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?
Nicely balanced comment. Congrats on the pass. Good score. Pete 
A lot has been said on this thread. I take my hat off that you said sorry. Trainers care as much as the candidate about the result.
Glad its a victory for you. It was a team effort.
Thanks to all,
I’m also sorry to you LGV Trainer… I’m sure your school is pretty good as well… As someone once said - on this thread no less “We’re all keyboard warriors” I’m sure I had some valid concerns, I’m sure my trainers were trying their best, we’re all human at the end of the day and we all make mistakes.
Drive safe…
I went to two diffrent training schools. Failed after 3 days training With the first one. Passed after 4 days training with the second one.
My own personal expirances is I didn’t feel I had good value for money from my first trainers and Not because I didn’t get a pass. But because I felt even if I had wangled a pass that day I still didn’t feel like I truly knew what I was doing. I would have go into lorry driving woefully unprepared. And I think would have led to far more costly things down the line then the cost of a retest. And looking back I’m glad I failed now.
The diffrents with the second trainer was I knew I’d had first class training. I knew I’d gotten very good value for money. And if I failed at the end of this training I would find it impossible to hold the training resposible in anyway whatsoever. Not that I would of tried too and if I did deep down I would know that I was bulshitting myself.
To me failing or passing is not the Point here. You can have the best training in the world and fail or have very poor training and ■■■■■■ a pass. To me if the op feels thay hav’nt had good value for money then it’s proberly true that there training was poor.
If you have had good training you praise your trainers even if you failed at the end of it.
I highly recommend jld training in Banbury to the op. first class lorrys, first class training, and a very test friendly area to drive about in. Very good value for money, even if I had failed my test there I would not have felt ripped off, and I would only of had myself to blame for the cost of the retest. And the cost of a retest with them is a lot more than 200 quid ! But the odds on you needed one is very very very low after training with jld.
only you can deside what’s the best move to make for yourself. Like i did, ask your self did you feel truly confidate and reddy to get in a Lorry on your own and drive it anywhere even if you had got a pass. If you didn’t I would think about using the 200 to put towards training somewhere that can install the knollage you need to drive anywhere and know what to do. Not somewhere that looks to hopfully wangle you a pass round the test rout. Best of luck hope it works out well for you.
Peter Smythe:
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
Well put Sir, I salute you.
A viewpoint from a professional with some integrity not a grab your money merchant.
I just wish junior drivers who need training would do there homework first.
You get what you pay for in this world, and the 7 p’s apply.
■■■■ poor planning produces ■■■■ poor performance !