After 23 consecutive first time passes I’m afraid it all came to an end this morning.
It surprised me that today’s candidate didn’t make the grade as he is a good driver. He only accumulated 4 faults but unfortunately had a serious on steering.
May I take this opportunity to give a few pointers for wannabe drivers when choosing their training provider.
Firstly get it in writing what is included in the package after all when you book a package holiday you always find out the following:
Dates and times
Board basis, self catering, half board all inclusive
Airport you are flying from
Are transfers from the airport included
Check reviews (trip advisor)
So booking driver training is not dissimilar you need to find a few things out before booking:
Dates and times (including test date and time)
How many hours you are paying for
Is training on a 1-1 or 2-1 basis
Test centre you will be using
Check reviews (truck net, website even google the company)
My point is to make sure you know what you are getting for your money.
Last but most important go and have a assessment and TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!!
Any way here’s to the next 20+ consecutive passes. 
Paul
Well sadly it was bound to happen at one point! but i don’t think anyone can deny that 23 consecutive passes is impressive 
Here’s hoping that you get another 20+ consecutive trainees who will get that pass certificate !
Cheers
Jonny 
Fantastic run Paul something few if any other trainer has achieved.
Great advice as well about choosing a trainer. We need a comparison website to level the field.
Here’s to the next 23 mate.
LGVTrainer:
Fantastic run Paul something few if any other trainer has achieved.
Great advice as well about choosing a trainer. We need a comparison website to level the field.
Here’s to the next 23 mate.
Cheers John nice comments.
A review site like the equivalent to trip advisor would be good, however it would be open to local rival training companies putting bogus negative reviews on.
All we can do is keep with quality training at value prices and word of mouth should keep the trainees coming.
Surprisingly up here in gods county (Yorkshire) after being really busy it has gone a little quiet now.
I suppose you can be a victim of your own success with no retests to fill the odd day in.
Paul
Paul with that level of passes you can offer free retest training. If 1 in 4 fail you’re still good but when deciding, people like the built in security. We offer 1 free retest with every course excl test fee. We are considering going back to unlimited retest training. It’s all about the numbers over a period.
Quite a few trainers base their business around retest training. Personally recommendation with always get you further.
LGVTrainer:
Paul with that level of passes you can offer free retest training. If 1 in 4 fail you’re still good but when deciding, people like the built in security. We offer 1 free retest with every course excl test fee…
Well that’s got me thinking John.
Thinking about it I’m sure it would put me ahead of my local competitors making my company a lot more attractive than others who don’t offer free retests.
After all I’m very confident that I will get trainees through at their first attempt so not much to lose.
Also would probably take pressure of the candidate on test knowing they’ve got a free second chance.
Will have to sleep on it.
Paul
It would be interesting to find out from members on here if they would favour booking with a company who offer free retests.
Please post your comments…
Paul
elmet training:
It would be interesting to find out from members on here if they would favour booking with a company who offer free retests.
Please post your comments…
Paul
Simple, YES, that would be something that would sway me to a different company! Even merely free use of truck for hour before test and test would be a huge carrot and help me relax during test.
One company near me (up North) offers the chance to pay (a fair bit) extra up front and then get up to 3 tests for just the test fee, but times are hard and pennies are short!
We used to offer free use of the vehicle for a retest with the candidate paying the test fee. I’m proud to say, the vast majority of our candidates didn’t need the facility.
So we now offer full driver cpc - either Mods 2 and 4 or 35 hours periodic training as appropriate - completely free of charge. This is something that virtually all new drivers need and has a very real value.
An amazing number of our candidates are now leaving us with 10 years of cpc - completely free of charge. This is achieved by completing Mods 2 and 4 at the time of the CAT C training followed by 35 hours partly made up from the CE course.
To arrive at a potential new employer waving a 10 year cpc card has to be a major plus.
My comment to Paul is simple. You are a good trainer establishing a fine reputation. And it’s up to each business to decide what extras, if any, to offer their customers. I do stupidly crazy deals from time to time rather than have a void in the diary. But my situation is different as I have a team of trainers to pay and a training centre to run. And that’s before we buy a new truck each year.
Paul, ■■■■ it and see.
Pete 
Peter Smythe:
My comment to Paul is simple. You are a good trainer establishing a fine reputation. And it’s up to each business to decide what extras, if any, to offer their customers. I do stupidly crazy deals from time to time rather than have a void in the diary. But my situation is different as I have a team of trainers to pay and a training centre to run. And that’s before we buy a new truck each year.
Paul, ■■■■ it and see.
Pete
Cheers Pete I must admit some of your comments inspire me to make decisions.
Having been an instructor for over 7 years and running my own training company for 5 years I still need a little guidance on business decisions from time to time and I have a lot of trust in your advice.
Thanks
Paul
Thank you I will be going for my test when I save enough money