Got to take my hat off to you Alan to have the balls to make such a big decision in the middle of life, most people would make excuses not to make a career change, forgot to say, well done with the pass, hope you find some good work, at least the agency’s can’t say your too young for the insurance 
Noworries:
at least the agency’s can’t say your too young for the insurance
I like it !!!
And before anyone suggests it - no, I wouldn’t dream of using my buss pass to travel to work.
I’m very interested in Tockwiths reply too, before I part with £1500.
Maybe change the title to really peed off with tockwith and you will get a reply quicker
MADBAZ:
I’m very interested in Tockwiths reply too, before I part with £1500.
I have not heard anything bad about their training - that’s why I went there. I think in that respect, they are a peofessional set-up and get good results, so you probably won’t go far wrong.
However, If you DID ask my advice on a training provider - well - I have named one more than once on here. 
Good luck
Alan
Noworries:
Maybe change the title to really peed off with tockwith and you will get a reply quicker
Did I go to school with you? Definitely remember someone who kept getting me into trouble.
OnlyAlan:
Noworries:
Maybe change the title to really peed off with tockwith and you will get a reply quickerDid I go to school with you? Definitely remember someone who kept getting me into trouble.
Well done Alan lol
I know all about having the confidence knocked out of ya … I had the same trouble with a Farnworth trainer who managed to get over £2,500 of government money from an LVP grant just to give me a complex on a roundabout After shouting and Balling (even though i rased my concerns with JCP in writing ) anyway after my 1 st fail he got another £260.00 plus test fee £115.00 from them for a re-test and 1 hr before after my 2nd fail with them he told me to tell my adviser at JCP it would be another £250-00 plus test fee £115-00 just to meet me at the test station and let me use the truck on test … 
it was at that point I said NO THANKS you are not having another penny (He even got the office girl to phone and tempt me with a new test date the day after ) and i sent another letter to JCP telling them the full story of his bad attitude how he spent his time on his mobile phone when he should have been training me . and how they had payed for 21 hrs CE training of which i had about 16 on the road after waithing in the office for him on more than one occassion .
These people should not be allowed to trade or even call themselves trainers let alone be given government money from the LVP scheme .
I then managed to get work on Cat C and went private to a new trainer off this site Paul at Hindley green who had to do the same job with me as Peter Smythe had to do with you Mate 
confidence re=building Theropy … I have since found out that the Farnworth trainer had an accident a couple of months ago on the same roundabout that he gave me the complex on and he ended up having to get his Unit and trailer pulled back out of a grass verge .so there is a god after all … I wounder if he was on his mobile at the time 
or did he shout and ball at another student who panicked …
So Glad you passed mate as did i after proper training
BEST REGARDS Roy
Hi Roy,
all credit to you for getting the end result and for being prepared to talk about it on here.
It makes me wonder how many potentially good drivers are put-off by (a few) trainers.
Annoyingly, some of them are the first on here when it comes to ‘agency bashing’ too. Make no mistake, I am not a fan of agencies but a few trainers seem to employ the same tactics when it comes to ‘emptying the customers’ pockets’.
Whatever happened to ‘a fair job at a fair price’? Or am I just showing my age with that question?
Thank goodness the vast majority of trainers are fair in how they run their businesses.
And finally, thank you for the chance to have this little rant - I will go and get my tablets now.
All the best mate,
Alan
Well I never thought I would read such a thread on here. I can only say sorry to Alan, I didn’t do his assessment so I’m unaware of the instructors exact concerns. However I will look into this matter tomorrow.
We have not received any complaint regarding this matter in our office and this is the first I’ve heard of your concerns. I will try to look up your name in our records to ensure you did an assessment with us.
We do operate full sized vehicles not drawbar trucks and last month had an average pass rate of over 90%. It’s extremely rare that anyone should be quoted a 5 day course for upgrading to C+E. The last 5 day C+E course I can remember was over 2 years ago, so it’s not something we often offer.
The instructor obviously didn’t want you to waste your hard earned money. So that will be why he suggested you book 14 hours before then deciding how much more training to have before the test. Which could have meant only a single day if you have progressed very well during the training sessions.
We have been getting drivers through the test since 1971 with the same family running the company in all this time. Our good reputation is something we value extremely highly and will take great lengths to protect. There are many of our ex-customers on this forum who rate our services very highly and sadly your experience of our company doesn’t align with how we always treat our customers.
I will speak with the owner of the company that conducted your assessment tomorrow so that I can formulate an honest opinion of exactly what was said.
However I’m glad you passed your test and wish you all the best in your driving career.
Tockwith Training, providing quality driver instruction since 1971
In fairness to Tockwith, this is the first negative report I’ve heard. There is no doubt that some of the difference in training time will be down to the differences (extrememely well documented and no intention of starting again!) between learning on an artic or drawbar combination.
Whilst I don’t know Alan extremely well, I would say he is a guy who speaks his mind in a fair and balanced manner.
I’m inclined to believe that this was a very rare event in the Tockwith calendar, given their reputation over many years. They have said they will look into it. That’s fine but it wont actually achieve anything as it’s not part of a pattern. If there was an instructor regularly over-assessing it would be a different matter altogether.
I’m also fully aware that, although we also pride ourselves on the highest possible standards in all respects, someone, somewhere will have something negative to report on our performance.
So we have an honest, straight talking candidate and a very reputable trainer. It’s not a battle - I put it down to an unfortunate series of events and I think it should be left at that. Alan was “peed off” and has said his piece and rightly so. But this forum shouldn’t be used, I believe, to destroy the otherwise great reputation of a trainer.
Congratulations to Alan on the first time pass. Pete
Tockwith Training:
Well I never thought I would read such a thread on here. I can only say sorry to Alan, I didn’t do his assessment so I’m unaware of the instructors exact concerns. However I will look into this matter tomorrow.We have not received any complaint regarding this matter in our office and this is the first I’ve heard of your concerns. I will try to look up your name in our records to ensure you did an assessment with us.
We do operate full sized vehicles not drawbar trucks and last month had an average pass rate of over 90%. It’s extremely rare that anyone should be quoted a 5 day course for upgrading to C+E. The last 5 day C+E course I can remember was over 2 years ago, so it’s not something we often offer.
The instructor obviously didn’t want you to waste your hard earned money. So that will be why he suggested you book 14 hours before then deciding how much more training to have before the test. Which could have meant only a single day if you have progressed very well during the training sessions.
We have been getting drivers through the test since 1971 with the same family running the company in all this time. Our good reputation is something we value extremely highly and will take great lengths to protect. There are many of our ex-customers on this forum who rate our services very highly and sadly your experience of our company doesn’t align with how we always treat our customers.
I will speak with the owner of the company that conducted your assessment tomorrow so that I can formulate an honest opinion of exactly what was said.
However I’m glad you passed your test and wish you all the best in your driving career.
Firstly, thank you for such a fair and polite reply.
I hope I have made it clear in my posts that I have no reason to doubt your company’s abilities as a trainer.
I did not make any complaint to yourselves because I couldn’t know, until I took my test, whether or not I actually would need 35 hours of training. And once I had gone elsewhere it really didn’t matter to me how good or bad you were, or what you thought of me.
I am a little disappointed that you feel you need to ‘look up your name in our records to ensure you did an assessment with us’. To help you with this: your invoice number was 21464, dated 09/02/2012.
With many years of business experience behind me I am only too aware that, like any business, your primary purpose is to make a profit. I do not expect you to take a philanthropical approach to business and I visited you with a view to establishing a symbiotic business relationship. Unfortunately for us both, this did not happen in my case.
So, effectively, we are both sorry about some of the events, but that is life.
I am sure you will understand that I have not joined the ranks of people who feel that they can recommend you to prospective clients.
Again, thank you for your reply, I too wish you well.
Alan
Thanks for the post, Pete - and for the compliment.
I agree with what you say and I hope that my posts have not suggested that I am making any criticism of Tockwith’s abilities as a trainer. I can only comment on how they conducted themselves in dealing with me, and that has been well covered here.
I agree, the forum should not be used to ‘bash’ anyone who doesn’t deserve it, least of all a company with a good record.
My post was really about ‘how I felt’ after meeting with them. A tougher guy would, no doubt, have shrugged it off with a few well chosen words.
Perhaps my experience really was an exception, how can I know? I am happy to read Tockwith’s assurances that it was, and I do want to believe them - both for their own sake and the sake of others who may go to them in the future for an assessment.
My advice to other newbies like me would echo what you have said in the past: Visit the prospective trainer and apply your own judgement. In my case, my money was spent with you - enough said.
Alan
OnlyAlan:
I agree, the forum should not be used to ‘bash’ anyone who doesn’t deserve it, least of all a company with a good record.
If it can be used for praise, it can be used for criticism …
especially when its as balanced as this thread seems to be, its only through criticism that we learn to improve after all.
I have just 1 question as you said you live in the North East why not use 1 of the trainers 
here as there are 4 all with good reputations
I could have give you my opinion of all of them or you could have had an assessment for free ( well at least from 2 of them )
Although I dont know where in the North East you are that may have a bearing on it
animal:
I have just 1 question as you said you live in the North East why not use 1 of the trainersI could have give you my opinion of all of them or you could have had an assessment for free ( well at least from 2 of them )
Although I dont know where in the North East you are that may have a bearing on it
That was always an option. In fact I did some training with a man in the NE (not recommended on here, but I didn’t know about TNUK then). I failed my C with him and decided to go to a DSA approved company. The North East ones I approached only offered two-to-one training so I decided to travel to PSTT at Mansfield where I got one-to-one for a similar price. I went back there for my C+E because I was so impressed with them.
Just a bit of ‘horses for courses’ I guess. Besides, I would make a pretty poor LGV driver if a drive of 130 miles in my own car put me off.
(p.s. animal, thanks for the agency info you sent me)
Alan
Think I know who you mean he runs Scania tall
He does have a good rep as was recommended by an examiner 
I will poss be going there for my CE as he has give me some confidence which last 1 didnt long story bout that for another day
If you would like any more agency just let me know
animal:
Think I know who you mean he runs Scania tall
No, the guy I was with has an old Volvo that is a class 2 until he unbolts the box to show the fifth wheel and then couples-up the trailer. Does that tell you who? If not I will PM you.
Alan
That must be some serious long tractor unit to comply with minimum vehicle requirements as a rigid cat c