On the flipside, I had never driven a minibus but managed to pass after 3 days, with a test on the Thursday. No doubt this was down to a) good instructors and b) having only 3 people (inc. me) on the course.
I agree with Nimrod though, turn up thinking you’re God’s gift and you’ll fail.
How long do you really need?
My first time driving a minibus was a private hire, I spent 10 minutes with a bloke from the hire firm driving around the local area and bit of reversing and manoeuvering in the yard and that was it. I’ve driven a variety of minibuses over the last 25 years since, with and without trailers.
As I say I’m old enough not to have to worry about this palava and the reason if we ever went for an SOV it wouldn’t be a minibus.
Guys.
A word of WARNING here.
A D1 category on your licence is a Profesional Vocational PCV category allbeit a MiniBus category but it is still a passenger carrying vehicle of upto 16 seats excluding the driver and you do carry passengers(cadets are classed as passengers), before you go to Leconfield you need to have a professional vocational medical, which wil cost you money.
Once you pass your D1 test then you are deemed a professional Minibus driver who knows how to pull up to a bus stop correctly and more to the point safely, whilst driving your Squadron owned Minibus or hired Minibus your primary responsiblity is the safety of your passengers. Whatever you do whilst driving with passengers on board it will affect their safety for example: accelerating,braking, turning left or right, changing gear will all affect your passengers safety and please remember that when you turn left or right in your Minibus, as you turn the Minbus, the Minibus is infact traveling in three different directions.
For a 17 seater Minibus only carry 14 passengers(cadets), do not put any cadets in the front two seats and especially do not put a female cadet in the front centre seat as slipping off the gear stick and getting a handfull of their knee will end your ATC career, the ACO rules and regulations on Child Protection and Duty of Care are there to protect the cadet as well as the staff!
If the Minibus were to be involved in an accident ask youself the question: Could the cadets get out safely,as you load the kit and cadets into the Minibus for a weekend way?
How many drivers of Squadron SOV’s just pitch up,open all the doors,load up the kit and cadets and then drive off, without carrying out POWER or FLOWER,checking condition of all seats, seat belts, driving controls and general condition of the vehicle also how many drivers lock the rear doors of the SOV once they have loaded kit and cadets, not realising that the rear doors are an emergency exit and should be unlocked whilst passengers are on board, what would happen if the rear doors were locked and the Minibus was involved in an accident, the front of the Minibus is on fire and the Minibus is laying on it’s near side and the cadets cannot get out, just something to think about.
I will leave it there for now.
Regards.
Radioman.
Just to clarify for any potential course candidates reading this thread, the medical does cost money, but the ACO will reimburse you for it.
In the know… Not really. We put quite a few drivers forward for the initial issue of their FMT600, and taking a full day, or two if fairly inexperienced (under 18 months driving IIRC), is quite a commitment on their schedules. In the long term will mean fewer personnel with the ability to drive service vehicles. It’s also a lot more admin faff for the people running the MT licencing offices.
I believe we’ve been asked to provide feedback over the first few months of the system. Once the powers at be can demonstrate the effect on the service, then it can possibly be sorted nearer the top. Sadly I fear it’ll be here to stay.
If you can’t control your hands, you can’t control the vehicle so you probably shouldn’t be driving it.
Why give a female cadet as an example? Is it ok to touch the knee of a male cadet?! Does the gender of the driver make a difference? (Hope not!)
And the flip side…
…what would happen if the rear doors were unlocked and a murderer got in when you were stopped at the traffic lights?..just something to think about…
Stay on topic please folks…
Hendon Chipmonk.
The gender of the cadet or the driver is totaly irrelevent, all I was trying to do was to show how esay it is for the driver whether male or female to put themselves into or can be put into a career and life affecting situation. I have seen this type of situation happen before and I know of members of staff who have driven a Minibus home in this situation,I would not like to see a member of staff from the ACO be successful in gaining their D1 only to lose it due to a thoughtless situation and yes you are quite right, you should keep the rear doors of all Minibuses locked so as murders can’t gain access whilst you are stopped at traffic lights.
Regards.
Radioman
The DVLA can’t remove DL categories following allegations of impropriety or misconduct.
[quote=“radioman” post=7928]Hendon Chipmonk.
The gender of the cadet or the driver is totaly irrelevent, all I was trying to do was to show how esay it is for the driver whether male or female to put themselves into or can be put into a career and life affecting situation. I have seen this type of situation happen before and I know of members of staff who have driven a Minibus home in this situation,I would not like to see a member of staff from the ACO be successful in gaining their D1 only to lose it due to a thoughtless situation and yes you are quite right, you should keep the rear doors of all Minibuses locked so as murders can’t gain access whilst you are stopped at traffic lights.
Regards.
Radioman[/quote]
The back door of a transit minibus has a quick release emergency exit anyway, so that people inside can always get out.
How many of you lock doors in your car? Locking doors so murders can’t get in is slightly over the top. What about rapists? Burglars? Do we need to lock the doors for them? We don’t live in South Africa, it isn’t that dangerous out!
Anyway, given where the gear stick is in a transit you’d be hard pushed to stroke anyone’s leg! Another over cautious approach I fear. If I needed to I wouldn’t think twice about having cadets as passengers in the front seats!
[quote=“pEp” post=7943]How many of you lock doors in your car?[/quote]Mine lock automatically, as do many nowadays. It helps prevent carjackings or assaults at junctions or in jams and there are areas of the UK where it is a good thing.
[quote=“pEp” post=7943]Anyway, given where the gear stick is in a transit you’d be hard pushed to stroke anyone’s leg! [/quote]Go try on a modern trannie with anybody other than a pair of racing snakes in the front.
[/quote]Go try on a modern trannie with anybody other than a pair of racing snakes in the front.[/quote]
Snigger
:S
on a Transit van 10 or more years old they have a long gearstick coming out of the floor, near the handbrake and does offer the risk of brushing the leg of a passenger.
a modern (ie new <4 years old) Transit van has a gearstick mounted on the dashboard, and so offers as much chance to brush a passenger as it does to change radio station!
this is however off topic.
[quote=“steve679” post=7955]a modern (ie new <4 years old) Transit van has a gearstick mounted on the dashboard, …![/quote]But it encroaches into the seating area and legspace enough whereby if your passenger is sitting to the extreme right of the seat (for whatever reason) it is a hazard.
Also, last year I spent a long journey apologising to a passenger every time I needed to put on the handbrake in a transit van as I had to shove his ■■■■ out of the way, but that was OK as we were all over 18!
For this course, what are the requirements?
Do you need to be over 21?
Do you need to complete the PCV theory tests prior the course?
If so, does the ACO reimburse you?
Yes
Yes - obviously!
Yes