I’m another newbie just starting out on my class 2 journey so this is a sort of diary to mark off my progress as I pootle along.
A bit about me - I’m in my 40’s, work in an office, which bores the shinola out of me, and I am expecting to be made redundant early next year so decided to go for a career change in preparation for when that time comes. Even if they don’t make me redundant then the company has become redundant to me so either way in the New Year it’s time to leave.
So today I had my medical through Big Wheelers in Cardiff and all was well (thank goodness because I was worried since I never go to the docs and you never know). All forms were completed and sent off to apply for provisional entitlement.
Just got to wait for my licence to come back now. In the mean time I’m swatting up for the theory, hazard perception and module 2 scenario questions.
Hi Katea,
Another female newbie here. The most useful thing I can say to you is, as you’ve not yet started taking actual driving training, buy test insurance. Some instructors have said to me that most people pass in one go, well, to me that’s a lie as out of 5 or 6 fellow trainees I’ve spoken to only one passed in one go and he was an experienced multi drop Mercedes sprinter van driver. So if I was you, just spend £300 on test insurance and you can fail multiple times without paying £500 at a time for re-tests.
But as for theory, hazard perception and CPC, if you study it properly you can pass in one go.
Good luck, and watch the videos on the forum here.
Welcome to the forum! and I’m a recently passed Newbie who posts a fair bit of crap (Newbie experience stuff) on the forum. So maybe look in my post history and see what threads I’ve started, but you best ignore my babbling rambling on other peoples threads!
But don’t be intimidated in a male dominated industry, some of us try not to be gits all of the time!
Not convinced about the test insurance comment. If we had 5 out of 6 fail I’d being slashing my wrists! Maybe look for a good trainer, spend proper money to start with rather than go for a cheap offering and give yourself a good chance of a 1st time pass. It’s perfectly achievable as several candidates of mine show week after week.
Peter Smythe:
Not convinced about the test insurance comment. If we had 5 out of 6 fail I’d being slashing my wrists! Maybe look for a good trainer, spend proper money to start with rather than go for a cheap offering and give yourself a good chance of a 1st time pass. It’s perfectly achievable as several candidates of mine show week after week.
Good luck with it all, Pete
Hence why I’ll be back for my Class 1 after passing Class 2 first time with 3 minors, that were all my fault!
Plus you don’t charge silly money for the retest, after your training!
Thanks for the kind comments. It’s always a bit daunting joining new forums.
Everyone I work with thinks I’m a bit bonkers for wanting to even entertain the idea of driving lorries so it’s such a relief to find people I can talk to about it
It’s even more difficult at work because there is a culture of ‘only men work in transport’ (and this is a national company so they should know better) and having comments thrown at me like “I’m sure you wouldn’t fancy doing deliveries at 3 in the morning down dark alleys because it’s not very safe for a woman and then there’s the heavy cages to move about, you know it’s not really suitable for women” TM
And then there was “can we get a car brought over because the cab of a lorry is no place for a lady” LM
It’s archaic attitudes like these which makes my blood boil grrr, so you can see why I am ready to get out of there lol.
Katea:
… It’s always a bit daunting joining new forums.
Hi katea,
We’re glad that you’re not daunted any longer!
Katea:
Everyone I work with thinks I’m a bit bonkers for wanting to even entertain the idea of driving lorries so it’s such a relief to find people I can talk to about it
There are loads of outdated people like that, so that’s nothing new.
There’s absolutely no reason why a female shouldn’t drive a truck, so please ignore anybody who says different.
Katea:
It’s even more difficult at work because there is a culture of ‘only men work in transport’ (and this is a national company so they should know better) and having comments thrown at me like “I’m sure you wouldn’t fancy doing deliveries at 3 in the morning down dark alleys because it’s not very safe for a woman and then there’s the heavy cages to move about, you know it’s not really suitable for women” TM
That comment is fair enough if TM had said “person” instead of “woman,” because the risk that’s been (correctly) identified applies to people of both sexes.
Katea:
And then there was “can we get a car brought over because the cab of a lorry is no place for a lady” LM
Now that’s utter nonsense.
Katea:
It’s archaic attitudes like these which makes my blood boil grrr, so you can see why I am ready to get out of there lol.
Mine too!
From what you’ve written, I doubt that anybody would blame you for wanting to get out of a place where such attitudes still exist.
Peter Smythe:
Not convinced about the test insurance comment. If we had 5 out of 6 fail I’d being slashing my wrists! Maybe look for a good trainer, spend proper money to start with rather than go for a cheap offering and give yourself a good chance of a 1st time pass. It’s perfectly achievable as several candidates of mine show week after week.
Good luck with it all, Pete [emoji38] [emoji38]
Those people were all with different schools, all schools are recommended by Trucknet, I won’t name them cause I don’t think it’s to do with the schools, or even the trainers. I just think it’s bloody hard and the nerves play a role as well as ‘bagage’. I think having to pay £500 a test is a big pressure and let’s face it you don’t get that much time to get ready for a test. I got 3 and a half day training before my first test, and I failed twice.
£500 a test? OMG!!We charge £270 and offer any further training at half price. So you’ve got to go some to spend £500.
The answer is to learn with a suitably qualified trainer, working to proper standards. This gives anyone the best possible chance. Naturally, not everyone’s going to pass 1st time - but surely it makes sense to give yourself the best chance.
There is a list of DVSA LGV Accredited Schools which is appallingly short. But, for anyone interested in auditable quality training, this is the link:
Peter Smythe:
£500 a test? OMG!!We charge £270 and offer any further training at half price. So you’ve got to go some to spend £500.
The answer is to learn with a suitably qualified trainer, working to proper standards. This gives anyone the best possible chance. Naturally, not everyone’s going to pass 1st time - but surely it makes sense to give yourself the best chance.
There is a list of DVSA LGV Accredited Schools which is appallingly short. But, for anyone interested in auditable quality training, this is the link:
Hi Peter,
I am with one of the schools on that list! And I’ve handed over my cash now, for class 1 too which I will do next year sometime so I don’t think I can do anything about it without losing money.
Nevermind.[emoji22]
I sent off for my provisional entitlement on 5th September and got it back today (14th) so pleased about that, the only gripe I have is that because you don’t get the paper part anymore you now have to view your entitlements online which turned out to be a real potch! Computer says no - details don’t match grr. (Well that turned out to be DVLA speak for their system is playing up )
So I phoned the number shown on the net and spoke to a nice lady at the DVLA who got me a code so I could view my ‘ex-paper’ part just to check I have a provisional for LGV C - which I now have so yay
So when payday comes next week I’ll book my theory and hazard perception tests woo-hoo!
Some of my mates & people I have spoken to recently still don’t believe I drive 1 how can you being 147 cm tall about 55 kg & of course female
Ok a few weeks back I did have a slight accident when I fell off the lorry my fault btw fractured ankle ruptured achilles & torn ligaments was the result
My advice would be go & visit several companies see if you can have an assessment before booking our practical make sure you get it right
£500 for a re test was it gold plated or something up here in the North East it is a lot less than that
Btw some providers do residential training I went down to Flair training in Chelmsford for mine I told nobody so no pressure on me & don’t be worried about being out of area as that is 1 thing you often do as a driver ( unless you intend to stay local ) I have since been bcd to Chelmsford to deliver & found it easy as still remember a lot of the roads so can have an advantage some was even in rush hour I didn’t really have to think about which lane I needed on some of the roundabouts
Residential courses aren’t an option for me since my husband swears the Earth will stand still there’s a couple of training providers around here, the one where I had my medical in Cardiff and 2 in Bridgend area so I can look around and see what they offer. Got to get through the theory stuff first which I can book on Tuesday and hopefully the wait won’t be too long.
I was surprised to discover the practical test centre is not far down the road from me so that’s good, just a pity the test routes have disappeared off the net.
welcome! good luck on your journey, make sure you do an assessment first before you hand over any money and mirrors mirrors mirrors -Interested to hear more about your journey hope you will post it on here on truck net.
ignore the doubters and nay sayers etc
Peter Smythe:
£500 a test? OMG!!We charge £270 and offer any further training at half price. So you’ve got to go some to spend £500.
The answer is to learn with a suitably qualified trainer, working to proper standards. This gives anyone the best possible chance. Naturally, not everyone’s going to pass 1st time - but surely it makes sense to give yourself the best chance.
There is a list of DVSA LGV Accredited Schools which is appallingly short. But, for anyone interested in auditable quality training, this is the link:
Hi Peter,
I am with one of the schools on that list! And I’ve handed over my cash now, for class 1 too which I will do next year sometime so I don’t think I can do anything about it without losing money.
Nevermind.[emoji22]
so this is a sort of diary to mark off my progress as I pootle along.
