Licence classes
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The item in industry news headed "Tractor licence loopholes" (CM 8-14 (Jct) makes a very valid but disturbing point. I hope Mr Thompson has been misquoted in saying "he would need to pass a full C+E test".
I would like to think that the industry has a full knowledge of our everchanging licensing laws.
If this point had been brought to the attention of the mechanic concerned he at the very least would then have been able to decide in an informed fashion whether to continue.
The comment made by the examiner that he had been wasting his time I could not quite equate to: this class of licence (C+E) surely represents the pinnacle of anyones driving abilities without progressing to advanced training or assessment.
There is further entitlement given with a Category C licence which is especially important in the instance of a mechanic. The holder of a Category-C licence may also drive a PCV with various restrictions (these would not be of great importance to a mechanic in the course of his/her business).
Another little known situation is that a Category-D restricted (automatic) licence holder may sit a Category-C driving test. On passing this category his/her licence will be returned with the Category-D restriction lifted so he/she would then have both Category-C and D unrestricted (manual) entitlement Might I suggest a feature on this subject in CM as this would be invaluable to the people out there who still want to show their driving abilities, regardless of the obvious determination of the various agencies to dissuade them from ever doing so. Alex McAra, HGV Raining, Perth