Newbie

Hi Guys,

Just started the ball rolling to get my class C licence. I have got my medical booked on wednesday so fingers crossed.

I am going through Tyne & Wear LGV up in Jarrow, they seem to get good reviews from people on here. I was going to go through advanced HGV until i read a few things on here and decided against it.

I am new to all this but I must say this site is brilliant with all the information available to read and from people who obvisously know what they are talking about.

Keep up the good work guys.

Welcome to the madhouse and good luck for your training.

if you need to ask anything just put it on here, you may get some sarcastic answers that will brighten up your day but you get proper answer.

there is no such thing as a daft question but there are daft mistakes!

Lee G

Welcome to the Mad house

Good luck with the training Tyne & Wear have a good rep in this area, once you have your licence back from DVLA call them and they will book you in for an assessment drive also they will book your theory test for you and lend you the disc but remember that the disc are not compatible with a mac puter

Depends where you are

The medical is fairly easy

**:D :smiley: :smiley: Welcome Mickey250 :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:**

If you click the link in my signature it will lead you to an index where you can access a lot of info which may be of use to you :smiley: :smiley:

To book any LGV training I suggest the trainee-to-be, visits the training school, meets the head person(s) and has a quick look at the truck BEFORE parting with any money.

Using the site Search facility at the top of this page and putting the words TRAINING AND WHERE you wish to train may turn up some recommendations. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

GENERAL DRIVING TIPS BEFORE STARTING LGV C TRAINING

A number of LGV instructors, myself included, are finding that the general driving standard of many trainees coming to do their LGV ‘C’ course is not at a very high standard.
I have had a number who ‘THINK’ they are good but find myself having to go ‘BACK TO BASICS’ before they can really start learning how to handle a truck.
For the trainee this means wasted time on the course and that means that the trainee is paying good money to be taught how to drive again :exclamation:

There are a number of things that a driver can do before starting their first LGV training course to improve their general driving.

The obvious ones are to practise the DSA procedures, which could mean losing the rear view mirror, and then, every time to set off, doing the mirror, mirror, blind spot routine. Checking BOTH side mirrors before moving within the lane you are in, signalling or before the increasing & decreasing of your speed.

The less obvious is to practise forward planning — the THINKING bit.

A good way of doing this is to use your brakes a lot less than what you do at present — sounds daft but think about it — to use the brakes less then you will have to ease off earlier — to ease off earlier you will have to plan ahead more.
I don’t mean by changing down through the gearbox either as that will waste fuel.
A good example would be when approaching a queue of standing traffic, which is waiting for traffic lights to change or waiting to enter a roundabout.
The moment you see the queue, check mirrors and ease off in the gear you are in. let the vehicle slow down on it’s own, dipping the clutch as necessary to control any possible stalling. If the vehicle gets to the lowest gear speed (usually first gear) then engage that gear.
If, whilst easing off, you anticipate that the traffic is going to proceed, then engage the gear that will take you with them without rushing up to the rear of the queue.
You will be leaving a large area of tarmac in front of your vehicle when you ease off early. If another vehicle goes into the gap then re-adjust to accommodate it. If you curse at the vehicle that went into your forward space then decide if a few feet of tarmac is worth getting stressed over!!

When following other traffic, do you touch your brakes when they touch theirs? — If yes, then you are too close. Back off so that you can ease off without the use of brakes. Again, this requires a good deal of forward planning, which will be very useful when you drive a truck.

The general idea is to never stop but to keep moving forward even if at a very slow pace.

If you have to use the brakes then plan to use them gradually. Start by taking up the play of the pedal then resting the weight of your foot & leg on the pedal. That is then followed by squeezing down onto the pedal and squeeze down to a depth that will do the job during the middle of your braking so that you can ease off the pedal well before you actually need to come to a stop.

Good luck Mickey!!!

Nice to see some people taking notice regarding being careful with choosing firms :slight_smile: