Maybe it’s me being cynical, but every time someone in authority wants to change a long established practice I wonder “what’s the agenda? Who has something to gain from this?”
Terry T:
truckie:
I recently passed my class C and without a doubt the gears were the biggest headache. Most concentration focused around the gears and everything else seemed to fit in around it.
I aim to go for the C+E soon and having a auto would be such a massive help. One less thing to worry about and more time to concentrate on the main aspects of truck driving, getting to grips with the size, junctions, awareness, positioning, other motorists etc etcIt’s one less thing to worry about on your test. Unfortunately, you’ll then have to worry about it later on, possibly on your first run as a driver when you’ll be on your own in a fully loaded truck in the pitch black and you don’t know where you’re going.
Thats true although if you got straight on to auto’s after passing a manual and a few years down the line got told to drive a manual then you would be pretty much in the same fish out of water situation i’m guessing.
Not sure if this proposal only applies to artics ?
■■■■■■■ stupid idea!! Flood the job market wae a bunch of dumplings that cant drive for toffee! Why not just scrap the reversing maneuver aswell and be done with it 
stobarttrucker:
i cant see it happening,when i did my class 1 (1991) you had to do a road test going up and down the box using all the half gears,how are they going to fill that in now,go along this road and wait for the gearbox to do all the work
The gear-changing exercise has already been removed from the LGV practical test(s). The examiner now makes a judgement of your all round use of the gearbox during the test. There is no longer a requirement to ‘go up & down the gearbox utilising all the gears’. Indeed delegates are trained to carry out block changes in the interests of ‘eco-driving’ & the examiner will give guidance on this - if feels the need - after a successful driving test.
they should all be made to take it with an eaton twin split on stretched cables! that’l sort em!! just sayin like…
It would make sense to allow full manuals for just C+E tests
When I did my tests last year, both my instructors were expecting it to happen sooner rather than later.
Apparently manual trucks are becoming increasingly rare, and most newbies will be jumping into autos after passing.
Their words not mine, please don’t shoot the messenger.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_School
Anyone remember this? Maureen Rees was so bad, the only way she could eventually pass her test was in an automatic because they’re easier. Granted she later passed in a manual with more experience but automatics are easier.
I passed my Class 1 nearly 9 years ago and my Dad passed his about 17 years before me. He didn’t have to do the trailer uncouple and recouple or do the Theory so I understand tests have to evolve but they shouldn’t become easier.
merc0447:
[zb] stupid idea!! Flood the job market wae a bunch of dumplings that cant drive for toffee!
Just look around you on the road mate, it’s like that already!!
The fact is unlike in the past, you only need minimum skills today to obtain a licence, the job has been dumbed down that much that you could almost teach a monkey to drive, because driving a truck today is just like driving a car, and the “dumplings” you are on about can’t differentiate between the two when they pass their tests, the good drivers can and it aint difficult to notice daily who is who.
^^^What a load of absolute crap. You don’t pass a test and suddenly become a expert driver no matter how hard or easy the test is. You learn from experience and you also pick up bad habits from experience, or complacency…
Modern technology or not, its all a level playing field
Auto boxes yuck!! Part of the reason I enjoy driving lorries is that being master of your impressive 8/12/16 whatever speed gearbox and slotting into each gear nice and smooth, matching engine speed to road speed, gives you (me anyway) a sense of achievement and you know that man and machine are working in harmony and that you are master of your machine. And when you see a good driver doing that, and and checking his mirrors and concentrating and making maximum SAFE progress I think “that’s impressive, that’s the level we all need to be at, cars,lorries, everyone”. Personally i think if you want to go to point B from point A and dont care about all that, then get the bus and leave us rivit county mechanically sympathetic weirdos to do the driving.
I wonder how we all coped with the various types of gearbox when many of us passed the test in a straight 6 - but we did
Many of us took the car test in a straight 4 or 5 speed then a lorry test which had 1 or 2 more gears. We then went onto other types of gearbox and asked how it worked before we ventured out
Taking the car test in a 5 speed and then lorry tests in autos will not cause any more issues compared to when us oldies passed so I fail to see what all the fuss is about
Reading between the lines Rog, i think people are making a fuss because they think a ‘easier’ test means more drivers on the market.
truckie:
^^^What a load of absolute crap. You don’t pass a test and suddenly become a expert driver no matter how hard or easy the test is. You learn from experience and you also pick up bad habits from experience, or complacency…Modern technology or not, its all a level playing field
I’m minded to agree with you. Check out the number of posts by new drivers on here already about how to use even a basic four over four range change.
In common with many I learned the hard way; crash box, power steering still an optional extra, Rolls-Canardly engines etc.
These days you have to do more to hold the vehicle back than make it go, especially if you’ve got a tracker and an over-enthusiastic spotty kid in the office watching your every move; and to think we used to complain about tachos being spies in the cab. 
Personally I find having to drive like that much more mentally demanding than having to flog the knackers off a clapped-out ERF with a 6-speed David Brown and a 180 Gardner!
ROG:
I wonder how we all coped with the various types of gearbox when many of us passed the test in a straight 6 - but we didMany of us took the car test in a straight 4 or 5 speed then a lorry test which had 1 or 2 more gears. We then went onto other types of gearbox and asked how it worked before we ventured out
Taking the car test in a 5 speed and then lorry tests in autos will not cause any more issues compared to when us oldies passed so I fail to see what all the fuss is about
Good point well made Rog.
Wrong wrong wrong in my opinion. I despise auto 'boxes in trucks and would swap my 2 year old MAN for a 10 year old version in a heart beat. I have always said that if I drove a manual truck on a driving test and changed gear the same as an auto I would fail on gear changes and rightly so. 'nuff said!!!
redstormrising:
Auto boxes yuck!! Part of the reason I enjoy driving lorries is that being master of your impressive 8/12/16 whatever speed gearbox and slotting into each gear nice and smooth, matching engine speed to road speed, gives you (me anyway) a sense of achievement and you know that man and machine are working in harmony and that you are master of your machine. And when you see a good driver doing that, and and checking his mirrors and concentrating and making maximum SAFE progress I think “that’s impressive, that’s the level we all need to be at, cars,lorries, everyone”. Personally i think if you want to go to point B from point A and dont care about all that, then get the bus and leave us rivit county mechanically sympathetic weirdos to do the driving.
Me too!!!
truckie:
Reading between the lines Rog, i think people are making a fuss because they think a ‘easier’ test means more drivers on the market.
I would say most faults and fails on the road drive are not for gearing issues - if they were then I would go along with those saying it makes the test easier
I also think that doing the reverse with an auto is likely to be a little more difficult
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater IMO.
It would seem very odd to introduce this as a test standard, it’s kind of - in some way predicting the future without giving thought to what may lay ahead.
No-one can say with absolute certainty that eventually all gearboxes will be automatics. Nor can they predict - should that become the case, that the situation will never revert or change in some other direction. The people who set the tests do not design the technology.
This to some extent will be led by economics, not just in the manufacturing process, but in the use and reliability of trucks. Noon knows what will be powering vehicles in the not too distant future and I fail to see why, if at some time - all trucks use automatics, then there shouldn’t be a separate test for geared trucks, it’s hardly going to effect the recruitment situation if nearly all trucks are automatics.
I can’t see a downside for keeping gears in the testing process. I think there are many downsides in academics writing in stone - the rules of something which they have little real life understanding.
tachograph:
Juddian:
If its true then it doesn’t surprise me in the least.Further dumbing down of physical driving requirements whilst giving more importance to box ticking and theoretical parts.
No controlled emergency stop, no gearchanging exercise, auto boxes ok for manual pass, what next not waste precious minutes with a reversing test when they could fit another box ticking faff in.
Could be just a wind up mind.
This ^^^
If this is true, then it’s just another way to dumb down the required standard of driving to pass the test, personally I hope it doesn’t happen.
Surely if it did happen then they can only drive auto trucks?
mickyblue:
Surely if it did happen then they can only drive auto trucks?
Obviously you haven’t read the thread properly. The whole point is that if it does become Law, they WILL be able to drive manuals on an auto pass.
Daz1970:
Just heard that the DSA plans to allow LGV tests (C & C+E) to be taken in automatic vehicles and if successful the candidate will be able to drive auto’s & manual trucks also…this will obviously make passing the test(s) easier. Does anyone have any further info. on this such as dates it comes into force?
Also any thoughts on this?