One Small Problem
The Beast is being built and will be finalised in time for the trip and we have a quote to ship it over to Canada for around £3k. Expensive I know but we’ve got no choice with that.
There is one tiny little problem – to drive the Beast you need a category C licence – that’s an LGV licence (Large Goods Vehicle as they’re not called HGV’s anymore). The Beast is plated at 10 tonnes which puts it over the 7.5t limit of a C1 licence (which you get for free if you passed your test before 1997). Sarah’s got C1, I was a slow learner so I haven’t got even that. We could plate the Beast to 7.5t but once we were in it and so was our kit it would weigh over that so would be illegally overloaded – not actually overloaded mind because this is just a registration issue.
We’ve got to go through the process of taking another test. There are a bunch of steps to go through for a C licence:
- Get Forms from DVLA (helpfully they don’t have these at the post office)
- Get a Medical (this includes more comprehensive eye tests than required for a normal driving licence – you have to have a minimum in each eye)
- Apply for a Provisional Licence
- Apply for Theory Test and Hazard Perception test date
- Take Theory Test
- Take Hazard Perception Test
- Now you can finally get some driving lessons
- Take the Practical Test
- Pass and then send off for Shiny New Licence
So we’ve got three months to do all this. We’d better get started, not least because the recommended length of time for the driving lessons is five days.
FromAtoB 