Pete had a couple of weeks on waiting list a few days ago when he posted. That’s about average for most schools.
Beware of ones that can fit you in tomorrow 
Jude, im wondering whether Watnall would be the better place for me to take the test as I’ve lived in that area for 20 odd years and know the road lol
Dar1976, thanks for that, its handy to know, at least I can get something in place timescale wise. I noticed that a few of the web site around say you can start tomorrow!!! then never mention medicals licenses, theorys etc etc etc
Even those who have provisional in place and passed theories should beware of immediate availability.
There is (often) a very good reason why they are not booked up for a few weeks at a time.
Assessments should also be about you sussing out the kind of business you are handing over your hard-earned to.
timw:
Thanks for that Mike, luckily I’m in the position where I’m wanting to do the class C and C+E back to back, thinking get them both done and dusted.The job situation is the only thing that is worrying me. If I can get the training and test done and get qualified asap then I dont mind taking the £6 and £7 an hour work for a while until I can get a foot in the door elsewhere.
Hoping to end up either tramping or nationwide/international work…thats where I wanna end up!!! fingers crossed!!!
Hi timw, I did exactly the same thing around 7 years ago now after redundancy and used the redundancy money to fund both the C and CE back to back and personally I think it was the best thing I ever did. A lot of young lads dream of driving lorries but because of the cost and getting sidetracked into other jobs in their youth, the dream is never realised, perhaps the same sort of thing may happen if you take the Cat C and leave a gap before taking the CE, life and all its expenses will get in the way and who knows when or if you will ever take the CE later on, if you have the money go for it straight away and do them both if you can, thats my advice to you anyway.
Another point I would like to make is this, I got the impression when I applied for my current job at the local council driving Cat C trucks ( tarmac trucks, bin lorries and more recently gritters) that although I was applying for a Cat C job, the thing that clinched it for me was the bosses body language when he learned that I also have the CE. I know it sounds daft but seriously I am convinced that although I will never drive Cat CE with council vehicles as far as I am aware, having the CE on my licence got me the job that day so its something to consider if you have any doubts about taking C and CE back to back, you may find holding both opens up more opportunities for you, or maybe I just fell lucky. 
Dar1976, I saw that post earlier on and for some unexplainable reason got it in my head that it was from 2009!!! Ill be pm’in with a bid this evening!!! Wonder if they accept Visa!!! lol…thanks for the nudge though…
Highwayhero, its great that someone who has been in my exact position is on here, tells me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!! I have the money for both courses and agree that the best option is to complete both, especially while im in the mind set of learning. Doing the class C and then waiting means that at some point money takes over and while your earning you dont progress, thats how ive been for last 10 years. Im tending to look at the redundancy as a blessing in disguise at the moment and having a missis that is pushing me to do the HGVin because shes sick of me banging on about “one day ill do it”!!! helps aswell
Drivers can only really comment on the trainers that they used, which means that only a definate NO should be listened to with more than a pinch of salt.
So I’d like to throw Ian Markwick into the picture. He will teach you to drive a truck alongside teaching you to pass the tests, his passion for good driving standards both before & after you pass becomes obvious from day 1. Spend a week with him around Nottingham & you will lose count of his success’s flashing, honking, saluting & mimicking that silly wave of his as you drive around the various routes.
IME, after you’ve passed & start out on the job hunt, everyone asks you who you trained with because it can be important to their decision of whether to take a chance with you. In Nottingham, jobs for newbies aren’t exactly plentifull but they are out there. Now is probably the best time to take the test, you can have a full season on the agencies, suss out the good ones from the bad & hopefully secure a perm before it all goes quiet again.
Think ! If 2 newbies are up for a job driving artics, the one who chose to train on wag & drag probably won’t get it !
Having only tested at Watnall I can’t comment on where’s best locally but I’m told that a test centre in Leeds is considered to have the hardest & most difficult routes in the country. Watnall only had 3 very tricky points on its routes in my time & I’m told that 1 of those has since been dropped.
Good luck & please share your experiences so the rest of us can learn from them.
Hi Chas,
Ill have a loook over his website, like I said at the beginning of the post, any recommendations that you all make, ill deffo look into them and weigh them all up together. Thanks for the advice on the job front, im getting the impression that if I start this process now then in theory i can be back in work in around 8-10 weeks. fingers, toes, hair, kidneys and anything else possible crossed!!!
Highwayhero:
Another point I would like to make is this, I got the impression when I applied for my current job at the local council driving Cat C trucks ( tarmac trucks, bin lorries and more recently gritters) that although I was applying for a Cat C job, the thing that clinched it for me was the bosses body language when he learned that I also have the CE. I know it sounds daft but seriously I am convinced that although I will never drive Cat CE with council vehicles as far as I am aware, having the CE on my licence got me the job that day so its something to consider if you have any doubts about taking C and CE back to back, you may find holding both opens up more opportunities for you, or maybe I just fell lucky.
Previous to taking a few steps down the ladder, I was senior executive with a major footsie 100 as their project manager of choice in the midlands area. Whilst I’ve never actually interviewed a driver, I can say that what they’re looking for will be pretty much the same as what I was looking for when interviewing for a manager of a £5m+ T/O profit & loss centre.
I will swap you 3 people who can do the jobs hands down with their eyes closed for 1 who shows an ambition with a faint glimpse of ability to learn the job from scratch.
It’s hard to explain, but there’s a post here where someone’s asking for ideas on how to fund their LGV training. I wouldn’t give them the time of day, let alone let them loose in an LGV vehicle.
timw:
Hi Chas,Ill have a loook over his website, like I said at the beginning of the post, any recommendations that you all make, ill deffo look into them and weigh them all up together. Thanks for the advice on the job front, im getting the impression that if I start this process now then in theory i can be back in work in around 8-10 weeks. fingers, toes, hair, kidneys and anything else possible crossed!!!
This is work m8. It might not be £paying work but it’s work nonetheless. Put as much effort as you can into passing your tests over the next 8-10wks & ram all that effort down the throat of the first person who interviews you for a job that pays £money.
IME there is still a lot of employers out there who appreciate candidates who can demonstrate that they want to do the job they choose & not just any old job that comes along.
If you do a search on Ian Markwick you will be able to read about an experience not dissimilar to my own with him. Having passed C+E I wanted a two hour lesson reversing an artic to prepare me for assessments etc .
All was well, nice jolly bloke, but every small mistake was greeted with ■■■■■■ and jeffing which put me right on edge, causing more errors, and more bad language and shouting. Couldn’t wait for the two hours to be over, and was very thankful that I hadn’t paid him for a course upfront.
Can’t seem to find the post to which I refer, but it was there, as I saw it in July after searching for him on here, after my experience with him.
TNUK is riddled with sock puppets & trolls.
I’m an LGV driver in the Nottingham area who actually talks to real world people, in real world scenario’s & I can only post here what I know to be true both from my own experiences & the experiences of the real world people I speak to.
Ian Markwick is a good LGV instructor. The only bad words I hear against him come from some text on a screen which, funnily enuff, are on a site which is notorious for its sock puppets & trolls.
I have never heard a bad word against him from actual drivers in & around Nottingham who have actually trained with him.
The most recent bad mouthing of Ian comes from a troll who has posted on this site about who it trained with. Poke me with a blunt stick to shock me out of my dream, but needless to say the troll forgot this aspect of its troll post & for the record it hasn’t actually ever trained with Ian.
For the record, the troll has posted who it trained with. Look for it now, it will disappear very quickly.
How it can pass judgement I do not know, but hey, there is no smoke without fire & if you slag a bloke down with texts on the internets then some of that mud will stick.
What its motivation is to slag down a good trainer is I do not know. Being a cynical person by nature, I can only draw my conclusions by looking into who it doesn’t slag down. In my cynicism, the ones it doesn’t slag down are usually the cause of the troll.
Being a cynical person by nature, I can only draw my conclusions by looking into who it doesn’t slag down. In my cynicism, the ones it doesn’t slag down are usually the cause of the troll.
Interesting comment.
BTW, I have known Ian for many years and, although we operate quite differently, I respect him as a trainer and believe he has a reputation to back this up.
Pete 
Well chaps, after an extremely informative and gratefully received chat with the obvious legend that is Mr Peter Smythe, I am like a kid in a sweet shop. The nervousness of “is this the right thing to do?” has passed and has been replaced with “I’m gonna be a trucker!!!”
Pete Smythe…absolute diamond of a man…all I can say is “Happy Days!!!”
Thanks again everyone for the constructive replies…i’ll keep you all informed of my progress (if you all dont mind obviously) and hopefully in a few months I might actually see you all at the same eye level instead of looking up wishing I was sat up there lmao
Peter Smythe:
Being a cynical person by nature, I can only draw my conclusions by looking into who it doesn’t slag down. In my cynicism, the ones it doesn’t slag down are usually the cause of the troll.
Interesting comment.
BTW, I have known Ian for many years and, although we operate quite differently, I respect him as a trainer and believe he has a reputation to back this up.
Pete
I’m very precise in everything that I do Pete & like to think that I minimise any possibility of making a mistake. I can’t remember why I chose Ian over your Co’ but I do remember that you were on my list. I can also remember one or two who I instantly dismissed !
Ian is a good trainer IME, I speak to many drivers in & around Nottingham who trained with him & not one can say they didn’t learn from his passion for good driving standards. No one has ever had a bad word to say about him.
Dear Chas,
Blunt stick required me thinks.
In what way am I a sock-puppet or troll? Are you an American teenager by chance?
You are incredibly insulting to someone who’s only “crime” is to give an honest critique of their time with Ian Markwick. For the record, I never trained with him, I merely paid him for some HGV artic reversing training after successful training elsewhere.
The man may be a good trainer but he speaks to people as if they are dirt. I’m sorry, but I pay to be trained, and maybe treated with some respect and courtesy as a customer.
Post with a previous experience of Mr. Markwick posted below, from a poster with almost a thousand posts:
Ian Markwick in notts got me through my class one in December, only thing I would say is on the plus side his training is excellent and has very good reversing pad at langer air field but he was a complete and utter nob head! The way he spoke to me at times was down right rude and if it had been a proper company as opposed to a one man and his truck situation I wouldn of took it. For example he many a time called me a see you next tuesday and an effin idiot! Had he not just took 500 quid off me i’d of dragged him out his unit and kick [zb] out of him! And if I ever have the pleasure of seeing this ■■■■ in the street again I might just do that. He never spoke like it to the other lad on course, but then his boss sends all his lads there and gets em up to class 1 standard so there’s no suprise. All I would say is you need very thick skin to work with this guy as he wants it perfect every time.
I hope he goes bust
Would love to know the nouveau definition of sock-puppet also. I’m thinking 1970’s BBC.
Kind regards,
Paul (sock-puppet, troll)
It can happen that one has a bad experience for one reason or another with a trainer but when many say the opposite then it seems reasonable to surmise that the odd one was just that
timw:
… gonna try and get a medical done tomorrow, have to speak nicely to the GP lol
timw,
Quite a number of training providers have an arrangement with a local GP to visit them every so often for the purpose of carrying out drivers medicals at the providers’ premises.
If you ask a prospective provider about this, you might end up saving some money on the medical fee. 
ROG:
It can happen that one has a bad experience for one reason or another with a trainer but when many say the opposite then it seems reasonable to surmise that the odd one was just that
In response to that I would say “use the search bar.”
18 posts regarding Ian Markwick on this forum. Not including quotes/posts on the same threads, there are four positive posts, and two negative ones since 2005. I’m hardly the odd one out!
Having a 66% ringing endorsement in eight years would in most circumstances not be regarded as good. I wonder if he classifies for classic insurance on his lorries also?
He should market them as a trip down memory lane for older drivers, he’s missing a trick there!
Paul (sock-puppet, troll)
Used search and only found you that is saying different to others