I need some C test guidance if anyone is out there??

king909

Hello,

Right I have held a full car licence in Ireland since 2007. i currently live in the UK but travel back and forward regularly. I only moved here 8 months ago and no longer drive as i live in the city and so i never changed my drivers licence over to the UK equivalent. I however now want to go and get a C driving licence and do so as quickly as possible.

To do it all here in the UK means i need to change my licence to a UK one, then do the theory test and which i can then do lessons and the test in a period of 3 days at a cost of 920euro for 12 hours tuition and the full practical test. obviously there is a medical, licence fees etc that would add to that price. in all it seems as if i could get my full practical done in a matter of 2 weeks after passing the theory test.

I am not sure however about how the testing works back home for this licence and was wondering if one of you lovely folk could help me out with this. Right now it seems as if its approx a 1 month wait to do the theory test in Dublin which i can live with. Then obviously i would have to send away for the provisional licence before i can do any lessons/ the practical test. the cost of 10 lessons and the use of a C vechicle is 750 euro with ISM. but my problem is i dont know what kind of wait i would be subject to in order to sit the full practical C test. As im sure many are aware the car practical exams take an age before you gfet an appointment and i was wondering if any of you knew how long id likely to wait in order to get this done.

If anyone has been through this i would really appriciate your guidance.

cerastes

king909 wrote: »

Hello,

Right I have held a full car licence in Ireland since 2007. i currently live in the UK but travel back and forward regularly. I only moved here 8 months ago and no longer drive as i live in the city and so i never changed my drivers licence over to the UK equivalent. I however now want to go and get a C driving licence and do so as quickly as possible.

To do it all here in the UK means i need to change my licence to a UK one, then do the theory test and which i can then do lessons and the test in a period of 3 days at a cost of 920euro for 12 hours tuition and the full practical test. obviously there is a medical, licence fees etc that would add to that price. in all it seems as if i could get my full practical done in a matter of 2 weeks after passing the theory test.

I am not sure however about how the testing works back home for this licence and was wondering if one of you lovely folk could help me out with this. Right now it seems as if its approx a 1 month wait to do the theory test in Dublin which i can live with. Then obviously i would have to send away for the provisional licence before i can do any lessons/ the practical test. the cost of 10 lessons and the use of a C vechicle is 750 euro with ISM. but my problem is i dont know what kind of wait i would be subject to in order to sit the full practical C test. As im sure many are aware the car practical exams take an age before you gfet an appointment and i was wondering if any of you knew how long id likely to wait in order to get this done.

If anyone has been through this i would really appriciate your guidance.

Interested to hear the reply, I'd considered going to the UK to do it, did the C test and only had one problem with an idiot coming the opposite direction who stopped and blocked the road as they declined to pass but I couldn't pass them so caused a jam, I ended up being directed to squeeze past them and ended up failing, was pretty pi$$ed off as nothing else happened, made me consider it was a sham and decided I wanted to do the whole thing in the UK, wondered if this is possible, do you mean 920 euro to do in the UK or 920 pounds, can you go over and do it or do you need to be resident there?

king909

hey mate ye you have to be a resident of the UK to do the test here. So unless you got an address to use over here you wouldnt be able to do it. no 920 euro i done the conversion to euro for the sake of this thread

cerastes

king909 wrote: »

hey mate ye you have to be a resident of the UK to do the test here. So unless you got an address to use over here you wouldnt be able to do it. no 920 euro i done the conversion to euro for the sake of this thread

So with an address I could do it? Do I still need to convert the licence? I have this sense that a test there will be more honest?
I had thought it might be cheaper there too, but its not looking like it would.

Del2005

king909 wrote: »

Hello,

Right I have held a full car licence in Ireland since 2007. i currently live in the UK but travel back and forward regularly. I only moved here 8 months ago and no longer drive as i live in the city and so i never changed my drivers licence over to the UK equivalent. I however now want to go and get a C driving licence and do so as quickly as possible.

To do it all here in the UK means i need to change my licence to a UK one, then do the theory test and which i can then do lessons and the test in a period of 3 days at a cost of 920euro for 12 hours tuition and the full practical test. obviously there is a medical, licence fees etc that would add to that price. in all it seems as if i could get my full practical done in a matter of 2 weeks after passing the theory test.

I am not sure however about how the testing works back home for this licence and was wondering if one of you lovely folk could help me out with this. Right now it seems as if its approx a 1 month wait to do the theory test in Dublin which i can live with. Then obviously i would have to send away for the provisional licence before i can do any lessons/ the practical test. the cost of 10 lessons and the use of a C vechicle is 750 euro with ISM. but my problem is i dont know what kind of wait i would be subject to in order to sit the full practical C test. As im sure many are aware the car practical exams take an age before you gfet an appointment and i was wondering if any of you knew how long id likely to wait in order to get this done.

If anyone has been through this i would really appriciate your guidance.

If you've never driven a C class vehicle before I don't know how much good an intense 12 hour package will be, you need to experience driving in many different road conditions for experience and then that's always empty.

If you're doing the test over here it'll involve a lot of logistics with getting flights back and lessons, what happens the lesson/test if your flights are cancelled?

Not sure how long the delays are now but when I did the C, CE and D tests, a good few years ago now, there was only about 6 weeks waiting for each test. IIRC the UK is harder than ours.

Silvera

I passed my C test in 2003 (after just 12 hours tuition, only had van (average sized Ford Transit) driving experience prior to this, and my C+E test in July 2014 (with no van/truck driving experience since the 2003 test). So - depending on your ability and eagerness to learn - 12 hours tuition may be fine for you.

As regards the waiting period, iirc it does take c.6-8 weeks from the time you book to your actual drving test.

Faith+1

Unless the OP has a passion for trucks I wouldn't invest my time and money to acquire the licence. If you see the money and working conditions on offer these days you'd be better off working in Spar.

Silvera

Faith+1 wrote: »

Unless the OP has a passion for trucks I wouldn't invest my time and money to acquire the licence. If you see the money and working conditions on offer these days you'd be better off working in Spar.

Unfortunately that appears to be the case. Unless the OP can secure a position with one of the few(?) transport companies who value their drivers/pay a decent wage.

Personally I've always wanted to add extra categories to my licence and did not do the C and C+E tests for employment purposes.

Faith+1

Silvera wrote: »

Unfortunately that appears to be the case. Unless the OP can secure a position with one of the few(?) transport companies who value their drivers/pay a decent wage.

Personally I've always wanted to add extra categories to my licence and did not do the C and C+E tests for employment purposes.

I'm the same. Only did my Rigid test because I was bored and figured the advanced driving would improve my Car driving.

Silvera

Faith+1 wrote: »

I'm the same. Only did my Rigid test because I was bored and figured the advanced driving would improve my Car driving.

I agree that truck-driving (lessons) does improve observation skills - even when car driving - to a good degree. However, you cannot beat an advanced car driving course to really up your driving skill-set (I completed my advanced car course in 2008).

Del2005

Silvera wrote: »

I passed my C test in 2003 (after just 12 hours tuition, only had van (average sized Ford Transit) driving experience prior to this, and my C+E test in July 2014 (with no van/truck driving experience since the 2003 test). So - depending on your ability and eagerness to learn - 12 hours tuition may be fine for you.

As regards the waiting period, iirc it does take c.6-8 weeks from the time you book to your actual drving test.

It was more the 12 hours over 3 days as opposed to 12 hours over a longer period, there's more chance of different driving conditions over a few weeks/months than 3 days. Since lessons and tests are done empty you need to experience as many driving conditions as possible before taking it out fully loaded.

Silvera

Del2005 wrote: »

It was more the 12 hours over 3 days as opposed to 12 hours over a longer period, there's more chance of different driving conditions over a few weeks/months than 3 days. Since lessons and tests are done empty you need to experience as many driving conditions as possible before taking it out fully loaded.

Yes, I took my 12 x hours lessons spread over a period of c.4 months. Weather was fine mostly tbh, but it lashed rain for part of my test!....the mirrors were covered in rain as I did the reversing.....didnt make it any easier!:D

As regards loading, truck/trailers for lessons/tests nowadays must carry a 1 tonne payload...granted it's not in the same league as a 40 tonne payload...but the truck/trailer isnt 'empty' as such.