This is my first post, thanks for taking the time to read it.
I’m thinking of going for my C+E licence, I am going to have to do my C licence first and I am 43 years old.
I have spent the last 5-6 months driving a 7.5t doing 50-60 drops a day for a less than “caring” company (who shall remain nameless, for now).
I have a few questions:
Does anyone have experience with any training companies in Northamptonshire? Good or bad? I want to get the best out of my £2000+.
What are the chances, after passing, of getting a job driving in Europe? This is what I really want to do and I have lots of experience driving a 30ft, LHD yankee motorhome all around the continent. I even speak a little of some of the languages.
Are these jobs sought after or rare as hens teeth?
Should I take my test with drawbar or artic? I’m attracted to the artics.
Finally, why do companies use drawbar and what are the differences in driving them?
Thanks for any advice you can give me, it’s going to be the answers from this forum that decide if I go for the licence or not, so it’s important to me.
Should I take my test with drawbar or artic? I’m attracted to the artics.
Finally, why do companies use drawbar and what are the differences in driving them?
Go for the same setup as you plan to drive, but realistically you’d be better off with an artic as they are more common.
With a drawbar / wag& drag outfit the training school can put a trailer behind their rigid and they saved the cost of keeping a unit on the road. I’m sure that the drag will follow the rigid well unlike an artic trailer which will cut in more.
It’s reckoned to be easier to learn in the wag & drag but it might end up being dearer / harder in the long run.
I was 45 when i took my vocational licences, and found no problem getting UK work at least. Go for artic as that is the most popular, and u can drive drawbar anyway if needs be. I personally think that it is easier to convert to drawbar from artic rather than the other way around.
Training companies in Northampton will be the same as everywhere slse - we all think we are the best, but at the end of the day its up to you to pass the test. Try to get an instructor who is DSA registered as this shows that he/she has attained the standard required to instruct.
Companies use wagon and drags because they can be longer and therefore have more pallet spaces. Artic maximum length is 16.5M whereas wagon and drag is 18.25M.
I’d say most companies use a drawbar so you can use the Wagon for Class2 (rigid)and the Drag for Class 1 training.instead of buying 2 different types of vehicle.
Whereas you could’nt use just an Artic unit for class 2 or rigid training.so it no doubt saves the companies money.
In most cases when you pass your tests you will drive an Artic,so do your test in an Artic.
I passed in a drawbar,but had no Idea about driving an Artic,as coupling up is different and the way the trailer cuts in is different as the drawbar pretty much follows the line of the unit,but an Artic cuts the corners,and they manouvre differently.
Companies doing European work is getting rare as there is’nt the money in it anymore due to cheap foreign competition.
I know that E.M Rogers in Northampton still do it,but pretty sure Its not like it was.
Smart Mart:
Try to get an instructor who is DSA registered as this shows that he/she has attained the standard required to instruct.
A DSA registered intructor is no better or worse than one who is not - doing the DSA instructor test does not teach an instructor how to teach/train - it is a method used by training companies to ‘look good’ to clients.
Welcome biglaughingjym
Check out the link in my signature for various tips
Don’t want to fall out with you Rog about registered or not. Of course the ability to train is not dependant on being registered. Registration purely indicates a commitment and ability to train - but given a choice between registered and not and the choice should be registered - after all you don’t learn to drive a car with non-registered professional instructors!
Smart Mart:
Don’t want to fall out with you Rog about registered or not. Of course the ability to train is not dependant on being registered. Registration purely indicates a commitment and ability to train - but given a choice between registered and not and the choice should be registered - after all you don’t learn to drive a car with non-registered professional instructors!
The teaching of non road wise car learners is completely different to that of teaching a driver to upgrade their licence.
I am not DSA registered but there are others on here that are - an opinion from one of them will usually be the same as mine.
The DSA instructor test proves that an instructor can pass that test - it does not teach training ability.
I could name a few DSA LGV instructors in my local area that are crap at the job, so it proves nothing. THE ONLY TRUE TEST OF AN LGV INSTRUCTORS’ ABILITY ETC IS TO GET A VIEW FROM THOSE THEY HAVE TRAINED
The DSA instructor test proves that an instructor can pass that test - it does not teach training ability.
I agree wholeheartedly with this statement Rog. I began instructing over 20 years ago and was taught to teach. i was also taught that everyone was different and you had to adapt your teaching methods to suit.
I had been instructing for 15 years when the volountary register came out and as my pass rate was over 75% on first time passes I decided not to go for it. I did have a conversation with the chief examiner who was trying to talk me into it and I quoted the DSA wording that the ‘applicant was expected to achieve the minimum standard required by the DSA to be accepted onto the register’. I told him I had no intentions of lowering my standards to the DSA minumum and he acepted my argument.
However I also agree that having some sort of standard as set by the DSA register is not a bad idea as it does give new instructors something to work on.
I have never agreed with schools who employ and old ex trucker to sit in the shotgun seat and pass on bad habits to learners and never get them to test standard.
Pass rates speak for themselves and I believe that recomendation is the best advert any school will ever have, and in fact most of our clients come via recomendation, but if prospective trainees prefer to choose a registered instructor then it is thier choice. It is their money that they are spending so they are entitled to feel secure in their choice of training school.
I’m not wanting to continue this thread (which we seem to have hi-jacked) but it seems to me that non DSA registered instuctors seem to feel the need to be-little the register, for which there is no justification.
True there are different standards of instructors, registered or not (or at least we each have our opinion about others). This must be true because we all have the ‘best pass rates’ in the industry, and when talk starts about pass-rates i just start to smell bull-■■■■. Particularly as we all know how low the national average is - we can’t all be so far above it!
One benefit if every instructor was registered would be for the DSA to have available and publish pass rates for us all - then we could see who got the best pupils and who didn’t, because we all know its not us that takes the test, but our pupils.
By the way I keep a spreadsheet of all my pupils and am sorry to say that last year their pass rates only made a 52.8% first time! However that was something like 14% above the test centre average and 7% above the national average for all tests. I’m quite happy to share my spreadsheet with anyone who cares to come and see it.
Lets all agree to have different opinions and leave the prospective pupils to ask around, because as Rog says ‘THE ONLY TRUE TEST OF AN LGV INSTRUCTORS’ ABILITY ETC., IS TO GET A VIEW FROM THOSE THEY HAVE TRAINED’
