This thread is intended to give wannabe lorry drivers the motivation to get started.
Ok so a bit of background.
My uncle was a day shift lorry driver when I was young and I used to go along with him for days out from been as young as 4 years old, and I remember that’s all I ever wanted to do from been old enough to know that adults work for a living, so probably 6 or 7.
During the years of attending school I used to go along with him during any school holidays, summer holidays, Christmas holidays, Easter holidays and weekends when he worked them during the various jobs he had, local multi drop, distance runs, trunking and even tramping near the end of his career and enjoyed it all massively.
By the time I left school the required age for driving goods vehicles was 21 so I had to do other work for the time being, I turning to fork lift truck and Warehousing as the two tend to go hand in hand, anyway after a number of years working in warehouses and factories I had some how been sidetracked and distracted from my true ambition in life to become a lorry driver and had now wasted over ten years of my life not doing the job I first set my eyes on as a young child.
On Christmas eve 2016 I finally realised that driving a lorry for a living was going to be one of them things, something that you always want to achieve but never gets done, unless I acted immediately. Right there and then I downloaded a app on my phone to start learning LGV theory questions and hazard perception videos. I hit the studying hard everyday and by the time the Christmas holidays were over in January I was already achieving 99 and 100% pass scores so decided it was time to book a LGV medical and theory and hazard perception tests.
It only took 1 week to get a date and attend my medical, this was the thing I feared most without any doubt whatsoever, this was the thing that could have ruined my dreams instantly if I had something wrong with me, I attended my medical in the second week of January very nervous indeed, however after 30 minutes I left extremely happy as I knew that now I had Passed my medical that someday I would in fact get the chance to become a lorry driver.
I went home and then booked my theory and hazard perception test which I waiting one month for, while waiting I kept looking online waiting for my LGV provisional entitlement which I had within 1 week, I then went back to the training school where I did my medical, for an assessment drive, after the assessment drive I realised I really wasn’t happy with that company and decided to do some looking around which I’ll come back to later on.
By this time it was time to sit my theory and hazard perception video test which I took together and done extremely well in both, after getting home I them realised I had been forgetting my CPC test module 2 test as I passed my car test after 1997 and I could have sat all tests together, back on the internet it was to book my CPC module 2 test which I waited 3 weeks for.
During that time I decided to look around for a new training centre, a training centre that was highly skilled and definitely highly rated, enter Peter Smythe Transport Training, after many hours of looking around and researching and reading dozens of reviews I was happy he was the man for the job. I private messaged Peter here on Trucknet and he was more than happy for me to pop along to his company for a 1 hour assessment drive in one of his manual lorries that i had requested, but due to my working restraints Peter had to wait 3 weeks for me to be available to turn up.
By this time I had sat and passed my module 2 test and could feel that the ball was really rolling now after it had stood still with moss growing around it for so long, I was honestly shocked how quickly I was getting the many obstacles on the road to becoming a lorry driver out of the way.
Shortly after I travelled the 130 miles from my home town to Peter Smythe Transport Training where I found a very professional set up with modern vehicles, and as if that wasn’t enough, the man himself took me out for my assessment drive, I found Pete to be a great teacher and genuinely one of the best people I’ve met in my whole life, Pete has 43 years experience as an instructor and what he doesn’t know about instructing isn’t worth knowing about and that is clear by his teaching skills, Petes also very passionate about his company and rightfully so.
After my assessment drive Pete was very happy that I’d do just fine in the manual truck and that they could get me through my test first time without having to waste money on an extended course with extra days, I was also happy with my assessment drive and all that I had seen so went ahead and paid £150 deposit to secure the dates I so desperately needed due to holidays at work, Pete was able to fit me in within 4 - 6 weeks however that was no good to me as it had to be the end of July or nothing ( about 5 months ahead ) which Pete was able to do without any problem, I had also decided to do my CPC module 4 test with him at the same time that my practical training was booked for to get that out of the way too.
This was now the hard part, returning to my home town knowing I wasn’t able to do anything else until the end of July, 5 months away, very demoralizing but all down to holidays at work and nothing to do with Peter’s side.
All I could do was return to work and get my head down and start earning the money needed to pay for it all, each week I completed at work took me a week close to been able to pay for my training and test.
Fast forward 4 months and 3 weeks and it’s time to head off to Peter Smythe Transport Training for my residential course that Pete had set me up with at no extra cost because I live more than 70 miles away, staying at a place only 5 minutes away from his centre. Just before leaving I realised I’d now forgot something else, to apply for a digital tachograph as I could have had that all ready without the need of passing a test first, never mind I think, I have somewhere important to be.
Travelled the 130 miles to accommodation and booked in with just enough time to dump my bags and head round the corner to Petes training centre where am ran through what will happen throughout the week and introduced to my instructor.
I knuckle down for some intensive learning and absorb all the knowledge that is thrown my way.
At the half way point its now time to do my CPC module 4 training and test which I pass with a score of 95%, now there’s only one thing in my way, category C practical test, all I can do is knuckle down again and keep absorbing knowledge.
Test day arrives and by the time I get to the training centre am literally a bag of nerves, my instructor manages to calm me down and takes me out on my 2 hour warm up lesson before my test which upon completing calms my nerves even more.
Its now test time and am introduced to my examiner, walked to the vehicle I’ll be using ( same as the rest of the week ) and he begins to ask me questions about the safety of the vehicle and its load, that done and wrapped up its time for the reverse manoeuvre then we are straight out onto the road, my examiner wasn’t intimidating, he was friendly and calming. After over an hour out on the road I realise he’s directing me back to the training centre, at this point I remember thinking, ‘’ just hold it together for a little while longer, just keep doing what you are doing ‘’. 5 minutes later we arrive back at Peter Smythe Transport Training and he tells me to stop where I can and turn the ignition off and any lights I have on ( raining at the time ).
The examiner then says, ‘’ ok that’s the end of your test, am happy to tell you that you’ve passed ‘’, at this point I was over come with joy, I’d just become the happiest person in England, a 25 year old dream had just come true, a dream that I made happen with hard work and determination, a dream I was never going to let go until I’d achieved it.
My examiner then turned to me and said, ‘’ you’ve got a clean sheet too ‘’, I said ‘’ What ? you are kidding ? a clean sheet ? ‘’, he said ‘’ no, not kidding, you’ve got a clean sheet, well done ‘’.
And if you are still reading this and you want to become a lorry driver you can make it come true for you too, but you have to make the move and put the wheels into motion and don’t just sit there getting sidetracked like I did.
Please, get up from your seat and do something today, book your medical and you’ll be surprised just how quick things start to progress once you’ve started that ball rolling.
Its not impossible and there is a lot of obstacles in your way, but keep your eye on the end goal you’ll be achieving and you’'ll get there in the end, yes it could be done quicker than I did it due to work holidays, so that means you could make it happen quicker than I did.
Things to remember.
- Medical.
- Theory.
- Hazard Perception.
- CPC Module 2.
- CPC Module 4.
- Digital Tachograph.
- Practical Driving Test.
A massive thanks to Peter Smythe Transport Training, Chris MC ( my instructor ), Kenny ( my CPC module 4 examiner ), Cliff ( my category C examiner ) and lastly the man himself, peter Smythe.
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