Have I been ripped off? £200 to rent the schools vehicle

[macci]

Maybe you should go to LGVtrainer and see how they do things. I have no doubt that their training is first class and totally professional in the courses they deliver - from start to finish. I’m sure you’d find a big difference between the school you attended and LGVtrainer.

Don’t take anything written on here personally - as we all can be warriors behind the keyboard!

It might be worth taking the extra hours lesson before the test in order to get your mind on the task in-hand.

The training school I used Charge £350 for a re-test - which included test fees and lesson. They made that clear before I even booked. Luckily I didn’t need it.

[th2013]

I suggest you don’t just go cold into a test, you don’t want to be refamilirising yourself with the vehicle with an examiner watching you.
Best of luck whatever you do though!

[rog]

I had a trainee on retest some years ago who forgot his licence so had to go home and meet me at the test centre

He got to test centre 2 mins before test time so went straight into it and passed - I think it was 3 weeks from the previous test

[th2013]

ROG:
I had a trainee on retest some years ago who forgot his licence so had to go home and meet me at the test centre

He got to test centre 2 mins before test time so went straight into it and passed - I think it was 3 weeks from the previous test

You are better qualified that me to say whether a warm up hour is a good idea. Wouldn’t want to do it myself, but might just be me!

[rog]

th2013:

ROG:
I had a trainee on retest some years ago who forgot his licence so had to go home and meet me at the test centre

He got to test centre 2 mins before test time so went straight into it and passed - I think it was 3 weeks from the previous test

You are better qualified that me to say whether a warm up hour is a good idea. Wouldn’t want to do it myself, but might just be me!

I would not recommend doing a retest without a warm up of at least 30 mins

[dar1976]

It’s all down to how confident you are of your abilities.

But let me throw a spanner in the works.

If you are ready for a test at the beginning, why have any training?

[th2013]

I think most schools position themselves so the whole thing is a partnership, candidate is employing school to get them through this, and the candidate would normally be best served to listen to advice before, during, and after training (if the first test attempt fails).

So in my case, examiner says to me “in a nutshell your problems are all in the same area, your junction approach speed is too fast”. He also tells my instructor this. Instructor discusses this with me, we talk through the 2 major faults, and he says “I’m confident that 2 days more training, including test” can sort that problem out. He was spot on.

What seems to be missing from the bloke in this threads description is any sense of partnership between him and the school. That might be totally unfair and the details haven’t really been given. But I would be asking them for their professional advice: “how much more training do I need”, not saying “I don’t need any”. To be fair I felt after my first test that if I’f had another go immediately I would have passed, and it wasn’t until I did more training and could compare myself to other candidates nearing their first test that I realised how much better I had become through doing the extra time. Enough waffle, still hope it comes good for the bloke!

[paul_pstt]

Extra training before a retest is a sore point. Most people will accept that a minimum of a warm up having had a break of probably at least a week, and maybe up to 3 or 4 weeks, must be a sensible idea.

But I would only suggest extra training if there is an underlying difficulty that hasn’t been sorted during the training course. Then it’s just plain daft to go for another test without sorting that out.

The problem trainers have is that the candidate might think they are being “milked” for more money. Primarily for this reason, I tend to shy away from trying to book extra time. Despite the second sentence of this post, I have had dozens of candidates over the years take retests with no warm up and they have passed. I can also give examples of the opposite.

This is why I developed the Money Back Guarantee Course. There is no issue with “selling” extra time as it is all provided within the initial course fee. I know that LGV Trainer provides free retest training provided there’s no more than 2 serious faults involved. (If I’ve got that wrong I’m sure John will correct me please!).

The whole thing boils down to using a professional trainer to start with. I had a call on Friday from someone who has trained elsewhere (they were cheaper) and wants to know the cost of retraining once he’s failed his test on Monday. How dare a trainer leave someone in that position! It’s just not on. Personally, I would work over the weekend, FOC, to make sure that the person was ready for test. But hold on, just remembered, I’m more expensive. ■■■■!

Using a proper trainer, suitably qualified and registered, ensures a standard. It means you have somewhere to go - Driving Standards Agency - if you feel you have been treated badly. The trainer’s accreditation is at stake. But use a cheap, unqualified set up, no real comeback. There is currently another post running involving an illegal tyre on a trailer. Where is the comeback? If it was my tyre, I would probably have slashed my wrists by now. But that’s because there’s some of us, sadly not all of us, who really are bothered about candidates having a good training experience and passing their test in a stress-free environment.

I continually post on the subject of shoddy training simply because it is so very wrong.

But as long as the first two words of the initial enquiry are “How much?” it wont go away.

As always, buyer beware.

Pete

[lgvtrainer]

Most people here know that there is no legal requirement for trainers to be qualified or schools regulated at all. Why then does any trainer bother with the 4 yearly commitment of passing the DSA tests at a considerable cost?

It is because some of us actually care about getting the right result each time. Being on the DSA register in itself doesn’t make a trainer better but it shows dedication to the task.

Some trainers last a year or 2 and a very few last 30+ years. Those that do are the ones to choose. It is a small club.

Enough of my rambling I could write a book about how to choose a trainer. Having trained at over half the test centres in the country and listened to 30 years of BS from trainers I will recommend 2. Bob Holder at KW & Daughters in Essex and Peter Smythe.

[tafty]

I am a newly qualified C & C+E driver, having passed both this year. I had to retest once for both licenses due to my own errors combined with exam nerves and I do not think you are being ripped off. I will say that I did have a good independant instructor who kept me informed, treated me with respect and arranged for the vehicle to be available at the test centre for two students to retest in turn, thereby keeping costs to a minimum. I am a firm believer in, and would recommend, some time in the test vehicle immediately before the re-test, as I think it settles the nerves.

As an aside, if someones needs some training in the Peterborough, Lincs area I would un-reservedly recommend Priestly LGV Training to any potential student.

[doubleq]

My only coment on the matter is:

I think that £200 to rent an HGV for a few hours is darn good value
Go to a rental company and get a quote, if you dont aggree!!

What you will learn on a limited buget HGV Course

Is now to handle a large vehicle on the public highway & how to do a reversing exersize.
plus a bit more if its a C+E course, i.e to couple/uncouple a trailer etc.

Basically The “Instructor” sits there while you get use to the size of the thing,
He/She will give advice as to the correct positioning, stoping distance’s, & were caution is required, etc.

I feel, that a great many of Training School websites are misleading, as they appear to offer much more.

Ok many could teach you how to drive to a high standard
but if you have surrious faults, bad habbits, Unless of course you have an un-limitied buget.
It would be much cheaper to do an avanced driving course (in a car)

I aggree that Phil could have done better,
i.e in making you aware of the costs, and by not running his business from the cab while your driving.

Hence I offer some alternatives, just outside Worcestershire.

You could try CTT ( Central Transport Training )

tel: 01902 312800

There Web-Site is centraltransporttraining.co.uk/

They operate from the Fox’s Lane trading estate at Woverhampton
about 3/4 mile up the A449 off the Ring Road.

or alternatly:

Billy Thomas (HGV Driver Training)

Tel: 01902 744726

Web-site billythomashgvdrivertraining.co.uk/

[paul_pstt]

What you will learn on a limited buget HGV Course

Is now to handle a large vehicle on the public highway & how to do a reversing exersize.
plus a bit more if its a C+E course, i.e to couple/uncouple a trailer etc.

Basically The “Instructor” sits there while you get use to the size of the thing,
He/She will give advice as to the correct positioning, stoping distance’s, & were caution is required, etc.

I feel, that a great many of Training School websites are misleading, as they appear to offer much more.

Ok many could teach you how to drive to a high standard
but if you have surrious faults, bad habbits, Unless of course you have an un-limitied buget.
It would be much cheaper to do an avanced driving course (in a car)

■■■■!! Looks like I’ve wasted the last 40 years!!

Or maybe DoubleQ should spend a week with a good trainer to find out what it’s really all about.

Pete

Pete

[doubleq]

Peter Smythe:
■■■■!! Looks like I’ve wasted the last 40 years!!

Or maybe DoubleQ should spend a week with a good trainer to find out what it’s really all about.

Pete

Personally I feel that WE ALL should be required to:
“spend a week with a good trainer” as least once a year.

And that includes the “trainers” thereselves

de 2xQ

ps: I glad to learn that “MANSFIELD” has at least 1

Pss: I beleave that Phil Brown is also a DSA accredited HGV Training center
if not, his website is misleading: philbrownlgvtraining.co.uk

Psss: As “Phil” welcomes comment/ Criticism, Ive passed a link to this tread to his personal email.

[th2013]

DoubleQ:
Psss: As “Phil” welcomes comment/ Criticism, Ive passed a link to this tread to his personal email.

I pity the poor OP who tried to be objective by NOT naming him. Cat rather among pigeons now. I’ve changed my mind - he should turn up 30 seconds before the test starts, jump in the lorry, do the test and have a fast car waiting for escaping afterwards!

[smallsie]

DoubleQ:
Psss: As “Phil” welcomes comment/ Criticism, Ive passed a link to this tread to his personal email.

what a ■■■■ the OP never named anyone it was Rog, now he’s got to go and have this hanging over his head before his test

[paul_pstt]

I beleave that Phil Brown is also a DSA accredited HGV Training center

This is an easy mistake to make. His site doesn’t claim this. It mentions that they have their own driving test centre.

There is a world of difference between having a driving test centre and an Accredited Training Centre.

Pete

[doubleq]

McZiggy via Rog:
I will not be retaking ANY lessons with Phil Brown in any vehicle.

Hence, I guess McZiggy’s will be re-taking his test else-were too.
Featherstone maybe:
I recommend getting plently of exerience driving around Woverhampton, and Cannock.

[macziggy]

I passed today, second time around. I was nervous going back as this seems a popular truckers site, and I was right to be, my instructor had noticed my comments and read the thread, luckily Phil wasn’t there, if I’m going to say this stuff online I have to be prepared to see the man in person and was still going to go to the school all along. Phil wasn’t there, I also think I owe him an apology, I didn’t want to name and shame, but I didn’t try hard to avoid it either, so for bringing his business into disrepute… I am sorry. To be fair, I don’t know Phil personally, well not enough to judge whether the issues I had with him are the norm, whether he was having a bad week, or something else.

All the training I had with the other instructor was first class, so I can’t really not recommend the school, second time round with four minors isn’t a bad result, and I did need the extra warm up lesson prior to my test, however I couldn’t afford it and wasn’t given the option to decline it - £200.00 for training AND vehicle rental is perfectly reasonable.

My lesson learnt is… Make sure you are 100% clear about everything before you pay, double check until you are happy. I wish the school I trained at all the best of luck, to both instructors, sorry for gobbing off a little, and thank you to all who commented. Maybe we can put this thread to rest now?

[dar1976]

Good job. 4 minors is a good score.

[th2013]

macziggy:
Maybe we can put this thread to rest now?

Apart from to say well done for your pass, sure!