Hi, I’ve created this post to say thanks to everyone thats posted their experiences and advice passing c and c+e. I’ve not asked any questions because pretty much everything i needed to know was already on here so thanks everyone, especially peter smythe not many trainers would give as much free advice as you with no financial gain to yourself with people training else where.
My trainer
I went with wallace school of transport based in park royal london, main reasons one they have depot in enfield which was easy for me to travel to, fit around work, i know the area and is only around the corner from the test centre. The other big reason and i know is not everyones view is there vehicles are new, auto, pretty small and drawbar so easier to pass in. My thoughts on going this route is I’m spending 3k two weeks of my time and with retests £350-400 i want best possible chance to past first time. They don’t offer assment drives i was happy with staff and procedures when doing medical etc. i was pretty confident i didn’t need to try the vehicles before course i have moved lorrys around yards for yrs and played it safe buy doing the longer course anyway. Booking took around 3 weeks from me passing theory and hazards to getting my course date. Mod 4 is done separately at there park royal depot which is a bit of a pain traveling backwards and forwards for training then test on another day.
My training
I went for a four hour a day four day course with test on fifth day with a two hour warm up for cat c. I couldn’t been happier with my instructor jim he knew the routes, roads,signs and what the examiners expect inside out was like having a examiner teaching me. Everyday he was there waiting on time for lesson and course worked like clockwork, i was more than confident going in for my test and passed first time with two minors. Soon as i got my license back from dvla i booked C+E requested same instructor same course and was back at it again in four weeks and had exactly the same experience was like deja vu but with a trailer same, lorry, instructor, examiner and even same test route i passed first time with even the same amount of minors two couldn’t been happier. As part of my course wallace offer a free hr driving a manual which i never did and now I’ve done c+e upgrade that to two hrs in a proper arctic which i will do i only passed today so early days to see how that goes but should give i good idea of how a proper arctic is to drive.
my views on training options
i feel i did take the easy route and can’t say It prepared me to drive a real full size lorry with splitter gears etc confidently (so something for learners to seriously consider wether to go for gears and arctic or not) but my goal wasn’t to gain a driving job after passing my license is for my own business use and won’t be using that type of vehicle. After training i can see why new passers have trouble getting jobs so if your thinking of gaining c+e listen to whats repeating on here over and over there not lying. I done 4 days courses with test on fifth for both c and c+e which i think was more than enough so if you have experience of driving larger vehicles, confident and quick learner you could cut that down to 3 days and test on forth which i probably would have done in hindsight. Another area which i think is over priced is module 4 training i payed for a 3hr course and learnt nothing which i never already knew from my theory training and watching youtube videos.
Think I’ve rambled on long enough so thanks everyone who’s contributed to new and wannabe section and good luck with tests.