Evening folks.

I need to get my minibus and ideally + trailer licence as quickly as possible.

Once I’ve done the DVLA and medical side of the deal, does anyone have any experiences of fast track courses with theory and training / assessments that they can recommend? Ideally NW based.

I’m pretty confident with driving a bigger vehicle (I drive a van daily and have pulled trailers behind cars, tractors and 4x4s), so it’s hopefully just a matter of finding a reputable supplier.

Having looked at a few providers, there seems little detail of the cost involved, with one even asking for £100 up from to secure a place…with no idea of the subsequent costs?!

Any help / advice gratefully received

(* my guess is that most STWers will be of an age where they have grandfather rights for this, so before anyone calls me a young whipper snapper….I didn’t take my test until I was 20 and so just missed out! :D).

For my B+E it took an assessment drive and then 4 half days tuition including test.

For my C it was a week inc test, C+E was another week.

Probably £100 a half day is a good starting point, reckon it was probably about £600 all in for the B+E, my employer paid for the C+E and it would probably be £1500-2000 all in.

If you find somewhere that will do half days back to back there isn’t much advantage to a ‘proper’ intensive course.

Best advice will be go with a reputable local firm rather than a national ‘guaranteed pass’ outfit. I hear a good trick is if you don’t pass first time they will drag out the re-test until you get bored/can’t afford refresher the lessons.

It sounds like you are aware, but you’ll have to do the D1 first, and then D1+E. Exception is if its for charitable/not for profit work I think you can drive minibuses without the D1 license in certain circumstances.

alphabet spaghetti… glad for once i m almost pushing up daisies..

assessment drive and then 4 half days tuition

C+E was another week.

probably about £600 all in for the B+E, my employer paid for the C+E and it would probably be £1500-2000 all in.

Wow, glad I’m also almost pushing up daisies…

We put staff on 3 day+assessment day courses in Perth and Glasgow.

Cost was @£1000 plus test fee, in groups of 3, in our own vehicles and trailers, that a qualified staff member had to take each day.

This gave you enough time to drive, while also switching off for a while, and then observing another driver.

Pass rate was about 60-70% first time, d1 and d1+e are tough tests.

We also did a couple of groups using our technical climbing advisor, who happened to be ex police car and motorbike instructor. He and I checked out test routes, and then took a top n tailed six of them. It worked really well – five of six candidates passed (sixth was a plum, and took four tests), and cost less than proper training place, I also think all the staff got a better experience, as the ex copper gave hem great grounding in proper awareness an really good defensive driving.

Btw, I had grandfather rights, but took both d1 and d1+e anyway, so that after three years I could sit next to folk with L plates on, and train.
This was news to the examiners, who refused me my test. They finally after pleas went and phoned DVLA, who confirmed I was right and that there is another code on systems that tell DVLA /police if the person is tested or grandfather rights.

Btw, I had grandfather rights, but took both d1 and d1+e anyway, so that after three years I could sit next to folk with L plates on, and train.

I take it from this that grandfather right people can’t supervise learners? That will probably be a surprise to a lot of people (well a large percentage of a very small number who are actually interested!).

If you do B+E then later do D1 does the D1 inherit the E?

This might be silly but what are grandfather rights ?

When I passed a car test in 1991, I also was allowed on that same test pass to drive a minibus (D1), +E (Trailer) D1+E (Minibus and trailer), tractor, scooter etc. These extra ‘bonus’ categories, untested, are now called grandfather rights.
These days, you tend to get the category of vehicle you take the test in, and have to sit a new test (practical and theory) for each new category.

I take it from this that grandfather right people can’t supervise learners?

No you cannot. And yes, I think lots are doing it illegally, but unawares. Same in any license category.

If you do B+E then later do D1 does the D1 inherit the E?

Depends on the year you took your original and ‘new’ B+E license, I think, but generally you would be able to tow upto 750kgs. We had box trailers, and one canoe trailer, that were plated at more than this so our drivers needed it. You HAVE to check with DVLA site, and wade through the many iterations and years of category codes 🙁

Oh, and get trailers on a weigh bridge to check total loaded weight.
I know of one outdoor centre and staff member that got caught out – with a trailer that said 750kgs, and weighed over that…cue fine and points.

matt, spooky

Thanks for all the info. It’s good to have a steer 😀 as to what the price will be, I had wondered if it’d be as much as a grand…it looks like maybe more.

Can you remember who you used in Perth / Glasgow and would you recommend them? As mentioned by spooky, there’s loads of National firms offering training, with little or no costs available and carefully worded script to allow them to insist on further days training.

I have family in Perth, so could make a holiday out of it…and get some winter QMDs in too!!

If anyone else can recommend a NW (Penrith area) local firm, I’d be interested to hear of it.

Thanks for that and sorry for the slight hijack.

matt,

I know my current configs are legal, but I also know that any future trailer upgrade will need me to do the B+E test. Post 97 license (just – if they hadn’t cancelled a test for snow I’d have have been grandfathered!), but trailer is safely within the 750 kg limit and car legal to tow it.

Now I have no immediate need to do a D1 test, and it is likely that any D1 driving I do would fall under the “not in course of employment” get out clause. But it is quite possible that if I did get roped into D1 driving (on a voluntary basis) it would include a trailer. As I understand it the unpaid exemption does not permit trailer use at all (even < 750 kg). So if I wanted that capability do I need to go D1, then D1+E (which I know automatically brings B+E) or could I go B+E then D1? I realise you are not the law, and I should investigate myself – just wondered if you had come across people who had taken trailer test themselves who only needed to do minibus, or if you had considered doing them “out of order” at all.

As I understand it, a standard B licence gives you 3.5t plus 750kg trailer – but the important bit of that is max train weight is 4.25t. As long as your towcar is rated high enough and the plated mgw of the trailer plus the mgw of the car is below 4.25t you are ok, so not just 750kg trailer 😉

^ that, plus seating numbers AND it varies on when you took licence. Got to DVLA site, or even call them.

Fwiw, most folk are moving away from “volunteer driver does not need”. We decided that why would we qualify a person to climb, when when a mistake kills one child. Make s mistake in a minibus and you have 16 onboard…

I was under the impression that for B+E any driver with grandfather rights can supervise a learner.

But for D1/D/C1/C and +E’s on any of those, you need to have passed the specific test yourself and have held the license for three years.

Trailers on a B license, you can go over 750kg but the total MAM must be no more than 3500kg. MAM of trailer must be less than the unladen weight of the towing vehicle. So a 1200kg MAM caravan is fine behind a car with an unladen weight of 1300kg and a MAM of 1600kg, as the caravan will always weigh less than the car and the total weight is 2800kg, less than the maximum 3500kg. It gets a bit more restrictive once you try and comply with the advisory 85% towing advice.

Poly, B+E won’t get you D1+E when you pass the D1. Do the highest category test you can and then do the trailer entitlement, and it will trickle down and cover the lesser categories. I did my B+E before C as I needed it urgently and there was no promise that my employer would put me in for C+E, however if I ever lose the C+E due to age/medical, I should retain the B+E as I took it separately 🙂