hi, i am new to this forum so please be gentle with me.
i need help about who to give my money to in respect to a training course, i live in south shields, tyne and wear, and want to take my class " c " licence followed by my "c + e " licence, i approached a local company and they seem quite reasonable cost wise, but i have also contacted a national company who offer the training and a cv writing service also a " job finding service " whilst you are training.
the national company are cheaper than the local one and seem to offer more for your money, the local one has a good size fleet of trucks and they are quite new and the staff seem very friendly, the national company will not tell me who i am training with until i have passed my medical and theory tests then they pick the nearest trainer to me with the best pass rate at the time, so i have no chance to meet the instructors until i have parted with my cash, should i trust them or go with my local company ?
has anybody undertaken training in the north east, if so can you recommend a school ?
thanks for your replies in advance
see top of the page you have a pm mate
Welcome colnew
GENERAL DRIVING TIPS BEFORE STARTING LGV C TRAINING (Link)
If you click the link in my signature or these truck pics
it will lead you to an index where you can access a lot more info which may be of use to you
BEFORE you book your training, READ THIS… - I suggest the trainee-to-be visits the training school, meets the head person(s) and has a quick look at the truck BEFORE parting with any money.
Recommended LGV training schools
THE DRIVER SHORTAGE IS AN ADVERTISING MYTH - Generally more drivers than jobs in the UK
Newbies - Jobs, Agencies & EXPERIENCE & Is this country short of drivers ?
FAQ forum for info on Posting Pics, Driver CPC, Getting 1st LGV Licence and much more…
one thing i will say here is that the job search service/ we are linked into all the big haulage firms and pass on your cv to them is utter crap, i know ive been there and ive rang the companies concerned and they’ve never heard of the “national company”
Hi colnew, WELCOME. 
We have to be very careful what we write about “national training companies,” but there’s no harm in me quoting what you wrote. 
This is the most telling part of what you wrote:
colnew:
…the national company will not tell me who i am training with…
Now ask yourself whether that tells you something, do you find it suspicious??
My advice is that you have a good read of the newbies forum, or put “national AND training” into the search feature and see what you get.
There are a number of TNUK members who have trained in the North-East, so my next tip is that you keep your eye on this topic and you’ll get some very honest opinions. If you do that before you part with any cash, you’ll be on a winner.
Was I gentle enough ■■
one thing i will say here is that the job search service/ we are linked into all the big haulage firms and pass on your cv to them is utter crap, i know ive been there and ive rang the companies concerned and they’ve never heard of the “national company”
thanks so far people,
yes diesel dave you were gentle enough on me 
better stop that now before folks get the wrong impression !!!
i will keep me eyes on this post for peoples reply’s about training in the north east
cheers
Hi colnew, I’ve had some more thoughts about your post…
Remembering that we must be careful what we write, there’s no harm in me suggesting that you ask the ‘national training company’ a few questions…
I’m fairly sure that you’ll be able to tell something from their answers, or the lack of them, as the case may be.
BTW, I’m a former LGV driving instructor, but I’ll be quick to stress the word ‘former,’ and equally quick to point out that there are quite a few current LGV driving instructors who are members of this site.
Oh, and I almost forgot, we have a ROG too.
colnew:
…but i have also contacted a national company who offer the training and a cv writing service also a " job finding service " whilst you are training.
Perhaps you could ask them to refer you to some of their satisfied former trainees…?
Or possibly ask for the names of transport/logistics companies with whom they have successfully placed former trainees?
colnew:
the national company are cheaper than the local one and seem to offer more for your money,
You might remember the old saying that: if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is .
colnew:
the local one has a good size fleet of trucks and they are quite new and the staff seem very friendly,
Please be honest with yourself and try to recall whether they gave you the impression that they might have something to hide?
colnew:
…the national company …… pick the nearest trainer to me with the best pass rate at the time,
This gets better and better.
You could ask how they know this…
…and here’s the killer… ask how they verify that figure.
colnew:
so i have no chance to meet the instructors until i have parted with my cash, should i trust them or go with my local company ?
Errr… hmmm… I’m not sure about that (yea, right ,) but I hope I’ve given you some pointers.
My best tip is that you have a really good look around the newbies forum, you’ll find that it will be a wise investment of your time.
colnew:
thanks for your replies in advance
No problem mate, I’m glad to help.
You could ask if your fully insured or do they charge a damage waiver fee .
hi dieseldave,
read your reply this afternoon, phoned up the " national company " and asked the questions that you had put in your reply also a few questions of my own along the same lines but … how shall i put it … a little bit more intrusive than yours, but polite, and guess what, before the "gentleman " on the other end of the telephone slammed the phone down he told me what he wanted to do to me if he ever met me, "after all did i not realise this is his only way of making money selling courses like these to people like us ".
one thing i think this “gentleman” forgot is that, all phone calls to businesses these days are now
recorded and i have been in touch with his boss soon after our phone call, and i think the score is now
trainee truck drivers 1
national training schools 0.
doesn’t it make you feel all warm insde when something like this happens !!!
hahaha you sir are a legend, well done
i was llucky when i got my class c, i did the national training company, managed to pass first time, they said they would find me a job, did they hell, then they went bust. when i got my c+e i was lucky enough to get a decent company up here in scotland, would have past first time if i wasnt soo stupid as to leave the legs of the trailer down at the end of the test,felt like a right ■■■ after it but could only laugh aswell witht he examiner lol.
colnew:
hi dieseldave,
read your reply this afternoon, phoned up the " national company " and asked the questions that you had put in your reply also a few questions of my own along the same lines but … how shall i put it … a little bit more intrusive than yours, but polite, and guess what, before the "gentleman " on the other end of the telephone slammed the phone down he told me what he wanted to do to me if he ever met me, "after all did i not realise this is his only way of making money selling courses like these to people like us ".one thing i think this “gentleman” forgot is that, all phone calls to businesses these days are now
recorded and i have been in touch with his boss soon after our phone call, and i think the score is now
trainee truck drivers 1
national training schools 0.
doesn’t it make you feel all warm insde when something like this happens !!!
 CLASSIC !! |
thanks for that mate,
still haven’t stopped laughing to myself yet .
anyway some background on me for you all,
i at present and i stress present, work for nissan, and if you watch the news you will know that 1200 of us are going to be made redundant, they hope for volunteers first but if they don’t get enough then it wil be compulsary redundancies, so i am faced with the choice of grabbing the package which will include an amount for re-training ( which i thought i would use for my licences ) or wait and see if i get pushed, or i might not get pushed i might survive this wave of cuts, but who knows how many more cuts the company will have to make to survive we have heard that there might be futher cuts in september/october time, and i have been informed that it will cost more to train for licences after september due to new laws coming into force.
i work in the press shop were we press out the body panels for all the models we make there,
i drive a forktruck, i also have a licence for overhead cranes, i am licenced to operate power presses up to 5000 tonnes, i am also a trained laser welder, along with being a fully trained robot programmer, but i always look enviously at the truck drivers who deliver our steel coils wishing that i was them, all the licences i have are only internal licences issued by the company for insurance purposes only and are not effective outside the company !!
i read on other peoples threads that jobs in this industry are few and far between, but surely if you present yourself positively show that you are willing and keen and hardworrking there must be a few openings right ?
so i am now faced with the choice of do i stay and hope to weather the storm and hope the company doesn’t up sticks and move production to a cheaper eastern block country, or grab this opportunity to re-train and start a new chapter in my life ■■? 
Hi dieseldave
you are funny
colnew:
i read on other peoples threads that jobs in this industry are few and far between, but surely if you present yourself positively show that you are willing and keen and hardworrking there must be a few openings right ?
I will not say there is nothing but with competition from very experienced LGV drivers who are now out of work and struggling to find something (or anything) then I would say you have a ‘Mount Everest’ to climb 
colnew:
so i am now faced with the choice of do i stay and hope to weather the storm and hope the company doesn’t up sticks and move production to a cheaper eastern block country, or grab this opportunity to re-train and start a new chapter in my life ■■?
My advice - if you have a full time permanent job in this current climate - stay with it.
ROG:
My advice - if you have a full time permanent job in this current climate - stay with it.
I’d echo that.
When the Rover at Longbridge closed down a few years ago the Government threw masses of money towards retraining which, included LGV training.
Whilst I wasn’t involved in it myself, speaking to some of the trainers afterwards, one of their greatest problems was in getting people to concentrate and actually THINK! And having previously done a few internal driving jobs at Longbridge, and seen the ‘production line’ at work. I could well believe it.
Whilst I’m not suggesting ‘colnew’ falls into that category, to me, working in a ‘Press Shop’ would be utter drudgery. For instance, loading a flat sheet, closing the ‘safety’ and then pressing (what is probably) a foot pedal, and then moving the panel on. Minute after minute. Hour upon hour. Which is why so many of the Rover workers could not adapt to driving. A skill which, although involving a degree of drudgery and boredom, requires instantaneous responses to circumstances developing. After all, in driving, if something suddenly starts to go wrong, you can’t just hit the ‘kill’ button and shut the line down.
And, in the most part, this is where their failings lay. They were conditioned (for want of a better word) in ‘automaton’ mode. Whereas, on the road, every minute, every second, demands a ‘risk assessment’ evaluation. Sometimes, it will require action. Drastic action. Mostly, it will require a slight adjustment.
Going back to demise of the Rover workers, what was patently obvious was that they lacked ‘mental agility’.
But if it’s what you want to do, then keep your options open.
I must agree with Rog (sad I know) but if you have a full time job I would wait until I was pushed.
Your in house fork lift licences can be converted to your licence by doing a 1 to 2 day course depending on the size/type of flt as you can prove recent experience and hold an in house cert,