Been driving a lovely old V plate manual Volvo again for a few days and got to be honest I prefer to the auto boxes. Hauling potatoes so splitters in full use. Question is what do you pass your test in nowadays.
There is an article in the latest Commercial Motor about proposals to alter rules for driving tests to allow Automated (e.g. I-shift) transmissions, but not Automatic.
There are also standards regarding loading of test vehicles.
Looked for a link to post, but no joy
I passed mine in a manual box and drag in feb of last year …
Driven a few diffrent trucks since passing my test, had a night mare day out with a splitter box not long after passing , spent most of the day looking down at the box rather than worring about the 44ft behind me , i had used the box before in ridgeds but not for years . Now I drive an auto artic , love em…
did mine in a 8 speed 4up 4 down manual 6 years ago, been driving daf auto’s since but had a hired scania last year that was 4 up 4 down and it took me a while to get used to it again but after a few embarrassing gear changes it came back to me 
This is being discussed in the Newbies forum
But at present you take your test in a manual to gain a manual licence