F-reds:
Why isn’t it on the .gov website then?
No idea, a couple of ex colleagues said about the Steventon site, and I spoke to one of their employees at a stand they had in Banbury a couple of years ago and he said the same.
This is the confusion between being a test centre and being an accredited trainer. The two things are totally different and unrelated.
TEST CENTRE
Properly marked, suitably surfaced reversing area
Examiner office
Toilets
Refreshment facilities
That’s basically it for a test centre so many trainers can and have achieved this. I was the first in the UK being the guinea pig for it.
ACCREDITED LGV TRAINING CENTRE
Instructors: have to be on DVSA Register.
Vehicles: have to be equipped with warning triangles, first aid kit and fire extinguisher
Maintenance records: have to be kept together with all vehicle documentation including MOT’s and insurances. Inspection sheets correctly completed and filed.
Training records: progress reports have to be kept for each candidate, checked by a senior member of staff and kept for audit
Training routes: have to be designed, documented and made public
Reversing area: correctly marked, sound surface and correct cones/barriers in place
Defect reports: completed correctly and actioned promptly. Auditable records to be kept.
Module 4 training equipment. Correct as per DVSA Specifications.
Insurances: Public liability/Employer liability insurances in place and correctly displayed.
So the question is this: if a trainer has their own test centre, why aren’t they also an Accredited Training Centre?
Many of these trainers will word their publicity carefully to imply that they are, but they’re not unless they appear on the government website. dft.gov.uk/fyn/lgv.php
Hope this clears up the confusion. Pete 
Double post
Evil8Beezle:
I’m still waiting for independent confirmation that the coffee machine is free Pete!
Was yesterday, in fact I was offered 3 
Blimey. That was a mistake!!
Pete
Peter Smythe:
This is the confusion between being a test centre and being an accredited trainer. The two things are totally different and unrelated.TEST CENTRE
Properly marked, suitably surfaced reversing area
Examiner office
Toilets
Refreshment facilitiesThat’s basically it for a test centre so many trainers can and have achieved this. I was the first in the UK being the guinea pig for it.
ACCREDITED LGV TRAINING CENTRE
Instructors: have to be on DVSA Register.
Vehicles: have to be equipped with warning triangles, first aid kit and fire extinguisher
Maintenance records: have to be kept together with all vehicle documentation including MOT’s and insurances. Inspection sheets correctly completed and filed.
Training records: progress reports have to be kept for each candidate, checked by a senior member of staff and kept for audit
Training routes: have to be designed, documented and made public
Reversing area: correctly marked, sound surface and correct cones/barriers in place
Defect reports: completed correctly and actioned promptly. Auditable records to be kept.
Module 4 training equipment. Correct as per DVSA Specifications.
Insurances: Public liability/Employer liability insurances in place and correctly displayed.So the question is this: if a trainer has their own test centre, why aren’t they also an Accredited Training Centre?
Many of these trainers will word their publicity carefully to imply that they are, but they’re not unless they appear on the government website. dft.gov.uk/fyn/lgv.php
Hope this clears up the confusion. Pete
So what do you think the reason is then?
Reading through the list you’ve provided I don’t see anything unacheivable if a company has already gone to the trouble of achieving ‘Test Centre’ Status
I cant be sure, but I think it’s probably down to the lack of registered instructors. Either that, or the trainers don’t see any benefit in becoming accredited.
Certainly, a trainer who has a test centre has already jumped some of the hoops.
Pete
IMHO, as I’ve said before, I think it’s just that the good, non-accredited trainers don’t see value in the scheme. After all, if they don’t have any problems filling their training schedules with customers even though they’re not accredited, why bother to go through the hassle for no real gain?
As for the original point - if they really are making false claims, report them to the Advertising Standards Authority. Company websites are required to comply with the same rules as any other types of advertising.
I think some companies fly a bit too close to legal on the DSA advertising front, but probably just this side of the regulations.
For example I did a search for another thread on Google “guaranteed pass hgv driving courses” which turned up a company with a huge “DSA Driver Standards Agency” banner at the top which I immediately thought meant they were claiming to be DSA registered. Turns out they don’t claim, but makes me suspicious it’s designed to give an apparent very close association with the DSA of which they appear to have non.
I’m sure there are plenty more who are using the DSA to almost claim to be part of the club, and since most people probably don’t know about the DSA registered instructors & sites (I didn’t before coming here), it’s good enough to convince them.
In my very brief research I discounted those who were simply displaying the DSA logo. The list of those incorrectly claiming accreditation/approval continues to grow. I hope that DSVA will simply write to them informing them of the error of their ways.
The fact remains that the number of accredited trainers is scandalously low so the quality safeguards are, for the best part, left in the lap of the gods.
Whenever this topic crops up I hasten to mention that there are perfectly good trainers out there who have yet to seek accreditation; the ball is firmly in their court to get it sorted.
In the meantime, the list is here dft.gov.uk/fyn/lgv.php
Pete