LoggyDriver

This is the procedure you will need to follow to get your C+E (Class One) licence. I have only just done my Cat D last Friday so I know the process at the test centre. Some things have changed, one of which no one has mentioned. 1) You will need to get a Medical before you can apply for a Provisional Vocational Licence. 2) Send off you licence with the D4 Medical forms to DVLA to get your Provisional Licence. 3) Your licence will come back to you with Provisional Cat C (Rigid) entitlement. 4) You will then need to book your Theory and Hazard perception tests at your local DSA test centre. This can be done online through the Direct Gov website. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/LearnerAndNewDrivers/TheoryTest/DG_196007 5) Once you have your pass certificate from the DSA you will then be able to do your practical training. The best way to do this is book a weeks course with the test at the end at a local HGV/PSV training centre. You will be looking at roughly £1,400 for this. The test fee is £125. I really can't stress enough how important it is to train at a recognised, professional training school. They will teach you the DSA way of driving a large vehicle, what the procedure is for observation before pulling away etc. The test has changed. You are no longer required to do the gear changing exersise AND you are no longer required to do the controlled (emergency) stop. This is because all vehicles submitted for test MUST be fitted with ABS brakes. It was recognised that a controlled stop would no longer be required with ABS vehicles and it was done away with last year. 6) At the test centre you will be asked to show your licence and your Theory and Hazard Perception pass certificate. You will then be asked some "Show Me/Tell Me" questions. This is stuff like location of fire extinguishers, vehicle height indicators etc. Then you will do the reversing exersise. After that you do an hours drive on the road. You are allowed 15 minor faults, NO Serious and NO Dangerous faults. Once you pass your test the examiner will ask if you would like him to deal with your licence, say yes!! You will then get a copy of your Driving Test Report and a Practical Driving Test Pass Certificate. The examiner will take both parts of your licence and shred them. He goes onto a computer system and updates your record. All you do is wait for your new licence to arrive in the post. 7) If you are driving commercially you will need to do the Drivers CPC. This is two tests. A Case Study element that is taken at the local DSA test centre where you did your Hazard Perception and Theory tests which is 1.5hrs long. The second test is the Driver CPC Practical Test. This is 30 mins long and requires a category C vehicle to be booked in at the DSA Test Centre where you do your practical test. Download the New Drivers information leaflet from the following site for all you need to know about the CPC. http://www.drivercpc.org/en/what-is-driver-cpc/ 8) If you are driving commercially you will also be required to aquire a Digital Tachograph Driver Card. You can drive commercially without it if you are driving vehicles with an analogue tachograph HOWEVER once you apply and receive the driver card you MUST carry it with you at all times, even though you might be driving a vehicle with an anologue tachograph. 9) Once you have your Cat C licence you will then need to take lessons in a C+E vehicle. This is usually a Tractor/Trailer combination. The test is the same as for the Rigid vehicle except when you get back to the test centre you will need to drop the trailer and then hook it back up. Again the cost is similar to getting your Cat C. You don't need to do the CPC if you are using the vehicle for Personal use. So you will need to budget about £3,000 to get your C+E licence if using a training school. Private vehicles can be used for training, but they must meet certain criteria such as ABS etc. You really don't want to go there with that one, stick to a recognised training school. Your chances of passing will be much higher. I'm lucky as I passed my Class One back in 1993, so I went straight from a Car to an Artic. I also passed my Motorcycle test before all this new stuff came out. I have only just done my Cat D training and test last week. I now have the licence (when it comes through the post) however I'm still not allowed to drive commercially as I am still waiting for the company to book my Case Study and Driver CPC Practical Test. I am going to be put on a CPC course of one day before we do the practical test as apparently the failure rate is pretty high. Hope this helps.

If you drive once a day you WILL need a CPC. Any work you do commercially requires a drivers CPC. Have a look here for all the information. Download the information sheet for exemptions. http://www.drivercpc-periodictraining.org/en/what-is-driver-cpc/

I wouldn't know mate. I would have thought you need to understand the examiner and the only other person allowed in the Coach at the time of test is the Instructor who gave the lessons, should you wish him to be there.

Thanks a lot for your best wishes guys!!:-D Hello Andy. It's not much different. The last test I did was my Motorbike Licence back in 1997. You have to do the Driver Theory and Hazard Perception tests at a DSA centre before you can do the Practical. Because it's a new licence category the CPC needs to be done before you can drive commercially. I haven't done this yet, so although I have the licence I can't drive until I've done the CPC. Even though the CPC is one and the same for HGV and PSV, my "Gradfather Rights" on HGV are not interchangable. They aren't much different, it's like driving a big rigid. It's strange to start with on tight turns, as the driving position is well forward of the front axle. So when turning tight left you actually drive over the path or verge without the front wheels mounting the kerb. I presume you don't get Coach when you get your HGV purely bacause of money. The DSA would loose a lot of money if they did that.

Well I've just finished a weeks training for my Cat D Coach Licence. Work put me through it as we use a coach on certain jobs we do. The test was today and I'm really chuffed as I passed my test with 0 (Zero) Minors, so got a clean test sheet. That is now a "Full House" on my driving licence apart from Cat H, but I'm not going to bother with that as I'd never use it.

When I did the Bedford I took LOTS of photo's including all the VIN no plates. Inside the body etc. They did it there and then with no inspection and within 15 minutes of getting to the desk had my Number plate certificate and tax disc in my hands.

I registered my Bedford MJ at Theal. Very helpful and in 15 minutes it was all done.

All the Union flag stickers on our vehicles were Right Front/Right Rear... Looks like the regs are indeed disregarded.

Very sorry to hear of your loss. My best wishes to you and your family at this sad time. Andy

Hello Ed, Welcome to the MJ owners club. I would have thought your vehicle is an MK with the age. Has someone stuck a turbo on the old multifuel engine or has it got the Bedford 330 fitted?

OMG.......I'm in love.

The Americas field was positively heaving with public compaired to Medway where we were. I think they should split up the stalls and the entertainment. Why 3 odd beer tents in one area? The living history could be split up too. That would ensure more footfall throughout the whole show ground. All they have to do is try it for one year and see what happens. If it doesn't work out then go back to the old system.

You can get a brand new MK fuel tank from Bedford Parts, but they are expensive at about £150-£200. I can't even get a new type tank as they are like hens teeth. Have you thought about getting one made up to suite the size of the whole you need to put it into?

The new type tanks are 154 litres and the old type 155 litres. I presume your is the older version?

Maybe the stalls should have a two tier system. Half at the entrance and half in another field (lower monktons?) Stalls at the entrance pay more for a prime pitch and those further away pay less. This also would have the benifit of spreading out the public and exhibiters instead of concentrating them all in one area. A few vehicles were spotted by me in Medway driving at full chat and doing 180 turns at speed (tracked vehicles) churning up the field pretty badly (considering the rain we had). Quad bikes, motocross bikes and others were observed all week. Riders were as young as 4 or 5. Considering I have to sign to say I have 3rd party liability insurance can the parents of these kids state that they are also covered???????? Should a kid loose control and the bike hits someone I can see a very big problem for the organiser as it would be he who would be liable.

DROPS are notorious for loosing pressure on braking. That's why there is a manouver brake on the floor, so that you can load/off load flatracks without loosing too much pressure. This is just how they are.

WE had the Oxon/Bucks/Berks Air Ambulance Helicopter land literally the other side of our garden hedge this evening. I couldn't believe the pilot got it in the small patch of grass. Had to shut the patio door (after dashing out to see it) as the wind blast was ripping the curtains off. I've got it on video so will see if I can upload it.

Rare as they only produced the vehicles in the mid 200's.

Were you parked right by the showers in Medway? I saw a carrier being driven past our pitch (the oil drum enclosure) quite a few times. Do the gears always make that noise when changing gear?

Couldn't believe what they were doing with that CET. I'd love one and it's a pretty rare vehicle. Nice to see the Dick Turpins at "the well known dealer" are putting all that extra cash they make out of us to good use. :mad:

Well the plan to go down on Friday the 16th didn't work as I never fixed the truck until about 16.00 that day, so it was up early and left at 0530 on Saturday 17th. Got to the show ground about 08.45. Set about immediately setting up the 12x12 and just as well I did as the rain that i drove through all the way down soon made an apperance and we just about got the tent up when the rain started. On Clive's point about putting all the caravans into Medway, I have to dissagree I'm affraid. I started going to W&P a long time ago and was camped in the Living History field at the start. Every year we are pushed further and further away. This year we had no choice but to go into Medway as the space was all "pre-booked" everywhere else. Medway is a MILITARY VEHICLE OVERFLOW area. A friend spoke with Rex about the caravan and civvy tent situation in Medway. Apparently the civvy camping field was full and they were sending them into Medway. He said that next year it might be treated the same as Monktons and have it's own marshals. There were another two fields attached to Medway that were on the map and could have been used but were hardly occupied. I suggest that these fields are used for civvy caravans, cars and tents. Maybe there needs to be marshals or signage present directing these vehicles into these fields. Also a few people were overheard saying that civvy camping was too expensive so they booked "GHOST" vehicles into the show and got in for £25 even though they never had any Military Vehicles of any kind. This needs to be sorted out. Back to the report. The weather this year was terrible. The rain overnight on Friday/Saturday was unbelievable. A mate left his wash bowl out that was 5 inches deep and he said it was totally filled in the morning. It was cloudy most of the time with just a few days where the weather was fine. There didn't seem to be as much stuff on the stalls this year worthy of purchase, a few items I was after just weren't stocked by anyone. I did get around the site when the roads allowed but stayed mostly at our camp. It would be nice if the usual drive around of Monktons of vehicles in the evenings would include Medway. This field was packed this year but hardly any drive pasts were witnessed. All in all a good show. It took me 5 hours to pack all the gear away yesterday and a 2 1/2 hour drive home. Totally knackered this morning, so just as well I took the day off work to recover. I will post up some pictures when I get round to it. Up to my eyes in washing and pressing my kit. Oh and typically the weather here is glorious after a week of rain!!!

Auto Glym fast glass polish. http://www.autoglym.com/enGB/product-proddetail.asp?v06VQ=FI&Range=1

Lee, is the big field still empty?

Thanks mate. You coming to W&P in your lovely CALM?

Thanks guys. Well took the elbow into work and have managed to acquire a nice piece of brass (or copper) pipe just the right size. Trouble is the fitter who was sorting it out for me had to go on a course so couldn't finish it off. I've now got to find a welder who can braze the pipe to the elbow. Not many about but there is one local to me, so I will chance my luck tomorrow. I was going to W&P first thing in the morning, but wont be going anywhere until I get the pipe welded in. Richard, Quite a few fitters at work are ex REME. I spoke with one today and he said the same thing, that the pick up pipes were always falling out. Surprised they didn't do a mod! PS, Oh forgot to say. I got some crap in my right eye last night. I thought I washed it out, but by the time I got to work this morning it was pretty bad. So I went to the company Med Centre and the Nurse said I had something stuck in my eye. I had to go to Hospital where I found out it was a tiny piece of metal that was stuck in the tissue. The Nurse got it out after numbing it and using a big microscope type machine. I'm now on eye drops as the metal left rust stuck to my eye.... My week hasn't been the best I can tell you, I hope my luck changes tomorrow!!