Hi everyone. I have just joined this forum as truck driving is my new vocation. I have been reading posts for the past couple of weeks and thought there might be some interest among members of how driver training is carried out here in France where I live.
Before I moved to France I had never even started an HGV, so everything I now know about them I have learnt here, so there may be times that I might write something that I do not know the English term for, so apologies in advance for that.
First you need to have last passed an exam on the Code de la Route (Highway Code) within 5 years. The training for this can be done online, but the final exam is done by computer in a large room with about 40 candidates, and you need to score 35/40.
Once you have your Code pass, then you can progress to the plateau. This is the first part of the driving test for any category. For Cat C, it consists of the following:
Written exam: 10 questions from a bank of 200. Questions cover driving hours, weight restrictions, various aspects of the law etc.
Oral exam: 1 card from a bank of 20 cards, each card covering 3 subjects, so for example Safety — driving in bad weather, Signage — relevant to an HGV, Mechanical — braking circuit.
Verification of the vehicle: which consists of walking round the vehicle with the examiner, describing its dimensions, checking the tyres, describing the load and how it is secured etc.
If that has all gone well, the plateau finishes with a forward /reverse slalom course, which you have 5 minutes to do the reverse. There are 6 possible courses, chosen on the throw of a dice. You must not exit the white lines and not touch a post then stop accurately on a white band, otherwise you will be instantly eliminated and have to completely retake the plateau (this is due to change next year and you will only have to redo the part you failed).
Each fault during the plateau has a range of penalty points. At the end, if you have a max of 15 points, then you have the right to 3 attempts at the actual driving test. 16/17 points and you can only have one shot at the driving test. 18 or more and it is back to square one.
Once you have your plateau, you can the go out on the road, and hopefully go on to pass your Cat C.
Cat E(C) is obviously more involved, although the process is the same.
The written and oral are more or less the same, though the questions are slanted more to artics.
Due to the sheer volume and amount of checks to do, the verification is split into 6 themes, so effectively you do a partial verification on the throw of a dice.
As part of your verification you also do detallage (decoupling?) and atellage (coupling?) You will be penalised if you have to advance more than once to line up for the atellage.
During the reversing manoeuvre, you are allowed to go forward as often as you like, as long as you finish in the 5 minutes. 1 second over and you are eliminated. If you descend from the cab to check something that is allowed, but leave your door open and it is 2 points.
The same scoring system applies as for the C with the same result.
Once you have your licence you then need to have a FIMO (Formation Initial Minimum Obligatiore). This I think is known in the UK as the DCPC.
The training for the FIMO is 140 hours (4wks, 35 hrs per week) continuous.
It consists of training on the rules for driving hours, rest periods, working time, use of the tacho (digital and analogue). Other themes are health, road safety, environment, loading, work related accidents, economical driving. There is a multi-choice exam at the end of this which has a minimum mark of 24 out of 40.
Two days are dedicated to mechanics, ie how the various mechanical parts of the vehicle actually work together. Again a multi-choice exam, 12 /20.
Finally there is 40 hours of driving (4 drivers each driving 10 hours) plus an additional hour final assessment.
You are constantly assessed by many instructors, and there is the very real possibility of failure.
Once the FIMO is obtained, it is valid for 5 years, and then you have to do 35 hours of training for the FCO, again done in one week.
I am posting this as I have just gone through all this. I passed my Cat C in December 2010, my FIMO last Friday (30/11/12) and my Cat E(C) today (5/12/12). Now for a job!
