where to start

Hi
I would like to become a class 1 Lorry driver .
I am a 31 years old male based in London .
I applied on DVLA website for a provisional licence .
I heard of a company called Wallace based in London Park Royal, are they reputable and a good choice ?
so by what I know, first I need to pass class 2 then I can book the test for class one, is that right ?

also one important question, my car licence is a UK Automatic licence not because I can’t drive manual cars but because stupidly I used my bother’s automatic car to pass my test back in 2012 , now am I allowed to do my class 2 training and test with a manual lorry to be able to get a manual class 1 licence ? or do I have to do my training and test with an Automatic licence just because my car licence is automatic?
only asking because I know if I get a manual licence then I will have a better chance of finding jobs .

and finally how easy will it be for me to find jobs once a get my Class 1 licence ? I have no experience .

Cheers

Nick

Nick911:
Hi
I would like to become a class 1 Lorry driver .
I am a 31 years old male based in London .
I applied on DVLA website for a provisional licence .
I heard of a company called Wallace based in London Park Royal, are they reputable and a good choice ?
so by what I know, first I need to pass class 2 then I can book the test for class one, is that right ?

also one important question, my car licence is a UK Automatic licence not because I can’t drive manual cars but because stupidly I used my bother’s automatic car to pass my test back in 2012 , now am I allowed to do my class 2 training and test with a manual lorry to be able to get a manual class 1 licence ? or do I have to do my training and test with an Automatic licence just because my car licence is automatic?
only asking because I know if I get a manual licence then I will have a better chance of finding jobs .

and finally how easy will it be for me to find jobs once a get my Class 1 licence ? I have no experience .

Cheers

Nick

Wallace have a very good rep
B auto then doing C manual gives you B manual for life
Check that training company have a C manual because most now have C autos for training

Now check out the link in my signature below as it gives most of the info you need

As ROG says, Wallace is good. I would be surprised if they have any manuals - but there’s an obvious way to find out! The easier route, by far, is to take another car test in a manual (no theory required). Then you can concentrate on driving the truck.

And, if you check our reviews and like what you see, you could give us a call for a residential course (£1260 all in for CAT C). 01623 555661. Please mention Trucknet otherwise you’ll be quoted the full rate.

Take care, Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Thanks for your reply .

Wallace have manual vehicles in slough .

I will have a look at your company as well Peter , do you have any manual vehicles ?

I’m surprised they still have manuals - but at least you have options. But I would still strongly recommend you pass another car test. It really will be a lot easier.

I have no manuals as the rules changed in 2014 and I keep the fleet current.

Take care, Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Yes I have already booked my test to upgrade my automatic licence to manual but the earliest available date was 13th of January and I don’t want to wait that long , obviously that’s the easier option but it means I have to wait three months .

so in the end I decided to go with Wallace for various reasons :
their Park Royal centre is very close to me .
they have good reputation .
they have manual lorries .

I done my medical on Saturday and posted my application and can’t wait , I am really excited about it but at the same time very annoyed about this lockdown delaying my application .

I booked a car test as well to convert my automatic licence to a manual licence but the earliest date they had available was 13th of January 2021 .
I really don’t wanna delay my HGV licence so if I had the chance of doing my HGV test before January then I would do my practice test with Wallace’s manual lorries in slough and just cancel my car test on the 13th of January .

I booked a 6 days course with Wallace to mako sure I gain enough confidence and experience to be ready for my test , well hopefully .

once I pass my class 2 test , I wanna do my class 1 back to back as well .

Do you think it is useful to do ADR or Hiab as well ? as a new driver with no experience , do you think I would be able to get jobs easier and quicker if I had an ADR or Hiab licence ?

Nick911:
Do you think it is useful to do ADR or Hiab as well ? as a new driver with no experience , do you think I would be able to get jobs easier and quicker if I had an ADR or Hiab licence ?

There is an element of risk when an employer takes on a new pass and puts faith in them, now and again it may prove to be a mistake, hopefully more often than not it won’t. Both ADR and hiab work add extra elements to potential things that could go wrong, I doubt very much either would provide opportunities without prior general experience in the bag. I would focus on getting work that you can find for experience, it might mean handball or cages, not the most attractive shifts or weekends, but experience is all beneficial for the future.

Good luck with training and tests.

Good luck with your training and test. You’ve got a decent provider so that’s a good start.

So far as timescale goes I think you may get a rude awakening. You’ll get your provisional by the end of this month, all things being equal. But theory tests are currently a nightmare in most areas. It’s impossible to book the theory test without your licence, so I would be surprised if you get theory tests this year.

To me, it looks very much as though you need to pass your car test on the date allocated then change your truck booking to auto to make life easier.

If you go down that route, be very careful as you will need to part with your licence having passed your car test but you will need to have it in your hand for your truck test which could, conceivably, be very soon afterwards.

I fully support your final goal, but trying to be realistic and avoid disappointment.

Take care, Pete :laughing: :laughing:

Good luck on your training!

Personally I would leave the HIAB/ADR training until you have got some miles behind you, having them will for sure make getting work easier, but until you have some experience, getting that first job can be difficult, and even fewer places will hire for transporting dangerous goods or letting you loose with a HIAB, and its a lot to learn trying to go for too much in one go training or work could end up costing you.

On the theory’s side of things, Pete makes some very good points, for reference up in Aberdeen myself, and I booked mine in just as we where allowed to again, towards the end of July, and first proper date I could get the theory and hazard perception booked in was a 6 week wait, there where odd slots where I could do one but not both it was also in Fort William a 415mile round trip :laughing: (would have been shorter but the mountain roads made SWMBO feel ill so went the long way back down to Glasgow and back up) Wasn’t able to book Mod 2 in at the same time, and around work was not until October in Glasgow a date was available but again it was slim pickings and that was across the whole of Scotland and another 300ish mile round trip :laughing:

I could have done it more locally but to fit in around work and reasonable times It was spread out more time wise, but still even if just picked the first 3 that where available would have spread it probably as far north as Wick and down to the borders for each slot, difficult to get one after the other so could well have be 3 trips. Assume less mileage down that way to do things but travel IMO will be a must if want them done if a short timeframe.

On the auto/manual side of things, personally I would say do the manual on the car, then Automatic on truck I am training at Pete, well 2 days in and get to finish it when Boris lets me! Class 2 and while the little 12 ton DAF Automatic is a perfect training vehicle, fits the rules, no massive scary tailswing etc to worry about, and probably as nippy and nimble as you are going to get in a truck heck it doesn’t feel that big at all, It really is a lot longer, wider, heavier and slower than a car and its a truck so everybody and their gran wants to get in front of it add the L plates to that as well, so getting used to the extra size, turning circle and having to battle with car drivers shoving past you adding in getting used to gears as well, is just an extra thing to worry about and one you don’t have to, and while yes you do sometimes have to wait for the gearbox to make its mind up, once you work with it rather than fight it, the extra little bit of “control” from a clutch pedal is not missed.

I fully sympathise with your desire todo it as quick as you can, so do I and the waiting from sending off my forms to the 8 hour trip down to Pete, was a lot of stress, anxiety and worry, and it was gutting that had to stop on day 2 (Thanks Boris) and go home, but still very glad didn’t force todo everything to fast, still more than glad I chose to go down to Pete over a local school even though testing still allowed up here, since when I next make the trip down I know I had time to do everything well so far, the training and atmosphere is top notch, I won’t lie my heart was going like the clappers walking into the tests centres for my theory’s, but for everything practical wise I was perfectly relaxed,(KALMS helped with this as well) made the whole thing very easy to get on with, I know will get looked after so not really stressed anymore and looking forwards to passing the test, getting work doesn’t seem all that scary anymore.

You have picked a good school which is must in the help you will get before you go, get the KALMS on the go as well, make sure you are relaxed and unstressed as you can for that getting up on the that air suspended seat (awesome things by the way) for the first time, the wait is and will be worth it.

Bit of a ramble sorry but hopefully it helps

On this topic, I’ve seen a selection of of job adverts where they are clearly stipulating “must be able to drive a manual gearbox”, we have to assume they mean you must be comfortable with 12 or 16 speed boxes rather than just the bog-standard car gearbox

okay so sounds like booking the theory is a bit of a pain at the moment , well what can I do , it is what it is , right now I can’t do anything but to study and wait .
I would be very happy if I passed my training test In January , anytime in January , that is realistic , isn’t it ?

in the meantime I was thinking of doing a forklift training and get the certificate for that , what do you think about that ?

OMG I am sooo happy and impressed with DVSA, I got my provisional licence back today , I only done my medicals on Saturday the 7th of November and posted my application the same day and received my Provisional Licence back today :slight_smile: I immediately went online and booked my theory and hazard test both in one day at the same centre .
booked them for Monday 7th of December at Cambridge centre , I live in London Maida Vale area so it’s going to be a 60 miles drive to get there but I don’t mind I am just very happy that I got my licence back so quickly and my test is less than a month away , who knows I might have my HGV full licence before Christmas :smiley:
so I booked my theory for 12 noon on the 7th and hazard at 4:45 pm same day :sunglasses: Happy days

oh and just for your information I decided not to do the forklift training for the moment and just focus on Studying my theory for the moment , very wise decision indeed lol

I’d second what was said above about leaving ADR/Hiab until after you’ve got a few miles under your belt.

When you have that I would suggest of those two options, doing ADR rather than Hiab: even with a hiab ticket you could struggle to get work offered, as what really counts is experience. With ADR that is a bit less of an issue as much of the ADR work around is concerned with “packages”. Once you’re certified you just need to be a decent, careful driver who understands load security.

As for FLT, if that was appealing you could try Moffat training, that’s a lorry mounted fork-lift truck. I don’t know much about that kind of work though.

Nick911:
OMG I am sooo happy and impressed with DVSA, I got my provisional licence back today , I only done my medicals on Saturday the 7th of November and posted my application the same day and received my Provisional Licence back today :slight_smile: I immediately went online and booked my theory and hazard test both in one day at the same centre .
booked them for Monday 7th of December at Cambridge centre , I live in London Maida Vale area so it’s going to be a 60 miles drive to get there but I don’t mind I am just very happy that I got my licence back so quickly and my test is less than a month away , who knows I might have my HGV full licence before Christmas :smiley:
so I booked my theory for 12 noon on the 7th and hazard at 4:45 pm same day :sunglasses: Happy days

oh and just for your information I decided not to do the forklift training for the moment and just focus on Studying my theory for the moment , very wise decision indeed lol

Hi I took mine tests in Cambridge you’ll find it easier and cheaper to do park and ride the center is just round the corner of where the buses stop. Good luck.
Hope this helps.
Andy

Nick911:
OMG I am sooo happy and impressed with DVSA, I got my provisional licence back today , I only done my medicals on Saturday the 7th of November and posted my application the same day and received my Provisional Licence back today :slight_smile: I immediately went online and booked my theory and hazard test both in one day at the same centre .
booked them for Monday 7th of December at Cambridge centre , I live in London Maida Vale area so it’s going to be a 60 miles drive to get there but I don’t mind I am just very happy that I got my licence back so quickly and my test is less than a month away , who knows I might have my HGV full licence before Christmas :smiley:
so I booked my theory for 12 noon on the 7th and hazard at 4:45 pm same day :sunglasses: Happy days

oh and just for your information I decided not to do the forklift training for the moment and just focus on Studying my theory for the moment , very wise decision indeed lol

Good luck with your tests, I’ve got my multiple choice at Cambridge on the 8th Dec. 8am and hazard perception at 09:15 - hope thats enough time

I just hope that the government doesn’t extend the lockdown because if that happens then my test will probably be canceled , fingers crossed .

Nick911:
I just hope that the government doesn’t extend the lockdown because if that happens then my test will probably be canceled , fingers crossed .

Going back to tier system but each tier will have extra restrictions so it could be that the highest tier may affect LGV tests - we should know on Thurs

I did my class 2 on manual. Why? I have no idea but I did it anyway. Do I regret it? No because I can at least use one now.
The other before me have said that is a lot to learn with your size, turning circle etc + you have to worry about gears also. It’s not impossible but it won’t be easy! Good luck

DSMRookie:
I did my class 2 on manual. Why? I have no idea but I did it anyway. Do I regret it? No because I can at least use one now.
The other before me have said that is a lot to learn with your size, turning circle etc + you have to worry about gears also. It’s not impossible but it won’t be easy! Good luck

Thanks for your reassurance , I have not driven a lorry before in my life and I know it is going to be difficult to learn and pass the test with an automatic lorry let alone a manual one but I am always up for a challenge and if I learn and pass with a manual then I will be a much more confident new driver and you never know it might help me find a job quicker because everyone is learning with automatic lorries these days so a lot of popped might not even apply for jobs with manual lorries .
we shall see , fingers crossed , first I need to pass the theory and hazard coming up in 10 days time .