Has anyone here done training using an auto rather than a manual?New rules have come in allowing it and yet will cover
successful trainee for both auto and manual
Not many folks will have been trained and passed on auto so far. We have done a few - no problems. I want to dispel the myth that examiners will be tough on other topics to compensate for the lack of gears. This is pure nonsense and has not been our experience.
A couple of our passes have been those who had not quite done it with the manual. But they’ve come back and sailed through on auto. Even if the gear aren’t an issue, they still take concentration which can make the difference between pass and fail.
Pete 
i reckon i’d have passed 1st time in a auto as my only serious was undue hesitation caused by me taking too long to start off on a hill after stopping for a oncoming car…
I just did my C+E in an auto, It defiantly helped a lot, as it gives you the time to worry about mirrors and road positioning etc etc, when you not having to worry about range changers. I can drive split boxes, have done a lot and passed my class 2 with one so on an artic i don’t think its a bad rule as once you have a job your on your own and relaxed so will most likely drive manual with no probs.
i am also going to be doing my tranning and test on an auto at wallace in park royal just waiting for them to get bk to me with dates
Good luck to any new driver who has gone through the C and C+E with no experience of manual truck gears.
You join a agency or a firm and get thrown a set of keys to a manual without any prior training and you really will be screwed. Its not something you can simply pick up. I can understand why its appealing though, one less thing to worry about but its worth thinking of the bigger picture.
I was under the illusion that I had to pass in a manual to drive manuals and autos, and that same as cars passing in an auto would only allow me to drive an auto not a manual. When choosing my training school I chose a recommended one, and im doing my class 2 in a few weeks in a 6/12 hi/lo speed manual mercedes and to be fair i think the only thing i struggled with in my assessment was the gears, i reckon id breeze it in an auto, gears are so ■■■■ stiff in lorrys lol 
ajt:
Good luck to any new driver who has gone through the C and C+E with no experience of manual truck gears.
You join a agency or a firm and get thrown a set of keys to a manual without any prior training and you really will be screwed. Its not something you can simply pick up.
We did years ago so what makes drivers these days less capable 
- many of us passed with a straight 6 like a car and then went on to use other types of gear boxes 
gears are so ■■■■ stiff in lorrys lol
Only if there’s something wrong with them or the truck is just worn out.
I suggest you look around. There are many scrap vehicles being used as training vehicles but we are not all the same by a long way.
Pete
Might have just been me, had a right stiff left shoulder when i woke up the next morning after my assessment (im right handed before the wise cracks start )
Certainly, using muscles that you don’t normally use can cause aches. But if it’s that noticeable, I suggest it’s more the truck than you. eg when I do a demo drive I make a point of changing gear with my little finger. This is to get over the idea that, although it’s a truck, there’s no physical effort involved.
If you cant do that, the truck has seen better days.
Pete
ROG:
ajt:
Good luck to any new driver who has gone through the C and C+E with no experience of manual truck gears.
You join a agency or a firm and get thrown a set of keys to a manual without any prior training and you really will be screwed. Its not something you can simply pick up.We did years ago so what makes drivers these days less capable
You should know but give a new driver a manual box for the first time and it takes them a bit of getting used to, a bit as in a good few hours to a day to get their head round it.
What makes a new driver passing in automatics on say a Monday suddenly able to drive a manual on a Tuesday?
You throw a new driver who’s only been used to automatics into a truck with a manual box and majority wouldn’t have a clue what to do about high and low range and half gears etc. Given that most new drivers will probably use agencies to get a job, they will simply be thrown a set of keys so there is no time to learn as such.
I believe the point ROG was making is that, up until about the last 10 years, almost everyone learned on a straight 6 box. Certainly no-one ever taught me how to use a splitter or a range change and I managed the same as anyone else.
The fact is that 2 axle rigids are either 6 speed or auto. Artics are mainly auto with a good smattering of anything else you can think of in between. Regardless of what someone trains on, they are not likely to encounter exactly the same in the “real world”. So it could be argued that the use of a range change for training is just making the job harder than needs be.
We had another new manual delivered Jan 2013 and the salesman said it was the only manual he had sold that year. That says quite a lot. We have started gently moving over to offer both auto and manual with a new auto just arrived last month.
To each their own. The choices are there and it’s up to the customer to decide how they want to go about it.
It is perfectly reasonable, IMO, for someone to pass everything on auto and then spend an hour with a range change without the pressure of a test.
Pete
ajt:
ROG:
ajt:
Good luck to any new driver who has gone through the C and C+E with no experience of manual truck gears.
You join a agency or a firm and get thrown a set of keys to a manual without any prior training and you really will be screwed. Its not something you can simply pick up.We did years ago so what makes drivers these days less capable
You should know but give a new driver a manual box for the first time and it takes them a bit of getting used to, a bit as in a good few hours to a day to get their head round it.
What makes a new driver passing in automatics on say a Monday suddenly able to drive a manual on a Tuesday?
You throw a new driver who’s only been used to automatics into a truck with a manual box and majority wouldn’t have a clue what to do about high and low range and half gears etc. Given that most new drivers will probably use agencies to get a job, they will simply be thrown a set of keys so there is no time to learn as such.
So what do you suggest? A test for every different type of manual gearbox?
A newbie can pass a manual test in a straight six and still be thrown a set of keys by an Agency for a 4 over 4.
A newbie can pass a manual test in a straight six and still be thrown a set of keys by an Agency for a 4 over 4.
True. But in fairness, this has only become the case again in the last 3 weeks. But before the requirement for 8 forward gears (around 2005) most trained in a straight 6. All that has changed is that most new vehicles are now auto.
Pete
I used to think that it was a bad idea allowing training on auto but I have come around to it now. Case in point is that I had until this morning driven straight 6, 6 with splitter, 4 beside 4 slap over, same with splitter, and auto. Spot the obvious missing one? Yes, good old 4 over 4.
This morning guess what I got? yep, 4 over 4 for first time. I just took it steady and thought a bit more, and after 20 minutes it was starting to flow. So basically it wasn’t an issue that I hadn’t been trained on it, the gear stick markings and a bit of trial and error sorted it out.
As said above, you can’t have a test for everything, you learn to drive one of them safely, pass a test, then work the rest out as you encounter it.
I did my class 2 in a manual, then a month later did my class 1 in an auto, I now have manual upgrade on licence for class 1. I’m just glad I did my class 2 in a manual so I’ve some idea when faced with a stick in class 1.
I passed class 2 in a manual, then drove 7.5t for a year. A couple of months ago landed a class 2 job, did my assesment in an auto which was no bother, the next week I was out with one of the lads getting trained up in a manual class 2… it was terrable I felt i had forgot everything i was taught, a couple of hours later I was spot on with it!!!
I wouldnt like to even think about driving a manual if I had learned in an auto 
Sometimes working out how to use the cruise, or engine brake, or finding the AdBlu gauge can be harder than an unfamiliar gearbox.
Must admit I’m pleased I learnt in a manual though.
At the end of the day though, most of us have diesel in our veins, and we know one end of a lorry/truck/wagon [WINKING FACE] from the other.
I do not get what the issue is …
I drove a straight 4 car then a straight 5 C1 during the 70s and 80s - I then passed C+E in a straight 6 artic in 88
I then got to drive all sorts of manual gear boxes with a little tuition from other drivers
When I got to drive autos I still had a little tuition from other drivers
So what is the problem?
Or are we saying that todays drivers are numpties and less capable to do the same?