Recommendations for where to acquire C1 driving license

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Jonny193

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Hi all,

This forum has already been invaluable so thought I'd ask another silly question to get some opinions on.

I need to obtain my C1 driving license and I'd had between £200-£400 as a cost for this. However, the companies I am reaching out to are quoting MINIMUM £1,200 which just seems obscenely high.

Any recommendations on how to go about this?

Thanks
 
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Gromett said:
I presume I could get it back by taking the medical. I have just a 10 year renewal since then and it is not on my license at all.
I do however still have my C1 pass certificate somewhere.
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I have a 5.5 tonne van. During Covid lockdown I let mine lapse. When the time came to use the van again I simply did a D4D medical and sent it off as normal. The licence doesn't "lapse" if there's a gap in medicals - you simply can't make use of it until you've had one.
 
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pappajohn said:
Many HGV driving schools are nothing more than booking agents. You have no say where the lessons/test will be taken.....and of course the cost will be higher.
Try to find an actual school who deal with you start to finish.
If you're in the midlands google "The Data Academy"
The owner was a member of this forum and the sister forum RVOC.
They will assess and tell you in the first lesson if you should give up or not.
Extremely high pass rate and will retest if you fail..
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Rick the owner of Data Academy is on the sister site rvoc.co.uk
I would book any lessons direct with the local LGV/HGV Driving School. The brokers charge a fortune for exactly the same training, as the brokers pass the work on to the School at a much lesser price than what you pay. That's the brokers cut for the flashy website and a phoneline. They are however more interested in Government funded courses (bootcamp) where the training is free for the candidate. This years intake is complete I think with all bootcamp students must have completed the course by end of March. It starts again a month or so later. Far easier to do your C training wouldnt bother with C1.
This is one of my students, It's relevant so I'll post it!

 
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gus-lopez said:
I have grandfather rights but exchanged licence for a spanish one 22 years ago. I had to take a medical every 5 years for retaining C1E. If you only have a car it is every 10 years.
The rules are from when UK was in the EU

as above. No idea why Poland is different?
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Sorry Richard, but who mentioned Poland? I do not think I did.

Geoff
 
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tonyidle said:
I have a 5.5 tonne van. During Covid lockdown I let mine lapse. When the time came to use the van again I simply did a D4D medical and sent it off as normal. The licence doesn't "lapse" if there's a gap in medicals - you simply can't make use of it until you've had one.
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D4 only or with D2 also?

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Jonny193 said:
Hi all,

This forum has already been invaluable so thought I'd ask another silly question to get some opinions on.

I need to obtain my C1 driving license and I'd had between £200-£400 as a cost for this. However, the companies I am reaching out to are quoting MINIMUM £1,200 which just seems obscenely high.

Any recommendations on how to go about this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Where do you live. There are some grants available.
 
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Orion said:
Interesting. Any further information as our youngest daughter has just bought a horse transporter and will have to take at least C1.
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Where do you live as it is area dependant
 
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jongood said:
Taking a licence for a 7.5 tonne truck in a van. Totally different animals.
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I don't understand the issue. The vehicle is of a minimum size and weight. Mine had 2 IBC full of water in the back to bring it up to weight.
You didn't have the rear view mirrors, and you had to drive this larger vehicle to a higher standard than a car.
 
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tonyidle said:
Sorry - don't understand?
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I do not know whether C1 licences issued after 1997 based on a C1 test, requiring a medical say every year, actually show the licence expiring at the end of that year, in which case one would need to submit a D2, or whether only the medical expires and DVLA will accept only a D4 medical form.
 
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Gromett said:
I don't understand the issue. The vehicle is of a minimum size and weight. Mine had 2 IBC full of water in the back to bring it up to weight.
You didn't have the rear view mirrors, and you had to drive this larger vehicle to a higher standard than a car.
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The issue is that a laden 7500t has much different handling and braking characteristics to a van and the body is generally larger
 
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jongood said:
The issue is that a laden 7500t has much different handling and braking characteristics to a van and the body is generally larger
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A mini has very different handling and braking characteristics to a 3,500T van yet you can take your B test in a mini and jump straight into an Iveco ELWB panel van. This to me would be a bigger problem.

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Gromett said:
A mini has very different handling and braking characteristics to a 3,500T van yet you can take your B test in a mini and jump straight into an Iveco ELWB panel van. This to me would be a bigger problem.
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The bigger the vehicle the bigger the potential for damage.

Imho a fiat ducato does drive pretty much like a car, whereas something like a 7.5t atego drives very differently
 
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jongood said:
The issue is that a laden 7500t has much different handling and braking characteristics to a van and the body is generally larger
Click to expand...

Don't tell me! I happened to mention to the agency that I had been driving vans for that I had C1, although I had never driven a C1 vehicle.

They gave me a job which was on a furniture pantechnicon - all volume, so lengthy. Job entailed reversing in a suburban road, between cars parked on both sides, into a driveway. I got it in with only one shuffle. :giggle:

Drove several more 7.5t after that so MH seems a doddle.
 
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nicholsong said:
I do not know whether C1 licences issued after 1997 based on a C1 test, requiring a medical say every year, actually show the licence expiring at the end of that year, in which case one would need to submit a D2, or whether only the medical expires and DVLA will accept only a D4 medical form.
Click to expand...
I don't either I'm coming up 76.
 
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