The Tuffnells depot near to me has a high turn over of labour,so dont be too quick to relocate.A 17 tonner is quite big ,will you be trunking with it?You would get a hell of a lot of parcels on it.
Honestly I don’t care if it’s going to be hard work, I need the experience.
I was told that the first week would be out with another driver so I can learn the system, which is much better than when I did an agency day for City Link and just got lumped with 80 parcels in an area I have no knowledge of and in the countryside, not getting a vehicle till half 10 with night coming in at 4pm with fog. Oh and it had a tail lift!
I have family in the area so I’m sure I might be able to lodge for a little while before I go for full blow rent.
I would prefer trunking but it is multi drop unfortunately but if a trunking position comes up I’ll put myself forward.
Harry
Russell said cheers for the well wishes and yes he did pass 1st time with 3 minors. In his words another piece in his jigsaw of life. You can see him at flairtraining.co.uk/studentgallery.htm
Hello DoYouMeanMe
It is about time you woke up and smelled the coffee
DoYouMeanMe?:
The only response I can draw from that is that the training offered by these ‘Training companies’ is obviously inadequate then.
Inadequte? What do you think a training company’s duty is. To get people through the test or make them a good lorry driver ?
DoYouMeanMe?:
It’s high time the companies who are going to be the end users, re-wrote the training manual you are working from and felt secure that the end results are ‘Drivers’ not test passers.
Please don’t be naive. Our sole role on this earth is to get test passers. Ask anybody on this site or any other, would candidates prefer to spend £1000 and become a great driver or do they want to pass. 100% want value and value means passing the test. That is what trainers spend all day every day trying to achieve. I speak for every single trainer in this country.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but dont tell me that trainers have any other duty than to get the passes. If you think different then you are a complete idiot who knows nothing about training.
The Saxmachine:
I had an interview at Tuffnells today and I’m expecting a call near the end of the week. He said he was very interested in employing me and that his only real concern is that I live an hour away, but I said I’d be willing to relocate. It’d be driving a 17T rigid and if this turns out to be my only offer I am taking it with both hands. Then I can start paying back my training company!
Great news about the job at Tuffnells, I see quite a few of their wag and drags about so there could eventually be an opening on those if they run them from your area.
Good luck and let us know how you get on 
go for it saxmachine…good luck to ya
But what use are these people who have passed a test if the industry you are training them for still don’t think they are qualified enough to drive their trucks? There must be a country wide lack of faith in the training program as it is the same story nationwide. I can appreciate that you are doing what is required to get them through the test and if you were the only one who did more and thus had to increase your prices, you would find yourself without anyone to train, however surely something needs to be done to restore the faith of the end user. Take a car driver, we all except that although they learn the basics of driving, the main objective is that they learn the skills required to pass their test, then they get their own car and at that point, hopefully learn to drive in a more street savvy way as most people admit, passing the test was not the end of their learning curve. But at least they are doing this in their own car.
The problem with an HGV test and pass is that they then have to drive someone else’s vehicle to gain that experience and the people with the trucks are not happy letting them do so.
I don’t know what the current practices are with trainees, do they ever drive a truck that is full loaded and feel the difference between this and empty? You take it personally but I am trying to say that the test/training procedure needs a revamp that includes a range of skills that the end user, the haulage industry, has more faith in and would then see them as more of a finished article, not just your school, but the whole training industry. I don’t claim to have the answers, but when there is a massive divide between what the DSA sees as ready to go and what the bosses see as ready to drive their trucks, there is something that needs a serious amount of attention.
Please don’t be naive. Our sole role on this earth is to get test passers. Ask anybody on this site or any other, would candidates prefer to spend £1000 and become a great driver or do they want to pass. 100% want value and value means passing the test. That is what trainers spend all day every day trying to achieve. I speak for every single trainer in this country.
But six months later all they want is a job
DoYouMeanMe?:
I don’t know what the current practices are with trainees, do they ever drive a truck that is full loaded and feel the difference between this and empty? You take it personally but I am trying to say that the test/training procedure needs a revamp that includes a range of skills that the end user, the haulage industry, has more faith in and would then see them as more of a finished article, not just your school, but the whole training industry. I don’t claim to have the answers, but when there is a massive divide between what the DSA sees as ready to go and what the bosses see as ready to drive their trucks, there is something that needs a serious amount of attention.
The powers that be dropped the age limit from 21 to 18, the hauliers want 2 years experience, and I cannot argue with that, letting someone go straight out with a 44tonne 100k outfit after 12 or 15 hours behind the wheel of an empty one 
. Allegedly the insurance companies want drivers to be 25 or over with the necessary experience.
So your divide of being ready to go and suitable for the boss has grown even further apart, not to be addressed by a 35 hour attendance course 5 years apart. In more sensible times, drivers went out with other drivers on HGV L plates, they fastened the loads on together, the older guy taught them a few suitable shortcuts, the best cafes and made the new larker buy the tea. At the end of the day, week, month; everyone got paid, but the difference was they already had a job, working our way up from broom attendant to garage labourer to eventually driver.
Now the new driver, reads the Sun or Mirror, sees an advert for riches beyond their dreams, either selling real estate in the Transvaal or Florida or taking an “intensive driving course” and earning a 40k annual salary one week later.
Like you. I don’t know the answer, but a revamp is certainly due!
Awesome news. Received a phone call from tuffnells. Night trunk wagon and drag, Ipswich to London. Start tonight. I really should fit in a snooze but I’m far too excited. This week I’ll be out with another driver to see what they do and then my turn next week.
The Saxmachine:
Awesome news. Received a phone call from tuffnells. Night trunk wagon and drag, Ipswich to London. Start tonight. I really should fit in a snooze but I’m far too excited. This week I’ll be out with another driver to see what they do and then my turn next week.
Have fun!
The Saxmachine:
Awesome news. Received a phone call from tuffnells. Night trunk wagon and drag, Ipswich to London. Start tonight. I really should fit in a snooze but I’m far too excited. This week I’ll be out with another driver to see what they do and then my turn next week.
Great news, congratulations.
Thank you. No need for any unpaid nonsense.
Great news, let us know how you get on.
The Saxmachine:
Awesome news. Received a phone call from tuffnells. Night trunk wagon and drag, Ipswich to London. Start tonight. I really should fit in a snooze but I’m far too excited. This week I’ll be out with another driver to see what they do and then my turn next week.
Great news…Job sorted, with pay 
great news mate,hope it goes ok,keep us posted,cheers.carl
The Saxmachine:
Start tonight. I really should fit in a snooze but I’m far too excited.
Aw bless, this took me back 25 years…
Good luck to you mate, I am old and miserable and worn-out and cynical now but I still remember the adrenaline thrill when I did my first outing in a loaded truck as a proper “No L Plates” truck driver and it is a “Top of the World” moment!
Let us know how you got on.
DoYouMeanMe
You make some great valid points mate. Ther problem is that economics mean trainers do struggle to fit what is needed into the time allowed.
When I started it was all car to class 1 courses. We normally had 8-10 days. No theory No CPC No digi cards and the guys came out of the production line quite good drivers. I really do take your point.
£1000 for a pass certificate but limited knowledge or £3000 for a pass certicate and the skills to realistically get a job.
But there is good news !!! Tomorrow I start a brand new thread with the answer to everyone’s problem.
Keep the faith
The Saxmachine:
Awesome news. Received a phone call from tuffnells. Night trunk wagon and drag, Ipswich to London. Start tonight. I really should fit in a snooze but I’m far too excited. This week I’ll be out with another driver to see what they do and then my turn next week.
That is indeed great news, hope the job goes well and you enjoy it 
OK, I’ve had a while to think about this and I have an answer, the trouble is that most training schools won’t like it, but here goes.
The independent training school is dead. Driving around in an empty truck on regular runs is, IMO, not representative of the job it is training the pupils for and is on par with training to climb mount Everest by climbing a stack of chairs in the local village hall.
Training should be done by haulage companies where the trainer sits with the pupil (one or as I still prefer, 2 at a time)as they actually do the job just as the regular drivers do (although obviousley you would have to pick the shorter runs). That way the pupil is learning load security, driving lorries under varying loads and all about what is expected at load and tip points whilst subsidising the lessons by actually earning money with the truck. A week or two doing this would give a far better insight into the mechanics of the job.The trainers would still need to be the same qualified persons as required now and could hire them selves to different companies in weekly blocks although, no doubt some companies would employ full time trainers and then have the pick of the best recently qualified newbies.
It shouldn’t cost any more as the truck is earning, albeit a little less, but factor in the trainees contribution and it should even out. I could see the big hitters doing it, DHL, Stobart etc.
Your view John?
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDdddouble posting ■■■■■!