cooper1203:
Where about in the country are you maybe you could find recommendations for a school near you. From reading this thread it appears you have been driving for 30 years and therefore have thirty years worth of bad habits to get rid of. Driving is a great career your your own boss to a large extent but i know a lot of people that found it lonely and missed the camaraderie of the office setting.
The 7.5 tonne route suggested is a good idea as for less than 500 quid you can go get a job and see if you like it and talk to the others at the company that do class 1 and 2 work. They may after a while even help you upgrade your license. However, the downside will be lots of private addresses with lots of loading and unloading your self via a tail lift.
I havent driven for 6 months but before i stopped companies like waitrose and freshlinc were taking people on and training them via the boot camp scheme they might be worth a look but you will end up earning your keep
good luck with it all
Coop
Thanks for the insights cooper1203. The sole worker aspect of driving is actually a big attraction of the job. My last position involved predominantly lone working and a significant amount of driving in unfamiliar and often difficult to find places so these are aspects of professional driving that appeal to me.
cooper1203:
The 7.5 tonne route suggested is a good idea as for less than 500 quid you can go get a job and see if you like it and talk to the others at the company that do class 1 and 2 work. They may after a while even help you upgrade your license. However, the downside will be lots of private addresses with lots of loading and unloading your self via a tail lift.
I havent driven for 6 months but before i stopped companies like waitrose and freshlinc were taking people on and training them via the boot camp scheme they might be worth a look but you will end up earning your keep
good luck with it all
Coop
Completed 35hrs CPC last week but I recently realised my 3A/ Reverse has now expired. Do you require a 3A for all HGV driving or can I do 7.5 tonne without?
stu675:
What do you mean? You previously said you already have C1.
Struggling to remember which driver code is which. I currently have Cat B (passed 1990), mods 1A, 1B, 2, and 4.
With cat B from 1990 and your 35hrs CPC, all you need is a tacho card (“Driver Card”) Then you will have possession of the 3 cards to professionally drive 7.5T C1
I currently have Cat B (passed 1990), mods 1A, 1B, 2, and 4.
stu675:
With cat B from 1990 and your 35hrs CPC, all you need is a tacho card (“Driver Card”) Then you will have possession of the 3 cards to professionally drive 7.5T C1
ConvoyKid:
I currently have Cat B (passed 1990), mods 1A, 1B, 2, and 4.
stu675:
With cat B from 1990 and your 35hrs CPC, all you need is a tacho card (“Driver Card”) Then you will have possession of the 3 cards to professionally drive 7.5T C1
ConvoyKid:
Do I not require 3A?
No.
3 used to be one test , the on road driving test. It was recently split into 3a reversing etc. and 3b going forwards on the road for C and CE, not sure if it has been changed for D or C1.
So if you are stopping with C1, then you don’t need it, you’ve already passed your licence test. You will only need it if you go for the full C or C+E.
If you sat your on the road cat C test (3b or something), then you must have passed the reverse of course (3a). That expires after six months or so, but that doesn’t make any difference to your existing C1. That will last until you are 70.
Noremac:
If you sat your on the road cat C test (3b or something), then you must have passed the reverse of course (3a). That expires after six months or so, but that doesn’t make any difference to your existing C1. That will last until you are 70.
As a newbie the codes still bamboozle me a bit. Can you repeat your post in laymans terms?
Noremac:
If you sat your on the road cat C test (3b or something), then you must have passed the reverse of course (3a). That expires after six months or so, but that doesn’t make any difference to your existing C1. That will last until you are 70.
As a newbie the codes still bamboozle me a bit. Can you repeat your post in laymans terms?
The answer has been covered above. Your CPC card should be winging its way and you need to order your digicard. Then you can drive commercially.
The 7.5 tonne route is a good one in my opinion. If you had gone straight for class 2 you could have ended up being given a 26 tonne 6 wheeler straight off, which is something you may not have been ready for.
ConvoyKid:
Can any forumites offer a brief summary of the pros & cons of 7.5t work?
The smaller the vehicle the more hard work it is. Much more likely to be multidrop rather than long distance. But it’s a great start to see what you like.
my experience of 7.5t general work is biased because i hated it. Not the handball as most things were easy to maneuver and light you would only have one or 2 things that were big and heavy. it was the fact that the big heavy items would only just fit on the tail lift with 1/4 inch to spare it was the fact that you could lay money on it then when you had struggled down this country lane and spent an hour trying to find the address they wouldn’t be in and no neighbors to leave it with. so then you would have to spend the whole day working round the thing.
I much preferred the adr work i did as that was a fixed set of drops some you did every day some only once a week. It got to the stage that i would turn up at a drop and they would be there waiting for me i had all the customers mobile numbers so if i was running late i could let them know.
I imagine adr would always be a good shout to improve your earning potential.
Before doing that, Royal Mail use 7.5, I can’t imagine that being difficult.
