Cat C experiences anyone?

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KHippo

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Long time lurker here!

Thinking of taking my Cat C test later this year & looking for personal experiences of anyone who has taken the test please?

What was it like? How difficult did you find it adjusting to driving the lorry? Recommendations of any companies to use in Thames Valley area? Generally what should I expect from the course & test? Thinking of doing the C rather than the C1, what sort of differences are there between the 2 test vehicles? What sort of price should I expect to pay for a 5 day course with test? Will 5 days be enough? Should I arrange my medical & provisional myself beforehand or do an all-in package with the company I book with?

I consider myself a pretty confident driver, but as a 26 yo female having never driven anything bigger than a Mondeo I'm looking for some reassurance & advice on a) the practicality of driving a whopping great big lorry with girl arms (!) and b) whether or not its worth doing the Cat C, or stick with the C1 as I'm unlikely to ever need to drive anything over 7.5t?

Any help & advice appreciated! Guess I'm just wanting someone to come along & tell me it will be fine, lorries are easy to drive & everybody passes first time, but I realise that is unlikely! :L
 
KHippo said:
Long time lurker here!

Thinking of taking my Cat C test later this year & looking for personal experiences of anyone who has taken the test please?

What was it like? How difficult did you find it adjusting to driving the lorry? Recommendations of any companies to use in Thames Valley area? Generally what should I expect from the course & test? Thinking of doing the C rather than the C1, what sort of differences are there between the 2 test vehicles? What sort of price should I expect to pay for a 5 day course with test? Will 5 days be enough? Should I arrange my medical & provisional myself beforehand or do an all-in package with the company I book with?

I consider myself a pretty confident driver, but as a 26 yo female having never driven anything bigger than a Mondeo I'm looking for some reassurance & advice on a) the practicality of driving a whopping great big lorry with girl arms (!) and b) whether or not its worth doing the Cat C, or stick with the C1 as I'm unlikely to ever need to drive anything over 7.5t?

Any help & advice appreciated! Guess I'm just wanting someone to come along & tell me it will be fine, lorries are easy to drive & everybody passes first time, but I realise that is unlikely! :L
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I would say do the C as you will always have it and its useful to fall back on in life. Modern lorries are very easy much like a car.
However one tip dont do your test thinking you have a horse in the back. The people who fail most are those who have been driving 7.5Ts for year and are used to having a horse in the back lol.
 
KHippo said:
Long time lurker here!

Thinking of taking my Cat C test later this year & looking for personal experiences of anyone who has taken the test please?

What was it like? How difficult did you find it adjusting to driving the lorry? Recommendations of any companies to use in Thames Valley area? Generally what should I expect from the course & test? Thinking of doing the C rather than the C1, what sort of differences are there between the 2 test vehicles? What sort of price should I expect to pay for a 5 day course with test? Will 5 days be enough? Should I arrange my medical & provisional myself beforehand or do an all-in package with the company I book with?

I consider myself a pretty confident driver, but as a 26 yo female having never driven anything bigger than a Mondeo I'm looking for some reassurance & advice on a) the practicality of driving a whopping great big lorry with girl arms (!) and b) whether or not its worth doing the Cat C, or stick with the C1 as I'm unlikely to ever need to drive anything over 7.5t?

Any help & advice appreciated! Guess I'm just wanting someone to come along & tell me it will be fine, lorries are easy to drive & everybody passes first time, but I realise that is unlikely! :L
Click to expand...

I recently did my Cat C. Having never really driven anything bigger than a clio before! I did a 5 day course, with your test on the 5th day. I loved it, the modern lorries are easy to drive, it took me a day to get used to the gears etc but once you've got the hang of it it's relatively easy, just like driving a big car, just got to remember how big you are whilst driving and not thinking it'll fit through the same gaps my little clio does-common sense really! Like popsdosh says don't drive like you've got a horse on the back, you've got to drive it like a proper truck. Worth doing the cat c compared to c1 as you never know if you'll need to drive something that little bit bigger in the future, my next plan is to take my c+e I loved it that much, Just doing the saving up now!
 
I did mine just over a yr ago at the age of 23. Sat a 3 day course with the test in the afternoon of the last day. Didnt take me long to get used to the gears what i found the hardest was no rear view mirror i cheated a bit and put my mirror in my car out of the way so i couldnt use it and had to use my wing mirrors more instead, did that for about a week before the 3 day course! I thought it was great fun and absolutly love taking my horse out and about without having to beg my mum to drive! In fact i drive my mums box more than she does now!! Go for it! Best thing i did!

Sorry cant help with recommendations as not from the same area but best of luck :)
 
Where in the UK are you?

Just noticed - thames valley

JLD LGV at Oxford would be my choice but there are some other good ones near Slough
 
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Sorry if wrong place to ask, but rog I've done my theory and had a 'driver assessment' (knocked my confidence although been driving 7.5t for years and they refused to give me feedback) so looking for someone who will help and get me passing, can you suggest company in Essex please?

Op sorry to hijack post, but cat c training experience has not been great so far and much like you want some positive feedback!
 
I did my cat C in September at 22, I actually found the lorry test pretty straight forward, although I had done the b+e the year before so it was still fairly fresh. The instructor I used (as I was on a budget) said to sort application for provisional (that can take some time to come through be careful), medical and to do the theory, hazard perception and case studies on my own. I used theory tests for all online for all the theory stuff. I drove the lorry 3 times before the test and it is like the others have said, just a big car but watch the curbs and tail swing. So long as you haven't picked up too many bad habits since your driving test its fairly easy, just drive to standard and do a reverse. Definitely recommend doing it, although no one at lorry trade stands at shows takes me seriously when I'm looking at the big ones ha ha if swindon isn't too far that's where I did my test, can recommend an instructor
 
Thank you all for the responses, exactly the sort of info I was looking for!

Thank you ROG, JLD look great & I especially like the idea of the assessment before paying out for a course & test I might not pass! Will definitely give them a call!

Would I need to do the case studies as well? Or are these just for the CPC which I thought was only required if you're doing paid driving work? Or do I have that totally wrong?

How does the medical work? Do I take the form to my Dr or will google find me somewhere specially for medicals?
 
No driver cpc required for private driving of LGV - only needed if driving commercially

Medical - take D4 form to ANY doctor and NEVER pay more than £60 - google LGV medical

You might be best to look in the newbies forum of the trucknetuk site
 
iconique said:
Sorry if wrong place to ask, but rog I've done my theory and had a 'driver assessment' (knocked my confidence although been driving 7.5t for years and they refused to give me feedback) so looking for someone who will help and get me passing, can you suggest company in Essex please?

Op sorry to hijack post, but cat c training experience has not been great so far and much like you want some positive feedback!
Click to expand...
Flair training in Chelmsford Essex is well worth a look - say hello to John for me if you contact them
 
Little update. I decided to book with 2 start training in the end as they are closer to home. Booked a 5 day course with the test on the 5th day. We did 3.5 hours of driving each day. Lorry was an 18T auto which made things interesting as I had never driven an auto before in my life! But in the long run was definitely easier once I got used to it. First few days are exhausting!

Advice to anyone looking to do this would be to book a week off work, I needed to go home & have a little sleep each day as it's just so mentally draining having to concentrate so hard! I was literally having dreams about roundabouts, turns & mirror checks all week, waking up at 3am thinking about the lorry check questions.

Unfortunately I failed on Friday due to nerves & a lapse in concentration when I buggered up the reverse (which was the thing I was most confident about, having nailed it every time the day before!). Saw the cone, panicked, froze & didn't think about what I had to do to avoid it! Otherwise I only had 4 driving faults for the rest of the test so massively annoyed with myself!

Can't wait to go back for my retest & would definitely recommend 2 start. Any advice for test nerves appreciated!
 
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