Driving course information

Convicted Driver Insurance

January

Established Member
I am booked on the driving rehab course with TCC next week, but not heard from them since booking
If there are not enough people on it when do they let you know if cancelled?
What is the content & format and any comments from people who have done one recently ?
Many thanks
 
Morning

I did my own TCC course last year a few months into my ban.

The courses are three days - mine was held on three consecutive Saturdays in a local church hall near to where I live and easy to get to on a bus. I do believe TCC do weekday courses where the three days are done together - these are okay but not ideal if you are working so I opted to do my course at the weekend.

The course is 18 hours in length, spilt over the three days. The first day is only 4 hours - started at 12.30pm and finished about 5pm. The second day was a 9.30am start and finished about 5pm. The third and final day was 9.30am and finished just after 4pm. You do get a lunch break in days 2 & 3 and also regular comfort breaks. Tea & coffee is provided.

The course layout is quite relaxed and chilled out - you are given text books to work through during the course and it is quite a good atmosphere - there are originally 16 people on my course, however one chap never came back after his 1st day (I've never understood why someone would pay to do this course & then forfeit the opportunity to get the licence ban reduced!). Another lady on the course was clearly alcohol dependant and the course trainer had to remove her because she tried to self withdraw from her drinking only to make herself unwell during the 2nd day. Very sad but I'm hoping she got the help she needed. On that note, the trainer did explain that he has authority to breathalise candidates for alcohol but he never did - the lady in question had clearly panicked and tried to go cold turkey during the 2nd day.

The atmosphere on the course was good - everyone is in the same boat so there is no one there to judge you. The course trainer I had was a really nice humble bloke and very chilled out in how he ran the course. The course trainers differ from venue to venue, so you do get different people taking each course. I am lead to believe ex-police officers run some of these courses as well and can be very regimental towards the candidates so please be mindful of this - they can be very strict about punctuality.

The course content is good in parts as you do a knowledge test on calculating units of alcohol & how long it stays in the system. It is NOT an exam - more a light hearted guessing game which was good and interesting. Other parts of the course are a little dull and I didn't really learn anything I didn't know already - I watched a couple of videos of Drink Driving that were informative and the practical stuff was fun.

Overall this was a good course to do - the interesting aspect of the course is when you speak to the other candidates and compare your circumstances. The eldest person on my course was a 68-old-old retired grandmother, while the youngest was a 22-year-old girl who worked as PA. You do strike up some good friendships during the course but sadly, once everyone completes the course you don't see anyone again.

All the best with your own course.

CJ
 
Thank you CJ, my course is over 3 weeks with timings similar you what you described.
It is the first course I could book into due to Christmas closure & wanted to just get it out of the way. Issue for me is the journey from being stopped to court was just under 6 months & I struggled with a lot of guilt & shame. Just trying to get life back on track, learning the bus routes etc but as the court approaches it is bringing a lot of memories back - was it easier after the course? Thank you for the information re the course content that was helpful
Yes heard some course trainers are quite harsh so hope it’s someone who is firm but not judgemental
Thank you
 
January

Sorry to hear about your predicament.

To be honest, I didn't experience feeling any better or worse from the course - I just had to get it done and reduce my ban length. I still have to deal with the HRO medical later this year which will be another hurdle completely.

I was given community service as part of my punishment from the court and funnily enough I was sent to a community centre where they were taking one of the drink driving reduction courses!!! I couldn't get on that course myself as it was already booked up but on reflection I'm glad I went to the other course in the neighbouring town. The course trainer for the one at the community centre was very robust towards the candidates and he threatened to have one lady failed because she turned up late one day.

From my own experience please get there early - there's always brew making facilities so at least you can get a warm drink and perhaps get to know your other course 'housemates' while waiting to start. Depending on where it's located - I'd take a packed lunch on days 2 & 3. Mine was more or less in a town centre so during the lunch break I visited the local Greggs.

Good luck with it.

CJ
 
Thank you CJ , day one was ok pleasant trainer who even put up with one “cocky” lad clearly a “frequent flyer” at the local cop shop as was familiar with the food menu - playing on his phone but he eventually participated- he was on my table & I was writing our answers & two of us told him to “ get with the programme “ ! A different trainer would have thrown him out. We did the quiz, units etc there was a lot of padding out to fill the time. Day 2 Friday
Thank you for the input especially being early trainer was generous as the hotel signage was awful & reception heaving with two coach parties but has warned us
There were 3 no shows but trainer didn’t know if they had cancelled, will be interesting to see who turns up
Thanks for the input CJ
 
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