having worked at a national lgv training school as a instructor i am compelled to tell the truths about training.
the company in which i worked offers garenteed pass/pass insurance
this garentee is does not garentee a pass at all
learners pay a premium for the garenteed pass at a rate of £300+
learner having this then have to pay the retest fee plus admin cost of no less than £35.
g/pass fee £300
admin £35.00
test feee £85.00
bringing the charges to 540.00
the fee with out is £300.00
so it is only if a third test is needed that the learners saves £60.00
the company offers promotions which i would say are no good, thelearner books a class 2 course and cpc and gets the artic for free.
this one is a good one set to disapoint the learner.
ok the candidate pays for the course and recieves a book for home studie worth only 24.99 the company alledgedly had charged for this at a rate of £50.00 to cover postage on previous occassions.
when the candidate recieves it and finds he/she has paid excess of £1000.00 to 1400.00 for a class two and got a book which they dont understand covering law, finances, transport management and so forth they fail to complete the written exam. yet paying more than the fee for class 1 and 2 combined.
the companiy involved has two learners in the cab at a time with 3.5days plus test time between them.
the artic course as learnes believe they will get even if paid for is only wagon and drag and not artic, the learners are not advised of this when booking althought they insist we refere to it as artic because it bends.
during the last three years i have come across situations where 1 learner in the cab has paid £500 and the other learner in the cab with him has paid £1200 for th esame course and same training.
although what they do is not illegal, morally is not right.
the amount of disgruntled people after booking is unreal yet all they get told is read the contract.
so before falling to the ploys marketing make sure you know what you are getting into nad ask for a copy of the contract to read before paying.
especially if ringing 0800 numbers advertised on the web and national papers
many have tried, many have seen solicitors and so forth to no prevail.
th eonly legal aspect that could be raised is when i first started i was told to get garenteed passes through first and the others can fail.
Sounds a bit like the scam I fell for a few years ago when I wanted to train to be a driving instructor (cars). The company still do a lot of press advertising and have branches in different locations, but I don’t suppose I am allowed to name them on here. Pity!!
Pay around £1700, guaranteed pass…
For that you get a couple of Saturday mornings in a classroom with 20 others, then sit your theory test. Passed that first time.
Then you get 2 days driving instruction (2 pupils in car) before going for the driving test. Passed that first time as well, so far so good…
You then have to pass the “test of ability to instruct”, where the examiner drives your car and you have to identify, analyse and rectify his faults, and believe me, they make plenty of faults!
To prepare you for this, the training you get is 5 days (2 on 1 again)and there is a waiting list of about 2 months for a place.
I failed this test twice, and you are only allowed 3 tries at it before you are “time-barred” for 2 years and have to go back to the theory test again. So I phoned them and asked for extra training.
I was told “book your test and then call us and we will get you in before the test for a days training”. So I book the test for a date 2 months later. Call the college and they tell me they cannot fit me in before then!! So of course, 3rd attempt another fail.
The “guaranteed pass” in the contract means that I can go back and start again once my time bar is up, but like most people in the same situation, life moves on and something better (like driving trucks!) comes along, and I no longer have the inclination to donate over £100 to the DSA every time I want to sit each part of the test. So it was an expensive experience. Anyone out there thinking about doing it, beware! There are far cheaper and easier ways to go about it.
having worked at a national lgv training school as a instructor i am compelled to tell the truths about training.
the company in which i worked offers garenteed pass/pass insurance
this garentee is does not garentee a pass at all
learners pay a premium for the garenteed pass at a rate of £300+
learner having this then have to pay the retest fee plus admin cost of no less than £35.
g/pass fee £300
admin £35.00
test feee £85.00
bringing the charges to 540.00
the fee with out is £300.00
so it is only if a third test is needed that the learners saves £60.00
the company offers promotions which i would say are no good, thelearner books a class 2 course and cpc and gets the artic for free.
this one is a good one set to disapoint the learner.
ok the candidate pays for the course and recieves a book for home studie worth only 24.99 the company alledgedly had charged for this at a rate of £50.00 to cover postage on previous occassions.
when the candidate recieves it and finds he/she has paid excess of £1000.00 to 1400.00 for a class two and got a book which they dont understand covering law, finances, transport management and so forth they fail to complete the written exam. yet paying more than the fee for class 1 and 2 combined.
the companiy involved has two learners in the cab at a time with 3.5days plus test time between them.
the artic course as learnes believe they will get even if paid for is only wagon and drag and not artic, the learners are not advised of this when booking althought they insist we refere to it as artic because it bends.
during the last three years i have come across situations where 1 learner in the cab has paid £500 and the other learner in the cab with him has paid £1200 for th esame course and same training.
although what they do is not illegal, morally is not right.
the amount of disgruntled people after booking is unreal yet all they get told is read the contract.
so before falling to the ploys marketing make sure you know what you are getting into nad ask for a copy of the contract to read before paying.
especially if ringing 0800 numbers advertised on the web and national papers
I almost fell for a scam like the one mentioned above. As has been said on here alot, ask around for a decent local school. Trucknet has a huge member base so its always worth posting on here, stating the area you live.
Even “cheap” LGV training is a hell of alot of money, so be very wary of ads that sound too good to be true. They more than likey are.
not sure about that the company might advertise on the site, will be checking.
best advise is to ring several companies to get a feel of the price and what they offer.
problems encountered by learners that passed at interviews
1 learnt in wagon and drag, go away
2 never used a range change gear box, go away
3 never droped a trailor from fith wheel, need i say more
so will paying over the odds to a company help you the learner get a real job?
the best acheived for wagon and drag is to the company in proffits two in the cab at same time. it does not provide the experience of driving articulated vehicles boxed or curtain sided.
these types of vehicles are known as mtv’s minimum training vehicles, no box or curtains view to rear over back end and so on then jump in a artic and try it.
something you mentioned has come up a few times. the wagon and drag/artic licences. i know that they are both class 1 but with restriction 102, it is wagon and drag only. i did my class 1 using a wagon and drag but it is not restricted. how do we know what licence we will be granted?
this doenst apply to me obviously but im sure other members would like to know. i did mine in the army as part of a big course with hundreds of others. we all did the same course using the same vehicles but some had the restriction, others didnt. the RAF lads even trained on one of the few artics that were there
scanny77:
something you mentioned has come up a few times. the wagon and drag/artic licences. i know that they are both class 1 but with restriction 102, it is wagon and drag only. i did my class 1 using a wagon and drag but it is not restricted. how do we know what licence we will be granted?
If you take your test in a wagon and drag (providing it’s minimum test spec) you will get a full CE ie not restricted. The restriction was purely for people with the old style licences when they updated to the new licences. CE means rigid (C) and trailer (E) so makes no distinction between a wagon and drag and artic unlike the old class 1 and 2.
there is wagon and drag using 7.5t unit, which will not allow for the full c+e.
the unit must exceed 7.5t to get the c+e which would be granted for example the company in which i worked for used an uprated 7.5 tonner to 10t mgw with train weight of 18t this with a trailer allows the full c+e.
Certainly sounds like they are shortchanging their clients - personally I would never have agreed to learn in a Wagon & Drag. When I learnt I asked Eastern if there was any way I could get a pass guarentee - and was told only if I could guarentee that I would not make any mistakes on the test !! Fair enuff… but … …
during the last three years i have come across situations where 1 learner in the cab has paid £500 and the other learner in the cab with him has paid £1200 for th esame course and same training.
Ever been on a last minute holiday ■■ Last time I went skiing I paid £250 for a week to Courchevel - there were guys in the same chalet that paid over £600 for the same thing, and someone else that paid £200. Win some, lose some !!
scanny77:
something you mentioned has come up a few times. the wagon and drag/artic licences. i know that they are both class 1 but with restriction 102, it is wagon and drag only. i did my class 1 using a wagon and drag but it is not restricted. how do we know what licence we will be granted?
If you take your test in a wagon and drag (providing it’s minimum test spec) you will get a full CE ie not restricted. The restriction was purely for people with the old style licences when they updated to the new licences. CE means rigid (C) and trailer (E) so makes no distinction between a wagon and drag and artic unlike the old class 1 and 2.
sounds like DVLA messed it up again then. im talking about teenagers who have never driven a wagon before so they should all have got full C + E then?
scanny77:
sounds like DVLA messed it up again then. im talking about teenagers who have never driven a wagon before so they should all have got full C + E then?
If you’re talking about army / RAF training then I don’t know as their procedures may be different .
i dont really know other than the age limits are exempt.
the instructors were civilian as were the examiners
the trucks were normal flatbeds with trailers. i think they were DAFs but i cant remember
the military do some in house training but it is normally contracted out to a local firm. i cant imagine the tests/restrictions being any different. it was all controlled by civilians so people were kicked off the course if they couldnt pass any part of the course eg if you didnt pass the practical within 3 attempts, you were booted off the course
scanny77:
the trucks were normal flatbeds with trailers. i think they were DAFs but i cant remember
the military do some in house training but it is normally contracted out to a local firm. i cant imagine the tests/restrictions being any different.
I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t get the full licence then.
me neither but like i said, some got full, some were restricted. no one knew until they got their licence back. the RAF lads did train on artics though which adds to this bizarreness.
this is the reason i advise people to ask what licence they are training for before they start. i dont know if this situation arises with a normal training company but its always better to check
scanny77:
the RAF lads did train on artics though which adds to this bizarreness.
Then it’s clearly wrong . It’s never a bad idea to check with your training school although I’d hope most offering full CE training have ensured their vehicle is up to test standard (vehicles used first used after 1/10/03 require a higher standard BTW), as for the actual test all the eaminer does is tick the ‘with trailer’ box so they cannot differeniate between artics and W and D’s.
