clearstone purchased the whole lot however we were able to keep all the instructors and trained new staff in house. rollright continued to provide quality training for all despite difficult manager changes at head office. in my opinion clearstone has managed to destroy a quality training school.
Q What about courses I have paid for?
A The training schools are unlikely to accept you as they themselves have not been paid. However, if you wish to approach the school you were due to attend you may be able to make fresh arrangements.
Which goes to endorse the fact that we have been warning newbies that Clearstone where nothing but agents and not a bona fide LGV driving school in themselves.
I am really glad that this company with their hard sell techniques and inflated pricing system is now no longer trading, but what a dreadful situation for those who have paid for courses.
I cannot believe that the law cannot insist that these poor people are not re imbursed in some way.
The candidates losses are terrible but i feel that it will be followed by training schools all over the country closing because they relied on the business - the whole thing stinks…
wow i too looked at clearstone for training, got fed up with one of their guys (chris) hastling me all the time, glad i decided against it.
i supposes thats one way to make money, setup a company then take as many payments as you can then declare yourself bankrupt
i supposes thats one way to make money, setup a company then take as many payments as you can then declare yourself bankrupt
not just trainees - some LGV training schools who did work for them are owed tens of thousands as well so that may mean the end for some of them.
HATS OFF TO J COATES - Thank you Andrew for giving myself and a colleague 2 vehicles to take all those candidates at rollright to test today - each would like to thank you for allowing them to finish there training.
It was a kind gesture in light of clearstones insolvancy…
J Coates. They have a good reputation within the Industry. They are not reckoned to be the cheapest, but they are certainly held in high regard.
Perhaps I’m biased, because I did my SAFED Instructors’ Course with them.
It was certainly good of them to come to the rescue in support of the Industry as a whole.
Big D, email the tale to T&D and C.M. so that they can get wider recognition of their valuable contribution in the printed media.
Big D:
The candidates losses are terrible but i feel that it will be followed by training schools all over the country closing because they relied on the business - the whole thing stinks…
Hear hear BigD, I can understand and sympathise greatly with newbees being taken in by this type of organisation, but the people who run training schools are usually hard-nosed business people…
So I’d like to hear the providers’ side of the story. 
I do hope they weren’t “buying” work and got shafted both ways… 
Did they have to pay for an introduction, then invoice for the work later… if so, oh dear 
Clearway LGV have appeared from the ashes of Clearstone LGV.
My mate had a course and called the number…he did a search and found Clearway LGV (who just started to appear today). Think its the same company with a subtle name change. The old Cleartone site http://www.clear-stone.co.uk has gone and http://www.clearwaylgv.co.uk has sprung up in its place.
They maybe able to help drivers looking to recoup their training course cash…
tel: 0800 121 4947
NOTICE
We have had discussions with the owner of ClearwayLGV
Clearway has been trading since 2006 and there is no indication what so ever that they are connected in anyway with Clearstone. Rikki
I was a co-instructor of big d’s and would like to be again along with the rest of the team.
It was a very sad day fri feb 1 at 4.30. Clearstone was no more!! hooray for many, for us as a team it was devistation, the end of an era!! The team would have made any employer proud, smart , hardworking, amiable with plenty of humour and above all professionalism. we were lead to believe we had the highest pass rate in the country, no easy feat, 1 we were v proud of!! You could’nt have worked with a better team.So long guys will miss u
Concerns were voiced over the last year about the financial state of Clearstone & us @ enstone, only to be reassured we had nothing to worry about!! Truths were obviously stretched!! We lso fell for the Clearstone promise!!!
Although unhappy about the way candidates were treated by Clearstone, I hope that there were very few complaints about the instuctors. As the first faces of Clearstone, we heard of many hard sell cases, harrassment by sales people and delays in a course starting after money was taken. All of this was passed to senior management with no improvement. As instructors we understood the cost of these courses and did our best to do all we could to gain a pass 1st time.
Thanks to Coates for trying to help. Two of the candidates who were able to test were guys i trained.
Good luck to anyone who has paid for a course, can get some money back and go on to train and achieve a job.
JTWhalley:
Clearway LGV have appeared from the ashes of Clearstone LGV.My mate had a course and called the number…he did a search and found Clearway LGV (who just started to appear today). Think its the same company with a subtle name change. The old Cleartone site http://www.clear-stone.co.uk has gone and http://www.clearwaylgv.co.uk has sprung up in its place.
They maybe able to help drivers looking to recoup their training course cash…tel: 0800 121 4947
Am very worried as an ex-employee, but can’t find company anywhere in a search engine? Do you have any more info?
NOTICE
We have had discussions with the owner of ClearwayLGV
Clearway has been trading since 2006 and there is no indication what so ever that they are connected in anyway with Clearstone. Rikki
Im gutted i started my lessons for class2 on friday 1st feb and had finished my second day on the 4th feb. then monday night i got a call off my instructor saying he cannot continue with my course due to clearstone going bankrupt. So the only way forward was to pay my instructor the fee to finish the rest of my course and take my test this thursday. My instructor has been good about this as its his own training school and only driver he has also been done over by clearstone. Just not sure which way to go now as id paid pass protection done a fast track course and theory all for 1600 now if i fail im going to have to fork out another 250.
I now realise that clearstone were a ■■■■ firm and a disgrace to the haulage industry. my advice to anyone who is thinking of doing there hgv is to borrow or save the money and contact a local recommended/well established training school and im sure they would be more than helpful in guiding you through the stages you have to go through without pressuring you.
ac:
JTWhalley:
Clearway LGV have appeared from the ashes of Clearstone LGV.My mate had a course and called the number…he did a search and found Clearway LGV (who just started to appear today). Think its the same company with a subtle name change. The old Cleartone site http://www.clear-stone.co.uk has gone and http://www.clearwaylgv.co.uk has sprung up in its place.
They maybe able to help drivers looking to recoup their training course cash…tel: 0800 121 4947
ac:
Am very worried as an ex-employee, but can’t find company anywhere in a search engine? Do you have any more info?
Hi ac, not sure whether you missed this link and phone number given by JTWhalley: http://www.clearwaylgv.co.uk
Click it and there’s some info on the new company. (The link works )
For all anybody knows, it might be being run from a back bedroom until things quieten down a bit. 
Phone number: 0800 121 4947
I hope this helps. 
NOTICE
We have had discussions with the owner of ClearwayLGV
Clearway has been trading since 2006 and there is no indication what so ever that they are connected in anyway with Clearstone. Rikki
ac:
Although unhappy about the way candidates were treated by Clearstone, I hope that there were very few complaints about the instuctors. As the first faces of Clearstone, we heard of many hard sell cases, harrassment by sales people and delays in a course starting after money was taken. All of this was passed to senior management with no improvement. As instructors we understood the cost of these courses and did our best to do all we could to gain a pass 1st time.
The majority of members on this site are pretty worldly wise and are able to differentiate between a company and it’s instructors.
There have been posts where the company has been slated but the instructors have been praised and the odd post where a particular instructor has been slated but the company has resolved the issue to the satiafaction of the trainee.
The trouble with companies like Clearstone that get themselves a bad name is that the bad name is inclined to rub off on the hard working instructors employed by the driving schools franchised by Clearstone.
Like Rog says, most people can differentiate between the bad management and the good work done by the instructors - so no bad reflection on the guys who have been working hard to get the trainees past their tests.
suppose i aught to alter my feelings a bit there are some decent people in clearstone mainly the trainers people you meet. its more the people you never meet just on the phones who give the company a bad name they make it all sound good and no hastle then pressure you and pester you to go ahead. where as now iv found out if you just contact a local school they can help you just as much but cant finance it like these companys but there a lot cheaper
.
I have lost about £600 to clearstone. Now I have to find the cash again luckly found enough cash to pay for my test tomorrow I am hoping I will pass because its going to start getting expensive. There must be people who lost all there cash without having any training, feeling sorry for them.
NOTICE
We have had discussions with the owner of ClearwayLGV
Clearway has been trading since 2006 and there is no indication what so ever that they are connected in anyway with Clearstone.
Unless you can prove ANY company is connected to Clearstone please do not post. This post has already led to some unfortunate incidents at Clearway as there are a lot of people very angry at Clearstones collapse.
Hi
I am the director of www.clearwaylgv.co.uk, the information of the link between clearway and clearstone is untrue.
My name is Richard, my business is lgv/ hgv training course and recruitment i can see why the errors made the names of the companies are similar…
We would be pleased to offer help and assistance where possible
We offer training courses for class c and c+e and more.
For more information Please do not hesitate to call me directly on 0208 886 6896
post ok’d by Rikki
Have you ever worked for Clearstone?