I passed my class 2 test ( First attempt only 5 minors) just over a month ago as I wanted a career change after spending 15yrs sat in an office environment. I’ve registered with several agencies and this only brought me in 2 days of work so far. I’ve gone directly to several companies with applications, CV and covering letters etc and no luck only to be met with we’ll call you back (they don’t) or we no longer have any vacancies or you don’t have enough experience. Anyway one of the agencies I registered with told me I would be more marketable if I had my class1 licence and mentioned about a company they recruit for who take on new drivers but it would be long hours as they double manned. The experience however would be good for me and build it up reasonably quickly. I gave it some thought and decided since I was still in training mode so to speak and had the funds available that I would go ahead and book the class 1 training. So I had this training recently and took my test yesterday. Well the examiner was quite picky and pulled me up several times on the uncoupling/coupling with the way I did things. The way I did the sequence of events was the exact way the training company had taught me! The examiner didn’t mark me down for it but didn’t exactly do my confidence any good. So we went out on the road for the drive and I though it went well considering how nervous I felt but as the drive went on my confidence grew or so I thought, I did have a slight scrub of the trailer wheels on a tight bend but he didn’t mark me down for it. So we got back to the test center and he failed me because of progression and appropriate speed as a serious fault, I only had 5 other minors. He told me the whole test was generally too slow and didn’t flow, what a joke! The test was during dinner time and town was busy with lots of parked cars and traffic through town and not to mention it starting hammered down with rain at one point. I’m feeling pretty annoyed and angry would be an understatement to say the least. Want to complain about the examiner but doubt that would make any difference, the retest isn’t cheap and unfortunately the funds for this at the moment are not available. Any advice, what would you do?
■■■■ it up, breathe out, let the dust settle and have another go.
I know EXACTLY how you feel having had the same thing happen to me, cracking reverse park (smoothly, in 1) brilliant couple/uncouple, gorgeous sunny day, excellent drive, great roads, only 4 minors and then some bell end stuffed it up for me … I was gutted too, misted up, choked up, and swore that was it, wouldn`t be going back.
But here I am, counting down the days to the next set of torturous hours under the scrutiny of the examiner, whilst being at the mercy of the to$$pot$ we share our roads with.
Though it stings, youll find the money, and youll have another go. I feel for ya, but just formulate a plan to move forwards
Orangerick: Hi Folks I passed my class 2 test ( First attempt only 5 minors) just over a month ago as I wanted a career change after spending 15yrs sat in an office environment. I’ve registered with several agencies and this only brought me in 2 days of work so far. I’ve gone directly to several companies with applications, CV and covering letters etc and no luck only to be met with we’ll call you back (they don’t) or we no longer have any vacancies or you don’t have enough experience. Anyway one of the agencies I registered with told me I would be more marketable if I had my class1 licence and mentioned about a company they recruit for who take on new drivers but it would be long hours as they double manned. The experience however would be good for me and build it up reasonably quickly. I gave it some thought and decided since I was still in training mode so to speak and had the funds available that I would go ahead and book the class 1 training. So I had this training recently and took my test yesterday. Well the examiner was quite picky and pulled me up several times on the uncoupling/coupling with the way I did things. The way I did the sequence of events was the exact way the training company had taught me! The examiner didn’t mark me down for it but didn’t exactly do my confidence any good. So we went out on the road for the drive and I though it went well considering how nervous I felt but as the drive went on my confidence grew or so I thought, I did have a slight scrub of the trailer wheels on a tight bend but he didn’t mark me down for it. So we got back to the test center and he failed me because of progression and appropriate speed as a serious fault, I only had 5 other minors. He told me the whole test was generally too slow and didn’t flow, what a joke! The test was during dinner time and town was busy with lots of parked cars and traffic through town and not to mention it starting hammered down with rain at one point. I’m feeling pretty annoyed and angry would be an understatement to say the least. Want to complain about the examiner but doubt that would make any difference, the retest isn’t cheap and unfortunately the funds for this at the moment are not available. Any advice, what would you do? thanks in advance
Do a retest and make better progress if safe and legal to do do
Although I appreciate how annoyed you are at failing, not to mention the expense can I ask what makes you think you know more than the examiner?
In your own words you’ve only just passed your class 2 and only done a few days on one of those. You have no experience on class 1 whatsoever other than a few days training. As where on the other hand the examiner will have experience and training in class 1.
It’s also his job to make sure drivers are safe to go out on the road by themselves. Obviously on this occasion he didn’t think you were or didn’t feel you were competent to pass the test.
I’ve seen a few posts like this who blame the examiner yet other than a few days training have never driven an artic, or class 2 in some cases, in their life.
Like I said I do appreciate how peed you must be but like I said the examiner knows far more than you, or at least they should do.
Book the next test ASAP while it’s still fresh in your head and put right what you did wrong this time. Don’t blame the examiner, you failed the test not him!
Coolrider:
Although I appreciate how annoyed you are at failing, not to mention the expense can I ask what makes you think you know more than the examiner?
In your own words you’ve only just passed your class 2 and only done a few days on one of those. You have no experience on class 1 whatsoever other than a few days training. As where on the other hand the examiner will have experience and training in class 1.
It’s also his job to make sure drivers are safe to go out on the road by themselves. Obviously on this occasion he didn’t think you were or didn’t feel you were competent to pass the test.
I’ve seen a few posts like this who blame the examiner yet other than a few days training have never driven an artic, or class 2 in some cases, in their life.
Like I said I do appreciate how peed you must be but like I said the examiner knows far more than you, or at least they should do.
Book the next test ASAP while it’s still fresh in your head and put right what you did wrong this time. Don’t blame the examiner, you failed the test not him!
Good luck next time.
Appreciate all comments and yes perhaps I’m peed at the examiner but then this is a natural human reaction is it not. I don’t recall thinking for one minute that I know more than the examiner? I certainly don’t remember anything being said with regards to being unsafe in our chat after the test and in relation to the fail. Might have been a different story with a different examiner, we shall never know and of course the examiner knows far more than me. After all this is the examiner who by self admission when I asked him a general question about tachos replied I don’t know anything about them and didn’t think that you could drive a class 1 tractor unit (No Trailer) on a class c licence during a general chit chat during the course of the test. So there you go …
Sorry to hear you failed mate, as others have said, sweep it away and try again.
As for the driving a unit without a trailer on a Cat C licence… he’s correct. A unit is a rigid lorry, just a very short one! The E licence is basically a trailer licence.
slowlane:
Sorry to hear you failed mate, as others have said, sweep it away and try again.
As for the driving a unit without a trailer on a Cat C licence… he’s correct. A unit is a rigid lorry, just a very short one! The E licence is basically a trailer licence.
yeah I knew about driving a class 1 tractor unit on a class c licence as that was one of the jobs I got from an agency but my point was the DVSA examiner didn’t know this…
slowlane:
Sorry to hear you failed mate, as others have said, sweep it away and try again.
As for the driving a unit without a trailer on a Cat C licence… he’s correct. A unit is a rigid lorry, just a very short one! The E licence is basically a trailer licence.
yeah I knew about driving a class 1 tractor unit on a class c licence as that was one of the jobs I got from an agency but my point was the DVSA examiner didn’t know this…
Sorry slowlane, but you misread what Orangerick said, although it could have been worded better…
Sorry to hear you failed pal, and i’m sure we can all understand your frustration. I suspect the examiner would have loved to have passed you if they could, but we need to all remember that they have a tough job and have to think of your safety and that of every other road user…
I’m guessing but suspect they felt that you needed more practice/experience, so chin up pal and crack on!
My personal opinion is that it’s good to get a bit of class 2 experience under your belt to give you confidence in a big vehicle and this makes your class 1 a bit easier, but that’s just my opinion… I know the agency say that getting your class 1 will give you more opportunities which is true, but the first rule with agencies is to never believe a word they say! So either give it another crack, or possible consider looking around a bit more for some class 2 work while you save up the pennies for another go…
slowlane:
Sorry to hear you failed mate, as others have said, sweep it away and try again.
As for the driving a unit without a trailer on a Cat C licence… he’s correct. A unit is a rigid lorry, just a very short one! The E licence is basically a trailer licence.
yeah I knew about driving a class 1 tractor unit on a class c licence as that was one of the jobs I got from an agency but my point was the DVSA examiner didn’t know this…
Sorry slowlane, but you misread what Orangerick said, although it could have been worded better…
Sorry to hear you failed pal, and i’m sure we can all understand your frustration. I suspect the examiner would have loved to have passed you if they could, but we need to all remember that they have a tough job and have to think of your safety and that of every other road user…
I’m guessing but suspect they felt that you needed more practice/experience, so chin up pal and crack on!
My personal opinion is that it’s good to get a bit of class 2 experience under your belt to give you confidence in a big vehicle and this makes your class 1 a bit easier, but that’s just my opinion… I know the agency say that getting your class 1 will give you more opportunities which is true, but the first rule with agencies is to never believe a word they say! So either give it another crack, or possible consider looking around a bit more for some class 2 work while you save up the pennies for another go…
Best of luck pal, and start using paragraphs!
Yes, your correct the paragraphs definitely would have been better as I’ve just looked back through my original rant and it looks ghastly lol
My original plan was to stick with finding class 2 work once I had got my class 2 licence but at the time when work wasn’t coming my way after registering with numerous agencies and applying direct to transport companies I was kinda getting desperate and since I’m not working regular hours I had to do something to perhaps increase my chance, well that’s what I thought.
I know a few people on here have mentioned agencies and not said too good things about them. I’m new to this industry and still trying to find my feet, so all and any advice is more than welcomed, just didn’t think it would be this hard to find regular work.
Time to take a big step back and let the frustration subside so unfortunately I’m going back to sitting in an office for a while as I have bills to pay and the change of career will be placed on hold for a bit but I’ll keep looking…
Sorry to read about your test failure. I had a similar time with my examiner, rushing me thru the coupling up, questioning why i was lowering unit etc instead of just getting it in quick as my ’ transport manager ’ would want me out the yard in 5 mins ! As for the examiner knowing more than the candidate im not sure in my case, he had never driven an artic on the job but thats by the by. Anyway, i did mine 3 wks later, no driving in between, just turned up and lo and behold, same examiner. He asked if id practiced what id failed on ( forgot to raise legs and release trailer brake, due to messing about with a faulty electrical connector ), and off we went. Drove far worse than first time but passed anyway. Had an assessment a week later and started 2 wks later on class 1. Been there 8 months, 3 miles from home and on target for 44k a year so happy days. Good luck for next time and dont leave it too long.
Im also really sorry to hear that you failed mate. With all the time and money spent it feels like you may have way just given the cash away.
I had a slimier experience on class 2. To be quite frank i thought the examiner was a total tool. just sat there grunting and groaning so to speak. However as he failed me first time on my class 2 (i was cut up on a around about) i set out to prove that SOB wrong. I was lucky enough to pass 2nd time with 2 minors with a different examiner.
I dont mean to sound funny or Ahole but you go for it mate and prove that bloke wrong. I think it will give you the fuel to carry on and then you do pass you can wave that pass sheet in front of his face. Good luck dont give up on it.
So either give it another crack, or possible consider looking around a bit more for some class 2 work while you save up the pennies for another go…