 90% was these forums there was 2 trainers for me on here within a suitable distance and with very good reputation. I will tell you in 7 days if I made the right choice or not 
lol
I agree your age will be a factor in deciding. If I were 20 years younger it would be the closest trainer or the one who could get me through the test the quickest and cheapest.
Adrian williams:
I’m sliding downhill from 40 years old and on top of that a Yorkshire man so you already know my money isn’t going to be spent quickly lol
It was approx 3 months of do I don’t I before my money left my very shallow pockets and all the research was Internet based in fact 90% was these forums there was 2 trainers for me on here within a suitable distance and with very good reputation. I will tell you in 7 days if I made the right choice or not
I agree your age will be a factor in deciding. If I were 20 years younger it would be the closest trainer or the one who could get me through the test the quickest and cheapest.
If you were 20 years younger, wouldn’t you have instead brought a whippet and a Burberry flat cap? (Sorry, I’m a Southerner, and I couldn’t resist!) - Only a joke!!!
It would be a collie and ah still as that cap tha naas
My choice was made by a recommendation from a friend who is a professional driver.
Recommendations from friends you can trust are a powerful thing, and can be far more valuable than internet searches and adverts. Talking to someone who has actually used the service, whatever it might be, will give you a more honest perspective and cut right through all the advertising and sales hype.
I did my class 2 with Wallace on the basis of a recommendation of my job agency. I didn’t look at any others at that time. I used them for the whole process from the medical to the test. I had an assessment lesson with them – their assessment trainer was a guy with a thick Irish accent that I could barely understand, although the basics (e.g. left, right, gear changes etc) I could. They have a lot of non-native English speakers there; God knows how they can understand what he’s saying. I specifically asked not to have him for a trainer. The instructor I got was Con O’Donovan.
I asked to be trained out of Croydon as I live in south-west London. The vehicle was a DAF LF 55 14-tonner with a 4-over-4 gearbox (they also had Ategos with 8-speed “knock-over” gearboxes), although I’ve been told that they now have a fleet of 14-plate automatics. The first day he picked me up in Morden and had me drive (via Hampton Court, the A312, A40 and A406) to Wembley Stadium where we did the reversing exercise. After a few attempts I “got it” and we drove back down south, stopping at the office in Harlesden. The second and third days we did the test routes in Guildford.
I remarked at the time that he didn’t make me feel uncomfortable and that he seemed to take mistakes as a personal affront, especially the closer we got to the test. That was mainly about on-road faults like MSM and observation errors; he didn’t actually lose his temper with me. (The trainer I had at Coates didn’t seem to notice a lot of these details.) Still, for class 1 I wanted a different trainer, the same training/testing ground and a DAF truck, and Wallace couldn’t meet all that, so I had to look elsewhere.
I found Coates by doing a Google search, and didn’t have any recommendations from anyone. Only one of my agencies knew of any training companies and that was Wallace. I did do an assessment drive with Dhoot, a company based in Hayes in west London, and the trainer, an Asian guy called Peter, was quite friendly but he was late and the drive was pretty brief, just out along the A4020 towards Uxbridge, round a loop and back again to Southall (he did show me how to couple the drawbar in that time, though). The truck was a 12-tonne MAN TGL with a two-axle trailer – a fairly nice lorry to drive (especially compared to Coates’s old Merc) though it must be the smallest they can use. The Coates trainer bad-mouthed Dhoot to me, saying their trainers would interrupt lessons to go shopping, among other things (as opposed to stopping in a lay-by for lunch). Does anyone have any experience with them? They only train for the Yeading test centre, and there is often very heavy traffic round there.
Anyone got experience of Con’s reversing training? Feel free to PM me.
Many others on here have had good experiences with Coates around the country and at Slough so it seems as though this is one rouge examiner they have on their books
I am still interested to know what Coates HQ in Leicester have to say ?
EXAMINER !! - I mean instructor - must get more coffee …
ROG:
Many others on here have had good experiences with Coates around the country and at Slough so it seems as though this is one rouge examiner they have on their booksI am still interested to know what Coates HQ in Leicester have to say ?
You have hit the nail on the head there Rog , as when doing my class 1 whilst practicing reversing 2 other trainers who where up at St Albans at the same time took time to try and help me whilst my instructor was having a coffee inside , so would not bad mouth Coates in general and it does seem to be one trainer who likes the sound of his own opinion, and to have another view is not an option with him your wrong ! hes right ! Just like to clarify that 