Have been reading this forum for several weeks while contemplating my future. Thought it was about time to say hi. My name is Ben, I’m 32 years old and married with 2 young children. I am an ex police officer. Did 10 years in the force but had to resign 2 years ok as I ran into a bit of bother, nothing too serious but sadly it meant I could not continue my career. I did a bit of multi drop driving when i left. Delivering bread in a 3.5t working nights mon to sat. I currently work for a national pizza chain as a manager but have recently decided driving is what I want to do. I had an assessment drive earlier this week at Flair driver training in Chelmsford. All went well so I have booked my theory tests including the CPC for 2nd September. The plan is to do my class 2 now then my class 1 in 6-12 months time. Will keep a diary going on here once training starts.
I have read many posts about lack of work etc or newbies have no chance. I prefer to stay positive. I have always done unsociable rubbish hours. Police work was all shifts so I’ve done early starts, late finishes, nights, 20 hour days, worked Xmas day, New Year’s Day etc. I am not worried about working anytime and I am willing to graft for my money. I currently earn so bad doing a job I can’t stand that anything will be better.
I look forward to interacting with some of you soon
Aged 32 gives a better chance than others aged under 25 but you are likely to still come up against the 2 years of holding the licence barrirer which is stated by many company insurers so be prepared for that
At your age you must have passed the car test after 1996 so will need initial dcpc but as you have gone to Flair then John will have explained all that - if he did not then I am going to send him a ‘not nice’ text
I have indeed done a number of driving courses. Advanced, pursuit etc. I do find driving easy yes and more or less felt right at home on my assessment drive. The only thing I need to get used to is the size of the vehicle.
benbailey81:
I have indeed done a number of driving courses. Advanced, pursuit etc. I do find driving easy yes and more or less felt right at home on my assessment drive. The only thing I need to get used to is the size of the vehicle.
I had a C trainee who had done the advanced courses you did and they were test ready in 2 days
As a LGV instructor I found that most of the time spent training was re-educating drivers into the right mode because they had forgotten a lot since they passed the car test - that does not usually happen with a driver who has done a lot of post car test training and testing
Good luck to you. The lack of experience is an issue yes for both class 1 and 2 but and only talking from my own experience it depends how hungry you are fir it.
Take the many knock backs on the chin and put yourself out there the old fashioned way face ti face c.v in hand, take anything and everything offered just ti get your hand in and proove yourself .
I like many started ti looses faith landing a class 1 role after plenty of kickbacks and lies from agency’s. 2 years this 2 year’s that etc, then I landed my current job by chance bumped into the boss in a yard looking for another company , got chatting I thought he was another driver and started fed up can’t get a break talk turned out he ran the place I work for now , was out doing my first shift for him the following day, neverhas he seen my c.v rreferences , apparently it was the down ti earth straight talking that sold myself . Anyway all my point is is to chase it hard enough don’t give up and the opportunities are out there but it’s not easy.
Good luck to you
Well been studying for several weeks now. Got my theory at 8am tomorrow, hazard perception at 10 then CPC mod 2 at 12. Think I’ve done enough studying. Never got less than 93% on the mock exams. Probably jinxed myself now! Anyhow I will hopefully be updating tomorrow with good news.
congrats mate, passed mine today got pretty much the same scores as you. Its nice when you can finally put the DSA books away and just look forward to doing the course and test. Mine is at the end of the month, hope you do well when you take yours. if you feel comfortable and relaxed driving the vehicle you would do well to fail IMO.
Congrats on passing your theory. Good luck with your practical training and don’t worry about getting work as a driver without 2 years commercial driving experience. I have found that there’s always work there for the right kind of person with a decent attitude.
I look forward to the rest of your training diary. All the best!
