Hi Peter, I have a few questions for you, nothing you havn’t been asked before many times I’m sure. I was going to send you a P.M. but then realised that there are probably quite a few newbies on this forum who would be interested too. If this is out of order or against the forum rules please forgive me and ignore it or have it removed.
I am intending to come and do my C+E with you this spring, I took your (and others) advice to take a class 2 job with a roadsweeping company last easter and since then have not been on the forum very often, just getting my head down and getting some time in on the class 2 work. Anyway about a month ago when there was a lull in the local work I was asked to deliver a huge (well it seemed huge to me) bin wagon, pick up a different one and bring it back to base. A full days motorway driving. It got the juices flowing and reminded me what I really want to do, so I started looking on here again, imagine my dissapointment at missing your xmas offer, serves me right for not keeping up with trucknet. When I did get back on it was so nice to see a lot of familiar names still on the newbies section even though I know they passed a while ago. Enough of this, lets get to those questions.
1)On your website it looks like you do your class 1 with a rigid and trailer, why do you choose this over the more conventional artic’s?
do the people who pass with you have any problems moving across to artic’s?
3)What are the start/finish times of your 5 day course and the Tues. to Thurs. residential course?
Do you do an hours lesson on artic’s for your class 1 passee’s or have an artic on site to show us how to connect them up?
how long is your waiting list for class 1 courses, how long do I need to book in advance?
Well that’s all of it from me.
To the other trainers who are also often very highly recomended on this forum, please accept my apologies for singling out Peter but he is less than an hours drive from me and he does come highly recomended.
I have no problem answering these questions publicly as all the information is freely available to all on the end of the phone.
Drawbar combination is, without the slightest shadow of doubt, the easier method to acquire the CE licence. I have used them since 1997 with massive success having used conventional artics for 25 years before that - - so I have a little experience to draw on. Commercially it makes sense as it reduces the amount of down time on vehicles. This, in turn, reduces our costs and this reflects in our charges which would be even higher if we operated artics.
When we first moved onto drawbars, I was personally unhappy - believing that people would not be able to drive an artic afterwards. So I kept an artic (DAF + 40 foot box) and took 30 trainees out in it after they had passed in a drawbar. They had NO instruction. I gave them the keys, told them they’d got a licence - time to go. One of them hit one kerb. No-one had terminal problems. Most were wide on corners but automatically tidied themselves up. I believe this proves the point. Thousands of people have passed with me on a drawbar and I have NO reports of problems driving artics. There are a fair few folk on the forum in that group. I do recommend an hour or 2 with a trainer on an artic - not to teach you how to do it but for comfort. The actual trailer coupling mechanism is totally different and needs a few minutes practice to master. But the proceedure for coupling/uncoupling is no different.
Start times are 0730, 1100 or 1430. Residential courses are run flexibly but you will get 14 hours 1:1 training over the agreed number of days. Different folk have varying views on how they want to do this and we listen to what you want.
There is always an artic on site where we can show you the coupling etc. It wont be ours so no practice available. For over a year I offered FREE training on a fully loaded 45 foot trailer for a 3 hour drive/reverse practice. Unbelievably, people didn’t take it up. So the artic has long since gone.
The waiting list is currently 3 to 4 weeks - so that is how much notice we need to get you in.
Hope this helps; always happy to answer genuine questions. Pete
Just re-read the OP. If you are only an hour’s drive away, we wouldn’t provide B+B as the limit is 70 miles. Happy to arrange it for you at cost if you wish.
You might also do well to “have a go” at the charity auction. Might save some dosh and will certainly raise money for PDF so they can help drivers and their families who are in serious need.
Yep. I took that route too and did the regular familiarization afterwards. Since then have had a variety of class one and two. Most informative was tramping on containers… well worth taking the Mansfield route
Do you offer the option of 2 to 1 all day training Peter?
DATA ACADEMY offer both artic and W&D but I have never seen the W&D out and about, only the artic, so what does that say ?
No, we don’t do cab share. Only exception to that would be, say, if a company had a number of candidates and feel they may as well loose them for the whole day rather than half day, then we consider cab=share. Cab share with private individuals is unfair IMO as no two people will learn at the same rate. You could have one person who struggles with reversing whilst the other is great at reversing but maybe has gear changing problems. Their needs are totally different and too much time will be wasted. Or, worse still, the time wont be put in to sort out the problems.
One of the main reasons for cab share is to reduce the travelling backwards and forwards to reversing areas and test centres. As I have both these on site, it simply doesn’t apply.
With reference to Rick at Data Academy, the statement says absolutely nothing to me. I have been running trucks around Mansfield for the last 30 years and still people say they’ve never seen us. So the fact you haven’t seen their w=d frankly doesn’t count for much. There are also some people that will insist on artic training as they think that a w=d will get them some sort of restriction. You really need to ask Rick.
The fact is that I ran an artic a couple of years ago for a year. I think it did 6 courses. That is in comparison to a W+D doing around 150.
I did mainly 2 to 1 for over 2 years without any of the issues you stated
When I started training in 1971, my employer always gave us joint training. The problems I have pointed out were not uncommon and I did this until 1984. So that’s 13 years experience. When I went “on my own” in 1984 the first thing I did was introduce 1:1 training - - almost unheard of at that time. Over 40 years in this job, I’m still convinced of the value of 1:1.It makes little commercial sense and that is one of the reasons that 2:1 is still the norm. Maybe Rog had a lucky run if he had no problems.
But I’ll stick to my principles, thankyou, and continue with 1:1. Pete
My class 1 training was 2-1, and the instructor said it was because they had found that over 3 hours driving in a day the trainee’s concerntration dropped, they also said there was a benefit in trainees watching other trainees driving and being able to see their mistakes,
That said my class 3 and 2 training was 1-1, and I much prefered it, when 2-1 I was always conscious of not only the instructor scrutinising my every mistake but my fellow trainee too.
So it is really horses for courses. and by offering 1-1 against the norm Peter is giving folks that option.
ROG:
Do you offer the option of 2 to 1 all day training Peter?
DATA ACADEMY offer both artic and W&D but I have never seen the W&D out and about, only the artic, so what does that say ?
For PS, I was told at the time that they prefer one to one training and that the max time is 5 hours. I do agree with both of those points, as the days did tire me out considerably, but I did learn a lot.
DA said that the mostly use the artic, and theirs is a Daf 95 with a box trailer. Stepping up from the W&D is is quite a beast and the additional training is well worth it. Especially as the next time I drove an artic was meeting it at 3am on a winter night where it had only been partially coupled and all 20 trucks of the fleet were rolling out at the same time… Windows and mirrors slightly frozen, rapidly cleaned and then I followed the wrong truck out of the yard to refuel…
ROG:
I dont think I was lucky Peter because all the other instructors did the same 2 to 1 without any issues that I can recall
When I did my Class 2 back in 2003 ish I was paired up and the training was less than satisfactory; the other guy got more driving in and also picked it up quicker. It also helped he had been on 7.5t’s longer than I had as well as having some yard experience of larger vehicles. Alas, not only did I fail (4 hours a day for the pair of us (2 hours each)) for 4 days then a test.
So I failed, and on each of the three retests that cost me £400 each it racked it up quite a large bill I had to pay back to the agency, who had pushed me for it.
ROG:
I would say that both are fine IF THAT IS WHAT THE TRAINEE WANTS
The agency chose the class and it was one of the main reasons that when I later decided to go for my HGV2 again, I chose the trainer and I found the money to pay direct and the way I wanted to be trained. I went for the one to one as it had worked so well for previous driver training. That had been intended to be 2 to 1 but the other trainee had dropped out.
After a year and much fretting I decided on doing my Class 1 with PS and passed with few minors. But I often stress too much, and clearly it was for the wrong reasons that time… But everyone copes and learns differently…
Thanks for the answers Peter, I’ve had a pop at the auction and have decided that you will be hearing from me sometime in March one way or another.
All the best
Rich
I took my class 1 test 3 times , first week I trained on artic , and had a lot of issues with reverse , failed that first one on reverse , now my training was 2-1 and the guy I was with had no problems with reverse but made loads of mistakes driving forwards , I on the other hand no problems going forwards was going backwards that was the problem , so two different trainees both different needs , next time round had the W&D reverse was sorted out and unfortunatly picked up a serious for taking too much room on a left turn and encrouched on oncoming cars so a fail, as the W&D does not need the wider turning that artic does , so back to training and passed 3rd time after working on the turning ,
Now in my opinion neither are easier than the other , but they do handle differently , I prefered the 1-1 training better than 2-1 as any faults I had my trainer sorted out and corrected , when you are with another trainee you can benefit from watching them if they are any good , but if they are making mistakes all the time it kinda sits uneasy ,
I have never driven a W&D since my test have always been given artics and if your using ya mirrors correctly you can handle an artic no problem if you pass with W&D ,
though I would recommend if you pass in W&D do take a few hours in an artic to see the difference , coupling being the main difference ,
Now the one bit of advise I will hope you take from me is make sure you are happy with the instructor as if he makes you feel like a plonker your not gonna learn at all , a good instructor makes all the difference , you need someone who is patient and finds a way to explain things so you understand , not expect you to work to his timetable and if you dont understand blames you for not understanding him he needs to respect you as well as you respecting him , get that right and you will have a brilliant time learning to drive and be more likely to hold that coveted blue pass cert in your hands ,
he needs to respect you as well as you respecting him , get that right and you will have a brilliant time learning to drive and be more likely to hold that coveted blue pass cert in your hands ,