All our HGV courses can be taken from the age of 18 years onwards. The only requirement if you are 18-21 years is that you must complete the Driver CPC no matter what you want the licence for.
The vocational licence:
C1 Licence – 7.5T
C1E Licence – 7.5T and Trailer combined weight 12T
C Licence – 32T, rigid vehicle, old class 2
CE Licence – articulated lorry, old class 1
These categories all require a private medical and theory tests - see Pretuition. You have to gain the licence for the lead vehicle before you can take the trailer test. For example, if you need the C1E, towing a trailer behind a 7.5T vehicle, you would need to take the C1 licence. Once passed you can take the C1E licence. If you choose to take the category C and CE you can then tow a trailer behind any vehicle.
The length of your driving course is determined by your own ability to drive, as seen in your assessment lesson. For example, our most common length of courses are 16, 18 or 20 hours which all include your tests times (a 16 hour course is 14 hours training and test).
Every course is individually tailored so that your training is specific to you, concentrating on ensuring you are ready for your test. Your course is run over consecutive days, so for example a 16 hour course would be run over two days with your test on the second day. This makes sure that you get the same vehicle and instructor for the length of your course (apart from exceptional circumstances outside our control).
This is your vocational licence which allows you to drive these vehicles for private use or certain jobs which have exemptions from the driver CPC.
For all other driving which is for hire and reward, the driver CPC must be taken.