Poor Training Schools, how do you know?

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Their has been a lot of discussion recently about the quality of some training providers.

So what makes a poor trainer or good trainer?

So it’s common knowledge their is no official qualification to start up. So for anyone to get started their is quite a significant outlay I should know as I remortgaged to fund my venture.

So what’s required

  1. Training Vehicle
  2. Tax mot insurance public liability
    3.secure parking
  3. Reversing area
  4. Advertising
  5. Running costs
    So as you see quite a bit of outlay.

So if someone is going to commit they need to be serious about their venture.

It might be fair to say once a company is established they could become lapse in maintaining their initial standards.

So as you can see it’s hardly like buying a paint brush and becoming a cowboy painter and decorator.

Yes I agree that the age of trucks vary through the industry but this shouldn’t become a problem if they are well maintained and have regular safety checks. Plus there are enforcement bodies to ensure this.

A DVSA examiner will refuse to carry out a test if they think a truck is not roadworthy.

It’s inevitable from time to time their will be mechanical problems as I found out big style last year when the turbo blew up leaving me stranded waiting for recovery which was embarrassing when other training schools were passing me :blush:
This cost me £1500 with repair.

I have now been in the training industry 10 years and can honestly say I have never come across a seriously bad training provider, yes I’ve seen some better than others but you tend to find you get what you pay for so the price fluctuates (which is beneficial for a customers budget) this is the norm in every industry.

I will stress you must know what your getting for your money.

John from Flair hit the nail on the head when he said some trainers consistently say how good they are.

Any training provider that doesn’t deliver half decent service in this industry will not survive!

TBH I haven’t seen many go out of business and its down to the public to decide who is a good or poor trainer, not the trainers who should concentrate on what they are doing not worrying about what the others are doing.

Even if legislation was to change regarding trainers I doubt it would effect standards significantly.

Maybe a website similar to the idea of trip advisor could be introduced? That’s what I source before booking a holiday and is good to read the reviews from people’s experience.

Paul

2

More often it is an odd bad instructor such as one who has the wrong attitude, shouts and is unable to put over in a way tailored to the individual which is the issue

I came across one or two during my time of instructing and I know at least one of them was on the register so that is obviously not a way to weed them out

3

My wife is a car driving instructor and every now and then she’ll get a pupil who comes to her for lessons who has been learning elsewhere and this pupil will moan that all they seem to do is drive around the same roads doing the same thing and not really practicing other drills such as turn in the road etc, she says there definitely are instructors out there who are short of work who just do enough to keep a pupil ticking over slowly so they stay on their books long term.

This tends to happen in the one man/woman band type operations.

Don’t know if this type of thing goes on in the Hgv instructor world.

4

bald bloke:
My wife is a car driving instructor and every now and then she’ll get a pupil who comes to her for lessons who has been learning elsewhere and this pupil will moan that all they seem to do is drive around the same roads doing the same thing and not really practicing other drills such as turn in the road etc, she says there definitely are instructors out there who are short of work who just do enough to keep a pupil ticking over slowly so they stay on their books long term.

This tends to happen in the one man/woman band type operations.

Don’t know if this type of thing goes on in the Hgv instructor world.

No because the test is pre booked on a fixed length course so all goes into getting a trainee test ready by that test date/time

5

elmet training:
I will stress you must know what your getting for your money.

Any training provider that doesn’t deliver half decent service in this industry will not survive!

In my opinion, from the pupil side of the fence!, I think the problem isn’t realised until too late.

Most starters are looking for their LGV so basically just go for first place they find.

They struggle with C if they get a bad instructor/school but it’s usually too late by time they find out.

IF they go into CE then they’ve learnt and will go out of their way to find a decent school and research what their getting .

Majority of complaints on trucknet are from C learners not CE

I think that’s why schools are still in business as there’s always new learners who don’t research enough keeping them going ,pass or not

In my case I basically was renting truck to drive around till test . ‘Instructor’ was waste of space BUT it suited me at time and was very cheap.

Would I recommend that school to a new learner - never!

I had previous experience and just needed the means for test.

Anyone new going to that place I think will struggle but that’s what researching 'what you pay is what you get ’ is for.

I fully agree with Paul’s comment but till learners realisethat not all schools are equal and understand they have a informed choice with a bit of leg work, poor schools will always exist

6

When I done my C the lorry was fine but the training was done over 2 separate weeks ( the - fri 1st week wed - fri 2nd ) not good really also had 7 different instructors in that time again would not recommend at all ( although I did get mine funded this was no excuse

Then went for CE although had same instructor through out he did not fill me with any confidence it was 2-1 training the other guy had a lot more time in the driving seat ( yep I did time it on several occasions over the 5 days ) he was more interested in saying what he had done ( he also had a car driving school did go on about that as well :unamused: ) would I recommend this school no chance another mate of mine also went there had a similar experience yep they are still going have heard some good things about them but also some very bad

7

animal:
When I done my C the lorry was fine but the training was done over 2 separate weeks ( the - fri 1st week wed - fri 2nd ) not good really also had 7 different instructors in that time again would not recommend at all ( although I did get mine funded this was no excuse

Then went for CE although had same instructor through out he did not fill me with any confidence it was 2-1 training the other guy had a lot more time in the driving seat ( yep I did time it on several occasions over the 5 days ) he was more interested in saying what he had done ( he also had a car driving school did go on about that as well :unamused: ) would I recommend this school no chance another mate of mine also went there had a similar experience yep they are still going have heard some good things about them but also some very bad

It’s interesting to say you wouldn’t recommend them but they got you upto test standard to pass the test

It’s also interesting seeing people’s comments please keep posting about your experiences truckers.

Paul

8

elmet training:

animal:
When I done my C the lorry was fine but the training was done over 2 separate weeks ( the - fri 1st week wed - fri 2nd ) not good really also had 7 different instructors in that time again would not recommend at all ( although I did get mine funded this was no excuse

Then went for CE although had same instructor through out he did not fill me with any confidence it was 2-1 training the other guy had a lot more time in the driving seat ( yep I did time it on several occasions over the 5 days ) he was more interested in saying what he had done ( he also had a car driving school did go on about that as well :unamused: ) would I recommend this school no chance another mate of mine also went there had a similar experience yep they are still going have heard some good things about them but also some very bad

It’s interesting to say you wouldn’t recommend them but they got you upto test standard to pass the test

It’s also interesting seeing people’s comments please keep posting about your experiences truckers.

Paul

No they didn’t get me unto test it was down to 1 instructor ( 1 hour with him ) that got me through my C went else where for CE ( John at Flair training ) My mat also failed a couple times before he went else where to do his

9

Having a weekend break during training is very common for one reason - most are 5 day courses and not all tests can be done on a friday

Having a weekend break usually allows time for the first part of the training to sink in

Multiple instructors is not a good idea

10

ROG:
Having a weekend break during training is very common for one reason - most are 5 day courses and not all tests can be done on a friday

Having a weekend break usually allows time for the first part of the training to sink in

Multiple instructors is not a good idea

A 4 day weekend break

11

Based just on personal experience,had 2-1 on my Cat C passed first time,not a problem with the training,trainer was great funny stories from time on coaches lol,BUT trained in a way that sank in was a good 5 days.
For some god awful reason changed schools for class 1,Trainer thought it was a good idea to shout and bawl for 3 days solid,told myself would pass it just to ■■■■ him off as was told you won’t pass your not driving like I would (no ■■■■ Sherlock ) had a different trainer was like chalk and cheese guy was relaxed commented every now and again.

To to back to Pauls post,think its more down to the trainer not the school that makes or breaks a trainee.

Jeff.

12

so no one has mentioned any horror stories from really bad experiences from bad training schools.

My experience is that if I take a candidate who has failed somewhere else they always say the training school were ok but it was the broker was the problem who they booked with.

Please please people keep well clear and try and spread the word about brokers.

BOOK DIRECT WITH A LOCAL TRAINER!!!

Paul

13

Company I did C with went bust after I had passed the test but before I did mod 4. Booked the test through a broker, and paid for mod 4 direct with trainer. Cost my company another few hundred quid to book mod 4 with a solvent trainer.

14

F-reds:
Company I did C with went bust after I had passed the test but before I did mod 4. Booked the test through a broker, and paid for mod 4 direct with trainer. Cost my company another few hundred quid to book mod 4 with a solvent trainer.

What was the name of the broker that went bust?

This happens on a regular basis the broker going bust. The problem is that any training provider who do work for a broker will get tarred with the same brush as the broker and will end up getting a bad name.

It would be good if people could state if they booked through a broker and which training school they were allocated, it won’t surprise me if some people had to travel in excess of 50+miles.

Perhaps some people might of been happy with the service they recieved.

Paul :smiley:

15

No Paul you misunderstood my post.

Company booked C through a broker. Took that and passed, I now needed mod 4 as it was a week after the deadline. So to save money they booked my mod 4 direct with 3 Counties training who had provided the C training…

3 Counties then went bust and they had to book again with CTT instead.

If we had booked with the broker, the onus would have been on them to provide a different trainer if 3 Counties went bust. I appreciate my story is not the norm however.

16

F-Reds was that CTT In Leighton Buzzard? if not i’m just rambling here and your experience maybe different but anyway…
To me companies like CTT are what i personally would class as a measure of a GOOD training company in that they’ve been going for years, always used to see them about so obviously busy. Another reason unique to me due to my job is that speaking to new drivers that come into work a few have been put through their tests/training with CTT by their companies and they only seem to have good things to say about them so good word of mouth as well.
Now this is probably due to me being a bit geeky/interested in plant and lorries but if your interested in the job i would hope you’d take an interest in local trainers anyway and try and gauge who seems a decent training provider round your local area first to help yourself and forums such as this should also help people make better choices.
I think what I’m trying to say is that wannabe drivers should help themselves first if your clued up enough you shouldn’t end up with poor training or if you do you’ll soon find a trainer that suits you better.
Of course if your training is paid for through work or whatever they may go with the cheaper/easier deals which may or may not be poor trainers.
That’s just my ramblings on the subject basically do a bit of homework before giving your money away

17

yes RB84 it was CTT in Leighton Buzzard. They were ok, I wasn’t bowled over by them, I only did my mod 4 with them, the training itself was fine, but the administration was poor, after care poor. But one thing I can say is they were streets ahead of 3 Counties.

I wasn’t paying, my company was, so the research was theirs to do. This was all many years ago now, water under the bridge at this point.

18

F-reds:
yes RB84 it was CTT in Leighton Buzzard. They were ok, I wasn’t bowled over by them, I only did my mod 4 with them, the training itself was fine, but the administration was poor, after care poor. But one thing I can say is they were streets ahead of 3 Counties.

I wasn’t paying, my company was, so the research was theirs to do. This was all many years ago now, water under the bridge at this point.

For reasons that escape me now 10 years later I chose 3 Counties Training when I did my Cat C and didn’t find them too bad to be honest- I passed first time and if you’d seen the state of my driving on day 1 that was a bit of a testament to the instructors skill to get me to pass standard by day 5 :open_mouth:

19

Most of the time don’t think it is the training school but the trainer themselves & how they treat each individual

We should be treat with some respect after all it is us that is paying you to teach us the gift is even if you don’t like a pupils for whatever reason this should not show they should be professional at all times

This is my view at least

20

animal:
Most of the time don’t think it is the training school but the trainer themselves & how they treat each individual

We should be treat with some respect after all it is us that is paying you to teach us the gift is even if you don’t like a pupils for whatever reason this should not show they should be professional at all times

This is my view at least

This^^^^^ lots
Booked direct with both my tests after going to the training schools in person beforehand.