bald bloke:
Good story that but I’m sure wasp or no wasp you’d have passed anyway
He still thumped me 
The psv was a lot less hassle
1979 Class 1 in a ■■■■ old Dodge. Splitter box was like a stick in a bucket, I had to master it in a week, well half a week in fact, taking into account there was two of us learning in the same motor.
Both passed first time because of excellent instructor.
A mate of mine was a learner car driver, he got his Class 1 in a fortnight with the same guy.
Don’t even think of coming back with the ‘Well it was easier then’’ ■■■■■■■■, like that clown of a dcpc instructor did the other day referring to the Operators cpc 
I don’t think it was any easier then BUT I recon the testers used their heads a bit more…ie… I was made to double clutch on a D series and at the time I mind the tester telling me :it was a real bugger tae get intae gear at times and not to worry "…lol I also had a wee talk back tae him( over me disagreeing about when to drain the air tanks. and he told me to shut it or he would stop the test and fail me …lol. 
…
The words “would fail me” .o tihs ive no failed yet …keep it shut jimmy.
I comp;eted the test and the qs at the end and received a lecture about young drivers having an attitude (1981) and then a congratulations you have passed.
I found having to resit my tests in Canada a bit easier but 25ish yrs o bad habits ,hand on stick,on door sill ,etc but the fuller 13spd took a bit o remembering and the practicle air brake test the biggest thing BUT the stress was a bit high due to no licence no money coming in,letting my family down etc. jimmy
Monday to Thursday were half days with my test being on the Friday.
Same for both classes.
1885ish, class 3, learnt in an old D Series Ford, failed my 1st test because my Old Man was trying to do it on the cheap & just shoved an Old Fella/Eric in the cab who just sat there while I fought with the sloppy gearbox & just drove it like a car ! Wiped out all the cones at LB Test centre, but the examiner still allowed me out on the road [emoji3]then failed me.
Passed on my 2nd attempt in the same wagon after my Old Man hired a proper instructor/Flash Anderson, for 2 days [emoji106]. Taught me to stop jumping out of wagons by grabbing my Nuts once, when he ran round the front after we’d stopped for
Cuppa [emoji12].
1992, Went out with my Brother in Law/Owner Driver in his Iveco with a fridge trailer for about 6 Friday Evenings (to load up) & Sunday’s (to tip), with L plates on, then did a weeks training with Comercial Transport Training, Leighton Buzzard in their 6 Speed DAF hooked up to a Baby Tanker (empty [emoji57]) felt like a car, compared to the Iveco/Fridge.
Cost me £1000 + a few weekends for free.
Spent years as a kid roping and sheeting , loading ,unloading , trailer changing and putting trucks away .( and oil changing , greasing etc etc)
Then A few years part time with a puddle jumper Bedford TK flat or a removable box until I got to 21, then two days with the old man in a ■■■■■■ old Seddon Atki Artic with a tanker trailer . I hated that slow cold shaky noisy old thing …but I did learn to read the road ahead and to slow down well in advance. Loaded it was a nightmare experience ! Passed first time.
Next day it was delivering a 47’6" narrow boat shell to a marina in Newark with a Volvo F88. That was a truck I did like but it was a one off as its normal driver was on a day off.
Fond memories !!! (Most of the time)
I remember one of our older drivers going on a training course to upgrade from class 3 to class 2 when we got rid of the four wheeler’s. He was going down an incline to a T junction and the instructor told him “All clear this way” so he started to pull straight out. The instructor yanked the dead man on, my workmate fell off of the seat and collided with the steering wheel, and the instructor said something like “it says HALT at that junction and you kept going when I said road clear” which was correct but perhaps not the best way of dealing with it! 
No such problems in the 1968 Foden I learned on, the only issue was that the hydraulic throttle kept losing pressure so you had to ‘pump it up’ while in neutral periodically during the lessons!
Pete.
I was working with my dad in '93/'94 buying smashed cars in France, Belgium and off the squaddys in Germany. We had a 9 car transporter that used to go round gathering up the cars but one week we had a very good week and ended up buying 12 cars so the following week they threw the keys for the 3 car merc 814 at me and sent me off to France to pick 3 of them up! Having never driven anything larger than a land rover it was a bit of an eye opener to say the least! First firm prod of the brakes coming out the yard I nearly went through the screen! Lol. After that I was terrified of the brake peddle but the trip went alright.
A couple of years later in '95 I heard they were going to bring in the class 2 then class 1 rule so I scrapped together £800 and went for the class 1. Started training on Monday 1to1 and did the test on Thursday. Problem was the examiner had double booked my test slot and my instructor went berserk, rang the examiners boss and insisted we were having the slot. Needless to say the examiner wasn’t exactly very friendly towards me and I failed. The head examiner felt bad for me so tested me that Saturday and passed me. I think I could have clipped every kerb on the route and still passed because of the fiasco 2 days previous lol [emoji2] did my test in a 2500 daf by the way.
- Started Wednesday. Double manned drove about 1.5 hours at a time moo then swapped. Test the following Tuesday. Reversing one afternoon session and told how many turns - no skill or thinking involved. (Very bad) passed both Class 3 and 1 first time.
Trained with Caroline Clapperton in the 70s. My training days were, check the livestock stock before driving from Dumfries to Galashiels, spend the day in an artic on all the wee awkward roads and Border touns, then drive back home check/feed the livestock. Can’t remember how many days it took but I could do those kinds of days back then 
I got a class 3 on grandfather rights. In the 70s I was a TM and about to buy and artic for the fleet. I convinced the boss that we should train all the drivers ut to Class 1 and the agreement was that they got four days training and test on Friday. If they failed - hard chuff. I put my own name on the list and the week was a right doddle. My instructor was from The Black country with a wicked sense of humour so the week flew by.
1 week course 8 hour days passed on the second attempt cos the first driving school was crap [well that’s my excuse anyway,lol],took mine with a decent school on the second attempt,called EPS of fetcham surrey,great bunch of trainers,probably retired now
Motorbike test on a Friday, car test the next Friday, (both at Colerne) class 3 the following Friday at Leconfield, class 1 the Friday after at Fallingbostel (my 18th birthday incidentally).
the maoster:
Motorbike test on a Friday, car test the next Friday, (both at Colerne) class 3 the following Friday at Leconfield, class 1 the Friday after at Fallingbostel (my 18th birthday incidentally).
Fallingbostel. Ye gods a horror from my murky past …Found in a house of ill repute by the village green when the fair was on, shame I was only 16 and visiting a squaddie mate. Military police guys laughed and kicked me out in the cold .
Honest I was reading a bike mag in the kitchen whilst mate was upstairs !!!
Class 2:
2:1 Training - Fri/Mon/Tue/Wed with test on Thursday
Class 1:
2:1 Training - Mon-Thu with test on Friday
Seemed to work perfect. I wasnt sure about the friday start on class 2 but having the weekend to digest that first day wasnt a bad thing.
Class 1 flew in, hardly managed to catch breath on that course.
i went to eastern europe and took a tractor test and they gave me my class 1 
burnley-si:
i went to eastern europe and took a tractor test and they gave me my class 1
Yeh a lot have done that, and it must be true because it’s been said on here by many in the past .
But did you get your free bag of turnips as your incentive bonus? 
Class 1 mon 2:1 training half day tues test in afternoon passed
did class 3 and a year later did class 1, passed both first time thanks to the road transport industry training board which had a school in Carlisle…
it was a weeks course each time with the test the following week…
best bit was , it was paid for by the government at the time… 1977 and 1978…
they might want to re-consider bringing that idea back to life if there is such a huge shortage of drivers…
Trukkertone:
did class 3 and a year later did class 1, passed both first time thanks to the road transport industry training board which had a school in Carlisle…
it was a weeks course each time with the test the following week…
best bit was , it was paid for by the government at the time… 1977 and 1978…
they might want to re-consider bringing that idea back to life if there is such a huge shortage of drivers…
They did a few years ago but now no money for any training