Automatic vehicles will be accepted for test from April 12th, the DSA have confirmed today and will give a full manual licence provided the candidate holds a full manual car licence.
Pete 
Peter Smythe:
Automatic vehicles will be accepted for test from April 12th, the DSA have confirmed today.Pete
They are already accepted so I assume you mean that the new law giving a LGV auto pass as manual if already got a manual B licence comes into force ?
Peter Smythe:
Automatic vehicles will be accepted for test from April 12th, the DSA have confirmed today.Pete
Did I hear a sigh of relief as I read that post, Pete? 
Did I hear a sigh of relief as I read that post, Pete?
Just a little one as our new automatic truck is with us shortly!
To be clear, we will be offering a choice of manual or auto at Mansfield and only manual at Peterborough at present.
Pete
My only concern with this is actually driving an artic with a manual gearbox after you pass your test and the second thing would be getting a job with someone and they knkw you passed your test in an auto?? I appreciate alot of the vehicles are going this route.
I was brought up with manuals and found the ever increasing array of autos a little confusing so I imagine the same would happen the other way around
The only way to rectify that would be to use an array of manuals and autos whilst on training which is impractical
My only concern with this is actually driving an artic with a manual gearbox after you pass your test and the second thing would be getting a job with someone and they knkw you passed your test in an auto?? I appreciate alot of the vehicles are going this route.
Cant argue with that. But everyone will have their own opinion and, honestly, mine doesnāt matter. All Iām doing is offering choice. Itās up to the candidate to choose what suits them.
Pete
Pete , do you happen to have a link to this- am out of office till tomorrow. Thanks
John
chevmac:
Pete , do you happen to have a link to this- am out of office till tomorrow. ThanksJohn
Nothing on the DSA website yet. Maybe updated later.
Paul 
DSA customer services donāt have any update at the moment either 
From the horseās mouth this morning. Never, ever been wrong in many years.
Pete
Many a horse has fallen at the last fence
John
Many a horse has fallen at the last fence
This particular one has never failed to finish. Sāpose thereās always a first time LOL!
Pete
gov.uk/government/consultat ā¦ assessment
12. Initial impact assessment
The initial impact assessment (IA) analyses the costs and benefits of each of the qualification proposals in this paper in more detail. It can be found at gov.uk/government/uploads/sy ā¦ ssment.pdf.
12.1 Exemption from regulation for micro-businesses and start-ups
The government announced in the March 2011 Budget that it would introduce a moratorium exempting micro and start-up businesses from new domestic regulation for 3 years from 1 April 2011. Our preferred proposal will require major changes to domestic regulations and therefore any such alterations could not be in force before April 2014.
Itās official -the start date is 10th April - seems your horse was in an earlier race Pete.
DSA have just sent out emails confirming the date
John
Peter Smythe:
My only concern with this is actually driving an artic with a manual gearbox after you pass your test and the second thing would be getting a job with someone and they knkw you passed your test in an auto?? I appreciate alot of the vehicles are going this route.
Cant argue with that. But everyone will have their own opinion and, honestly, mine doesnāt matter. All Iām doing is offering choice. Itās up to the candidate to choose what suits them.
Pete
Obviously wasānt out make that sound like a dig at you if you felt it came across like that.
I think i will have to email or contact some haulage firms to get there thoughts on it to cure my curiosity lol
i feel you are heading in the right direction with an auto as most new vehicles are autos.
Regards
Danny
Obviously wasānt out make that sound like a dig at you if you felt it came across like that.
I think i will have to email or contact some haulage firms to get there thoughts on it to cure my curiosity lol
i feel you are heading in the right direction with an auto as most new vehicles are autos.
Never thought it was a ādigā. And you wouldnāt be the first anyway!
Contacting hauliers is a constructive idea - and a good way of introducing yourself.
Donāt be so sure that āall new vehicles are autosā. A good number are - especially artics. But many rigids are manual as are the remaining artics.
My personal recommendation is to use manual for CAT C then auto for the upgrade to CE. But I wont turn away anyone wishing to do it all on auto, all on manual or any other combination. It really is personal choice unless your employer is paying - in which case itās their choice.
Two things going on. One is to pass the test and the other is to be able to drive a truck in the real world.
Pete
I would say that after taking away car to class 1 this is the biggest change to getting the licence.
In the beginning you could take a car test on an artic. Called double L.
Trainers do have strong opinions but ultimately follow the DSA rules. This time next year not many trainers will have manuals.
Respect to Pete for yet again being at the forefront.
Makes sense. Since i passed i have only touched a manual twice since 2011