Is it better to crack on with C+E soon after passing C or does getting a year or two of rigid work experience help when doing C+E test? Or is driving a ‘bendy’ completely different?
Lots of different lines of thought on this one.
My personal opinion, and the route I took, was to get a years experience and then take CE. It also gave me a chance to get finances back on track before another outlay.
The downside of this is that you start the whole ‘2 year experience’ cycle again. whereas getting them both out of the way means you are available for anything from day 1.
You also pick up bad habits and get out of ‘training mode’. That was a downside for me… having to put my training head on and get out of my lazy habits.
I know this doesn’t make things a lot clearer but thought it may help
No simple answer. As dar1976 has said, there’s good and not so good with both routes. But if finance and time are available, I always suggest going straight to CE. But if either of those factors are not available, leave it and get experience.
Good luck with whatever you decide, Pete 
There is no right or wrong answer on this but it depends on how you feel tbh
Hi, I went through mine more or less straight away, the reason being i used basically the same layout of lorry, for c i used volvo fm7 rigid i think lol, and volvo fh12 artic, gear box, controls was all the same. as I passed the licenses last few months of last year, I thought this was best action.