Oh Dear... Oh Dear...
I recently discovered... I was politely told by some of the people
at the Bedford Rally last Labour Weekend...
That I needed a Class II... Or Heavy Traffic license to drive my housebus.
Oh No... What a dilemma.
I had been merrily driving it since I bought it in April...
On a car or Class I license!
So... I spent the weeks I was in Christchurch
swotting up the road code, and in particular the questions
about heavy vehicles.
I hope you can enlarge these photos enough to read them...
The questions are very interesting, mostly relating to
heavy trucks... But I needed to know them.
I bought some 'tests' online and thoroughly practised
until I was sure I would pass.
I needed a medical certificate...
Then off I went to AA...
And duly got my 'Learners' license...
with a 100% pass... Hurray!
Next I needed to get a full license... Before I could drive again.
The options were:
keep my learners license for six months and only drive with a person
who has held a full HT license for two years... Or...
Do a two day course.
Well the choice was obvious!
So after several phone calls I found Steve...
He was willing to do a course with me... Immediately.
It only took us 1/2 a day...
The theory was like being back at kindergarten...
And of course I could already drive my 'heavy vehicle'.
So 'Learners' last Monday...
Full HT on Wednesday...
Didn't take long...
So now I have my HT license and am legally on the road again.
You might be interested in the cost of this exercise:
Road Code book 25.50
Medical Cert 80.00
Learners Licence - done at AA 93.90
Steve 600.00
Full License - at AA 49.60
Total 849.00
The license costs are set by the government...
Steve's price was the cheapest anywhere...
He pays $200 for the manuals and workbooks we used and
because it is all done as 'Unit Standards' he pays $7 a unit to register them on my student number.
It's a total rip off... the manuals should be online.
It's like the road code book... Every time there is a change...
They all need to be reprinted.
Somebody's making a huge profit.
Another thing I found out - if you can't afford a 2 day course
and choose to do a 26 week course through an approved provider
then those who are unemployed become an employed student.
This manipulates the unemployed numbers... The government likes this!!!
