I intended to apply for my Class 2 Provisional last August. I had a medical but never sent off a D2 (couldn’t get hold of one at the time!).
I’ve now got my arse into gear… I have a D2 and want to apply… will my medical still be accepted? I’ve tried calling DVLA but can only get piggin answer machines!
I sent off for a glossy brochure from Sterling - it looked really impressive promising a free Class one course after class2 for £1148. I nearly fell for it before reading the brilliant posts on this forum - cheers! I’d have probably booked if weren’t for you guys!
So… can anyone recommend a good school near Derby■■?
This looks a really useful and well run forum - great stuff!
I’m dabbling with the idea of going with Sterling. I’ve read the bad press re basic spec vehicles, two to a cab and ‘bar’ trailer (?) class 1 but…
It’s a cracking deal at £1148 for both (inc fees). I Afterwards, I could spend a day with a ‘proper’ firm on a ‘big truck’ for experience and still be £100’s of better off.
It’s only after you pass you test you start to really learn anyway?
The deal sounds tempting from Sterling,and me personally I past both 1+2 first time with em,BUT they are basic basic vehicles,2 to a cab,lots of tea breaks and when you finally get taken on to drive a real lorry with a company,you havent got a ■■■■■■■ clue how to drive it properley,and hence why I cost my first employer thousands of pounds in the 5 knocks that I had in my first 6 months.
Go with a decent school mate with proper trucks,so when you get the chance of a job you know how to drive a wagon with more then 6 gears and with a 40’ box on the back instead of a trailer which would look better behind a transit van
And all this bull ■■■■ about employment partners is just that bull,3 of their trainers said half the spiel in their brochure is just made up,and the main man you book with 'Adam’whoever is apparently an alias(false) name
thats one of the reasons why they are cheaper, they are only allowed to do so many KMs a day to limit diesel use and keep their prices down, apparantly - but would you rather have a laugh with the instructor drinking coffee or be behind the wheel learning to pass the test?
Basically although the course is a lot less money on the face of it, when you consider how much ‘training’ you’re actually getting for your money, it’s bad.
I mean any school will give you the same number of hours behind the wheel for more or less the same price, but when you cut out all the tea breaks and sitting in the passenger seat then you end up with a two day course instead of a 4 day course for the same money.
I mean you could have a 4 day course and pay £700, but share the vehicle with someone else, so you only drive every other hour. Or you could have a 4 day course for £1000 learning solo, so you drive all day. They’ll try and tell you that you’ll learn by watching the other guy, if that’s so how come you couldnt drive at 17 after watching your parents drive for 17 years?
Their so called ‘modern training vehicles’ arent all that modern either, i saw an old shape Iveco Cargo Tector in sittingbourne the other week. That’s what the call modern?
TheStonesman:
Do you regret not spending more on your training and did it put you at a major disadvantage when you started looking for driving work?
I found hard getting a job with no experience anyway,so when i finally got a job with Hanbury Davies and got put in a proper truck i had a nightmare getting use to a proper gearbox,a 40’ box on the back and reversing an artic,as Sterling use Wagon & Drag flat bed.which is basically a Iveco cargo (like a 7.5 tonner)with 6 gears no splitters or range change,the wagon had a 10 metre bed on the back and the trailer was about 3 metres long.The whole length of the vehicle was about the same as one of the artics they use for Dray work,if you know what I mean.
The thing is is Sterling dont tell you what vehicles they use,they just say ‘Iveco’ and they also dont tell you that you will be training with another trainee in the vehicle.
Another con of theirs is the add on options,£200 add on for a CPC course,I thought I’d go for that,it involves them sending you a book costing £24.99 and thats it.so i dont know where the other £175 went,in the back pocket of some cockney ■■■■ is my guessing
personlly I’d rather eat 3 day old turds than recommend sterling to anybody
i used them and passed,but if i was a complete newbie i’d have been shagged
plus the “GAURENTEED PASS” they offer is a load of ■■■■■ you still have to pay the retest fee plus an admin fee of whatever they think they can get you to pay
i had exactly 6 hours training/driving before each test , well worth 1500 quid
do yourself a favour phone l+t in Yorkshire well worth the traveling
I nearly went with Sterling for the same reason COST, But the offer is cheap because they are offering the Artic course FREE!!! BUT only if you pass the CPC, this to me didnt seem all that Easy I just want to pass my liscence’s.
Also the offer is only valid if you pass the CPC within 12months, anyways whatever you decide the Best of Luck to you.
I start my Class 2 training next Tue 25th April with Central Transport Training in Wolverhampton, and @ the moment I’m Bricking it but on the other hand I cant wait to get started.
I nearly went with Sterling for the same reason COST, But the offer is cheap because they are offering the Artic course FREE!!! BUT only if you pass the CPC, this to me didnt seem all that Easy I just want to pass my liscence’s.
Also the offer is only valid if you pass the CPC within 12months.
If it is anything like the course I did (not with sterling though) the cpc course consists of the cpc book worth about £20. You still have to book and pay for your tests!!!
I was fortunate that when I said to stuff that, when I did my class 1 they just charged me the difference between what I had already paid for class 2 and the price of the combined 1+2 (so in effect my class 1 cost me £400)
re basic spec vehicles, two to a cab and ‘bar’ trailer (?) class 1 but…
for experience and still be £100’s of better off.
(…from Yorkshire) the Sterling option would save me £650 against a 2 lots of training from ‘proper school’.
