What do you think the driving age for trucks should be. From the Sprinter all the way up to lorrie. 18. 19. 20. or 21?
i think 21’s a pretty good age for hgv, some are still childish at that age, but a lot more would be at 18 i reckon! its all a compromise.
18 for a 7.5 tonner with proper test, 21 for all others.
Is the Young Driver scheme still in being? I think it is…whereby an 18 yr old can drive C+E @ 44 tonne. (wow, wish it had been around in my day!)
Also ofcourse if they have gained their license within the armed services.
Driveroneuk:
Is the Young Driver scheme still in being? I think it is…whereby an 18 yr old can drive C+E @ 44 tonne.
Yes, and isn’t the law changing so that any 18 year old will be able to drive a C+E provided they also obtain this new driver CPC. I’m sure I read it in an issue of C.M.
18 years old if anyone takes recruiting drivers seriously. Most people other than those who have always wanted to be drivers, are doing other things by 21 and by 25 when insurance stops discriminating against them, they are definetly else where with no desire to then become a driver. Either way its irrelivent unless action is taken against insurance companies and once the driver CPC comes in, contary to belief by those who are inventing it all, I think it’ll ensure a vastly lower level of entrants because from what I have read, self training will be all but out of bounds due to the massively increased things one must undertake just to get the licence and the cost this will naturally entail and as for the YDTS, it might be worth a mention if it actually made a difference, very well it trains people, but its usually only the large firms who do it and even then we’re not talking massive numbers and I don’t see that changing, especially as the cost of training will soon quadrouple.
18 for men and 21 for girls…
Tin hat on and stood well back 
;)
Thankyou everyone for your replys. Keep them comming. Robinhood, how old are you? What do you drive? Who do you drive for? What do you transport? What is the YDTS and the CPC? Im sorry i have so many questions. I myself think it should be 18. I am 18. I drive as a personal truck what most in Europe would call a commerical truck. It can be used as that here as well. But even insurance wont let me drive a truck or car or anything else for a company untill im 21. Im getting sick of it. My driving record is perfect. So i just have to sit and wait.
Once agian thankyou everyone for your time and intrest in this post.
Mike
jammymutt:
18 for men and 21 for girls…Tin hat on and stood well back
That doesn’t work. Men stay boys until at least 45, and girls grow up at 14… 
robinhood_1984:
Most people other than those who have always wanted to be drivers, are doing other things by 21 and by 25 when insurance stops discriminating against them, they are definetly else where with no desire to then become a driver. .
If you read other posts on this forum you will find out many of us have come from other professions and had little interest in truck driving when we were teenagers.
Lucy:
jammymutt:
18 for men and 21 for girls…Tin hat on and stood well back
That doesn’t work. Men stay boys until at least 45, and girls grow up at 14…
Tell that to Gary Glitter 
Muckles:
If you read other posts on this forum you will find out many of us have come from other professions and had little interest in truck driving when we were teenagers.
And just as many have been ‘cab-happy’ since before being teenagers 
I started driving both cars and trucks at the age of 21 (motorbikes a bit sooner) and apart from the car test had no training. I have no idea if the modern HGV tests effectively test aptitude, ie a natural feel for a large vehicle and the common sense to use it appropriately, but if they do, then I see no reason why it could not be at 18.
Salut, David.
muckles:
If you read other posts on this forum you will find out many of us have come from other professions and had little interest in truck driving when we were teenagers.
Its still not good enough and the evidence of that fact speaks for itself when you look at the rather small amount of people coming into the industry and the average age of a truck driver. I wonder how many people who became truck drivers in later life would have done so if instead of paying the couple of hundred or a thousand pound to do so, where instead faced with what people will soon be faced with, ie having to do an NVQ type process would have done it then, especially if they had to pay for it all themselves, which is highly likely. Only time will tell on this one, we can only wait and see.
Big Mike:
Thankyou everyone for your replys. Keep them comming. Robinhood, how old are you? What do you drive? Who do you drive for? What do you transport? What is the YDTS and the CPC? Im sorry i have so many questions. I myself think it should be 18. I am 18. I drive as a personal truck what most in Europe would call a commerical truck. It can be used as that here as well. But even insurance wont let me drive a truck or car or anything else for a company untill im 21. Im getting sick of it. My driving record is perfect. So i just have to sit and wait.Once agian thankyou everyone for your time and intrest in this post.
Mike
Mike
I’m 21, I passed class 2 in July and class 1 in November. In January I’m starting a new job at the company my dad works for, unfortunetly the only job going at the time was on a rigid which isn’t what I wanted after spending £1k on getting my class 1 but its better than not working at all and I have been pomised a class 1 job in the next couple of months. I don’t know what my truck will be yet, he’s hiring one for a new contract he’s got on a three month trial but I’ve been told I’ll be devivering aluminium from Humberside to the midlands.
The YDTS means ‘Young Drivers Training Scheme’ and is an NVQ based apprenticeship where you are trained in all aspects of driving, or within the boundaries of the particular vehicles your trainer operates anyway, not only that but you also spend vast amounts of time in the office learning that side of the job and it involves lots of paperwork. It may be worth you looking into, I always found it more hotair than fact to be honest, things may have changed but when I was 18 there was lots of big talk about it but when it came to someone actually training you, you got passed from post to pillar and no one actually intended investing in you, I got the impression it was more of a publicity stunt rather than a serious effort at training young drivers, though like I say, that may have changed.
The driver CPC is a new EU invention that in my opinion will cost a lot, be inconvenient and achieve absoluetly nothing at all apart from boost the British training providers coffers. Apparently drivers, even those driving for 20 or more years aren’t good enough to be driving so everyone has to do a course/training every five years, or they will lose their job. The details are yet to be finalised but if they try and take the urine too much which is highly likely, I envisage lots of drivers just giving it up, and not only old time drivers set in their ways either.
Apparently drivers, even those driving for 20 or more years aren’t good enough to be driving so everyone has to do a course/training every five years, or they will lose their job. The details are yet to be finalised but if they try and take the urine too much which is highly likely, I envisage lots of drivers just giving it up, and not only old time drivers set in their ways either.
well, theres no shortage of garbage these days, it makes me feel tired. but with a bit of luck there’ll be backhand way round it, like the hiab license and stuff like that! if you get me meaning!
Mal:
i think 21’s a pretty good age for hgv, some are still childish at that age, but a lot more would be at 18 i reckon! its all a compromise.
how old is the average boy racer? would you want them running around in a 44 tonner? 
i think it should be based on individual performance ie the better they are, the higher a grade they can get. although i have never been on a motorbike, i believe they have a similiar thing to what i mean 
robinhood_1984:
muckles:
If you read other posts on this forum you will find out many of us have come from other professions and had little interest in truck driving when we were teenagers.Its still not good enough and the evidence of that fact speaks for itself when you look at the rather small amount of people coming into the industry and the average age of a truck driver. I wonder how many people who became truck drivers in later life would have done so if instead of paying the couple of hundred or a thousand pound to do so, where instead faced with what people will soon be faced with, ie having to do an NVQ type process would have done it then, especially if they had to pay for it all themselves, which is highly likely. Only time will tell on this one, we can only wait and see.
Perhaps many young people aren’t interested in the industry because it doesn’t offer them the lifestyle they want? There are the one’s never wanted to do anything else, but how many 16-18 year old seriously want to do the job?
Not just “cor! I’d like to drive a big truck”, but seriously look at it as a profession. I’ve worked with youth groups and it didn’t seem very high on most teenagers career choices.
The most training that the average HGV drivers get is a couple of weeks in the cab learning to point it in the right direction, they then get their licence and off they go to damage truck, lose loads, learn on the job it’s called.
This forum shows how bad the training is, there are always questions about Rules and regulations, which leads to people posting incorrect answers because it has become drivers myths.
And it doesn’t matter how many years we’ve been driving we can always do with a bit of a refresher and learn new ways of doing things that are more approriate to the changes in technology. The same goes with changes in the rules and regulations cover us. Lots of things have changed in 20 years, better to learn it properly than to do what that bloke in the yard says is the truth.
My only concern is the sylubus of any training scheme, but there is nothing wrong raising the standard. If the industry then can’t get enough people willing to pay for the course then the problem is theirs. Might even elevate our job out of the manual worker bracket and we’ll get pay and condition similar to train drivers.
scanny77:
… although i have never been on a motorbike, i believe they have a similiar thing to what i mean
If you take your bike test at 21 or over you can do the ‘direct access’ course which will enables you to ride any bike when you pass. If younger you are restricted to a lower powered bike for two years. Obviously, like the LGV it’s again age based.
scanny77:
Mal:
i think 21’s a pretty good age for hgv, some are still childish at that age, but a lot more would be at 18 i reckon! its all a compromise.how old is the average boy racer? would you want them running around in a 44 tonner?
so you reckon 21 is too young? or did you read my post wrong?
i said 21 is ok for hgv, like we all got them at. some people are still childish even at 21, but more of a % of em will be at 18. i dont think lessening the age is a good idea, as i said in my post.
And it doesn’t matter how many years we’ve been driving we can always do with a bit of a refresher and learn new ways of doing things that are more approriate to the changes in technology.
speak for yourself muckles old pal, volutary training you want for yourself is one thing, some worthy ■■■■■■ deciding thyre knowing whats best and foisting it on me is another.
im heartilly sick to bleeding death with all the stuff they invent as it is. i can see the need for that type of stuff if somebody cant do their job right, or is driving bad ect. where there is a need to redress somthing wrong, well fair enough.
and i speak for myself, if the day comes i cannot do any job im given to do, then they can train me for it. i aint ever failed yet, till then i’d appreciate being left alone to get on with it.
but if a driver can do their job satisfactory and adapt via common sense to changes then they should be left alone to do it, not aggravated with some load of ■■■■■■■■ that somebody else thinks is a good idea. this training for this, training for that larks getting out of hand, anybody would be amazed how we got this far in history without it.
Well said Mal 
simon