howdy, my names anthony and im doing my class 2 licence at the mo.
up to october last year i had been working for national grid digging holes in all weathers and being self employed id just had enough.
my dad drove lorries in ireland through the 70s and 80s (ford d series and hinos) and i spent many saturdays out with him in the truck, so theres always been a sort of affection for trucks!
so i decided to do my class 2, now i knew before hand that there was no shortage of drivers cause i had done a bit of research and its not as easy as all that but i have a few connections within national grid and if i got my hiab as well i have been informed id be given a good chance of work.
so i booked my lessons with enterprise lgv in manchester and after an assesment they told me id need 16 hours.
did my 16 hours, but i skinned and i mean skinned a kerb on my test. the tester just looked over at me and i knew my cards were marked.
i carried on with the test anyway and apart from the instant fail i got 7 minors.
the reason i failed was i was approaching a tight roundabout turning left and i let cars come up my outside and left it too tight for me not to clip the kerb. i know now i should have positioned more to the right and not let the cars up the inside of me. oops.
anyway onwards and upwards and now i want to rebook my test my question is money is tight at the mo and i need £300 for the retest.
would you do a bit more traning or just rebook? i did my teat on the 22nd of april.
I think only you can answer that one as you know you best.
It has been a while since being behind a wheel so an hour or so before the test couldn’t hurt.
Good Luck.
It depends on a couple of things.
How confident do you feel that the 16h you have done are enough? Maybe the half hour to the test centre will be enough to get you through.
Have you discussed it with your trainer? They don’t all go out to get extra money from you if you don’t need to.
Best of luck for retest.
cheers lads, im going to have a chat with them today and see what i can sort out, im pretty confident but not over confident i can do it, and now i have experience of a test as well.
you get an hour and a half before the test so im kind of thinking that would be enough?
Single figure minors and one “serious” (debatable) means you ARE test ready
1 hour warm up and test is all that’s needed - as well as you being confident enough
antogoof:
so i booked my lessons with enterprise lgv in manchester and after an assesment they told me id need 16 hours.
I passed with enterprise on 16 (12 hours + test day) hours first time… you must have had something about you for them to recommend 16 hours, as they normally recommend 20! (16 hours + test day!)
antogoof:
did my 16 hours, but i skinned and i mean skinned a kerb on my test. the tester just looked over at me and i knew my cards were marked.
i carried on with the test anyway and apart from the instant fail i got 7 minors.
the reason i failed was i was approaching a tight roundabout turning left and i let cars come up my outside and left it too tight for me not to clip the kerb. i know now i should have positioned more to the right and not let the cars up the inside of me. oops.
anyway onwards and upwards and now i want to rebook my test my question is money is tight at the mo and i need £300 for the retest.
would you do a bit more traning or just rebook? i did my teat on the 22nd of april.
Firstly, what have Enterprise said?? if they have said nothing i would just re-book you’ve had enough training, and given you only got 7 minors I would say you are test ready!
What i would do is this… re-book the test, IF theres going to be a wait of a couple of weeks or more, then book a 2 hour lesson as an in-between to keep you fully up to standard!
B…
well ive booked it again, just put a 2 hour session the day before and all in it was £379. next wednesday and test at 11 on thursday so its happy days.
ive always been fairly able to gauge the size of what im driving so i think that put me at an advantage to begin with but up until the lessons the biggest thing id drove was a sprinter.
its just a bit of a confidence issue with me, i had 2 instructors and they both said i was too self critical! but thats just me.
now i know i need my driver cpc, but can i get work without it? im thinking of going meithering driver hire and sleeping outside the office, but without my cpc will i be ■■■■■■■ in the wind? i need to get work to pay for it you see.
Anyone who lets you drive a LGV commercially without the required dcpc leaves themselves open to a fine up to £1k
The driver also leaves themselves open to the same fine
antogoof:
now i know i need my driver cpc, but can i get work without it?
I’ve no idea of the advice that you’ve received so far, but the answer to this depends on when you passed your car test.
dieseldave:
antogoof:
now i know i need my driver cpc, but can i get work without it?
I’ve no idea of the advice that you’ve received so far, but the answer to this depends on when you passed your car test.
My answer assumed when the OP said he needed dcpc that he was referring to the initial dcpc modules 2 & 4 and not the periodic dcpc 35 hours
antogoof:
cheers lads, im going to have a chat with them today and see what i can sort out, im pretty confident but not over confident i can do it, and now i have experience of a test as well.
You will be fine next time, knowing what the test is like will help you relax a bit more, and relaxing a bit more helps you do it right. Your first test sounded like mine, I got it 2nd time.
Best of luck. Tim
In the same club “2nd time winner” 
Carry on my man you will get there in the end bud, at least you recognised they actual event that caused you to make a mistake in the test and I lay very good money you won’t repeat that one in a hurry!
Keep going and get back on the horse.
C
passed my car test in 2001 so i thought id have to do the cpc first and it seems like i will but i had a 20 year veteran mate tell me the other night that i would not! im just checking really.
i think ill pass this time i just need to get back into it a little bit.
cheers for all the advice. 
antogoof:
passed my car test in 2001 so i thought id have to do the cpc first and it seems like i will but i had a 20 year veteran mate tell me the other night that i would not! im just checking really.
Deffo need initial lgv dcpc modules 2 and 4 to drive commercially unless you have already passed the dsa lgv c1 test (7.5 tonner)
antogoof:
passed my car test in 2001 so i thought id have to do the cpc first and it seems like i will but i had a 20 year veteran mate tell me the other night that i would not! im just checking really.
i think ill pass this time i just need to get back into it a little bit.
cheers for all the advice.
Hi antogoof,
Sorry mate, but now you’ve provided that info, your 20-year veteran mate is incorrect.
yeah my 20 year veteran mate has also run into a bridge today too…nob.
so test is tomorrow and i went for 2 hours today and did fine, he said as long as you dont let nerves get to you you should be fine.
so wish me luck!
well, i let the nerves get to me. 2 serious and 8 minors.
reversing: only got the taillift into the box and never took a shunt, so id effed it up at the start.
passing a parked transporter too close was a serious too.
worst part is it was the same test route so i should have ■■■■■■ it. the instructor said i should have and i thought i should have, but i let the nerves creep in.
gutted really, thats another £300 down the swannie, but im not giving up im going to pass that test.
just got to take stock and weigh up the pennies situation and go in again.
bollox. 
antogoof:
reversing: only got the taillift into the box and never took a shunt, so id effed it up at the start.
As long as the rearmost part of the vehicle ends up in the box then its a pass and you are allowed to get out and have a look once if it needs to go back a little more
ROG:
antogoof:
reversing: only got the taillift into the box and never took a shunt, so id effed it up at the start.
As long as the rearmost part of the vehicle ends up in the box then its a pass and you are allowed to get out and have a look once if it needs to go back a little more
OP- Do you just mean you didn’t go back far enough? And didn’t get out to check? If so you had a grumpy examiner because some say “would you like to get out and have a look?” - putting you at your ease is on their list of things they are supposed to do! Most training schools show you a way of lining up a visual aid on the side of the vehicle. Mine was a cable tie on the wheel arch.
My examiner told me (afterwards) that the test before, the bloke had stopped too far forwards, and he asked him if he wanted to take a look and the bloke said “no”. and he said “are you sure?” and got “been driving 7.5t for 20 years, I know exactly where it is to the mm”. And failed because he was a foot forward of the line!
Commiserations mate, know exactly what you mean about nerves. Can I recommend an early morning McDonalds breakfast on the day of the test next time - worked for me! Make a point of saying something to the examiner as early as possible, ask him “has he always lived in this area” or something, break the ice and chill out!