What Lorry Driver Training Entails

If you wish to live a good life when being on the road, or dreamed of being a lorry driver since you were a small child, a job to be a Heavy Goods Vehicle driver for you could be great for you. But when doing this, you will need a lot of lorry driver training as it is far different to driving a normal car. HGV drivers are hired by haulage companies to deliver products all over the UK and Europe. The great thing about it is that the pay isn’t too bad either. Although newly qualified drivers who have just had their lorry driver training done would start pay at around £15,000, the experienced people who have been in the field for a while you gain £35,000 a year or even more!

If you’re up for lorry driver training to be a professional HGV driver, here are some tips and bites of information that you may well need to know before starting.

Is the correct term HGV or LGV?

Well strictly speaking, HGV is the old expression and the official term today is LGV – which stands for Large Goods Vehicle. The confusion thing for new lorry drivers is that the two terms are often still used, and especially the “old boys” in the business still call it HGV! So even though these two terms are used interchangeably, don’t be baffled, they both mean the same thing (but you should be taught in lorry driver training that LGV is the correct term to use today).

What are the requirements for Lorry Driver Training?

Now, these LGV licenses are divided into two main classes, named C and C+E. The first class (C), is a license for drivers to use a lorry that weighs over 7.5 tonnes, but a C+E license will allow you told hold that and a trailer (so to sum it up, hold more valuables). One thing that you should learn in lorry driver training is that you must hold a C class license before applying for the latter one. On a side note, I must warn you that you must already have a standard UK driving license before applying at all to these schemes. Unfortunately, lorry divers must be over 21 to hold a C+E license and 18 to be eligible for the lorry driver training for the C class

Lorry Driver Training – The Theory Test

The way that you learn how to drive a car is just like how you learn to drive a lorry. This is due to the fact that you need to pass both a practical and theory test to pass your lorry driver training. The theory test usually contains multiple choice questions that test your know how on practical and legal points of view on LGV driving. There is also a test to see if you can see hazards whilst driving, so there shall be a series of video clips shown where you have to press a button when you notice a hazard. To pass the LGV theory test, you must get at least 2/3 of the overall score

Lorry driver training – The practical Test

Now, the practical test requires you to be able to drive a HGV vehicle safely and carefully in a whole variety of different scenarios. The test shall contain a set of reverse manoeuvres in small spaces, careful turning and a set time of driving on the actual road. On average, the test lasts for around 90 minutes. As long as you have passed both of these assessments, then you will have completed your lorry driver training and can be unleashed onto the road!