forklift truck licence
Discussion
My other half says..
2 different types, Inhouse and RTITB
Inhouse only allows you to drive for the company that put you through.
RTITB is a universal licence, accepted anywhere, and is your personal licence.
However both licences, for insurance purposes are requested/reqired to have a refresher course every 3 years to maintain competance and driver standards.
How you go about getting a personal licence refreshed, he is not sure, maybe a one day thing with a company that do them. The licence doesn't expire as such, but they do like you to keep on top of it. If it's an inhouse licence, then the company that you got it for, will usually sort out the refresher for you. But this is the one that you can't take to another employer.
My other half got his first one as an inhouse with B&Q, when he went to his next job he had to be put through it all again, but this time the licence is his and he can take it to any other job.
Hope this helps
2 different types, Inhouse and RTITB
Inhouse only allows you to drive for the company that put you through.
RTITB is a universal licence, accepted anywhere, and is your personal licence.
However both licences, for insurance purposes are requested/reqired to have a refresher course every 3 years to maintain competance and driver standards.
How you go about getting a personal licence refreshed, he is not sure, maybe a one day thing with a company that do them. The licence doesn't expire as such, but they do like you to keep on top of it. If it's an inhouse licence, then the company that you got it for, will usually sort out the refresher for you. But this is the one that you can't take to another employer.
My other half got his first one as an inhouse with B&Q, when he went to his next job he had to be put through it all again, but this time the licence is his and he can take it to any other job.
Hope this helps
speedchick said:
My other half says..
2 different types, Inhouse and RTITB
Inhouse only allows you to drive for the company that put you through.
RTITB is a universal licence, accepted anywhere, and is your personal licence.
However both licences, for insurance purposes are requested/reqired to have a refresher course every 3 years to maintain competance and driver standards.
How you go about getting a personal licence refreshed, he is not sure, maybe a one day thing with a company that do them. The licence doesn't expire as such, but they do like you to keep on top of it. If it's an inhouse licence, then the company that you got it for, will usually sort out the refresher for you. But this is the one that you can't take to another employer.
My other half got his first one as an inhouse with B&Q, when he went to his next job he had to be put through it all again, but this time the licence is his and he can take it to any other job.
Hope this helps
Brill, thanks alot answered everything I needed to know. Its a RTITB license I have so thats good news. 2 different types, Inhouse and RTITB
Inhouse only allows you to drive for the company that put you through.
RTITB is a universal licence, accepted anywhere, and is your personal licence.
However both licences, for insurance purposes are requested/reqired to have a refresher course every 3 years to maintain competance and driver standards.
How you go about getting a personal licence refreshed, he is not sure, maybe a one day thing with a company that do them. The licence doesn't expire as such, but they do like you to keep on top of it. If it's an inhouse licence, then the company that you got it for, will usually sort out the refresher for you. But this is the one that you can't take to another employer.
My other half got his first one as an inhouse with B&Q, when he went to his next job he had to be put through it all again, but this time the licence is his and he can take it to any other job.
Hope this helps
However maybe should go through a refesher anyway after I put it through a wall half an hour after passing my test
I believe, these things are never valid in the way a car licence is, ie it is not a requirement in order to drive one. The bit of paper only shows you have demonstrated the capability to operate the equipment safely. They are a fall back to the industry should anything go wrong that you were determined as capable of operating the thing by someone qualified to do so. Some companies obtain such things for van drivers also, and require them to be re-tested annualy although also not a legal requirement. The frequency of re-test is often determined by the environment in which they are used some companies will require annual refreshers or reviews others will be happy you got the bit of paper once. (although there may well be established industry standards).
In the past we have had annual insurance insepctions of our forklifts which are very thorough, the fact our drivers licenses were years old was never an issue.
In the past we have had annual insurance insepctions of our forklifts which are very thorough, the fact our drivers licenses were years old was never an issue.
I hold a Reach Electric, Counterbalance & Rough Terreign/Telehandler licence done through the RTITB- which I am sure the instructor said does not expire. I took mine through the MoD about 4 years ago.
Although, I think you have to get signed off on a particular forklift.
The only problems I had was, trying to get a part-time evening job doing forklift work.
Most companies said they did not recognise the RTITB body & requested I done a transfer course with another body (forget the name now) but it was around £1500 to do it.
Although, I think you have to get signed off on a particular forklift.
The only problems I had was, trying to get a part-time evening job doing forklift work.
Most companies said they did not recognise the RTITB body & requested I done a transfer course with another body (forget the name now) but it was around £1500 to do it.
I hold a current ATiTB accredited Reach and Counterbalance license. My understanding is it is a "for life" license. Most Companies though insist you still have to undergo their own in house training before you are allowed to operate a truck on site. I have held my license for approx 12 years now worked for my current employer for 12 months. Starting on Monday I begin a full five day Counterbalance training course... go figure?
This is typical of the many grey areas surrounding business legislation.
No one has a definitive answer, but whether you are the employee (forklift driver), or the employer, it's best to try and keep up with refresher courses every 3 years, just in case.
What always amuses me is that when we get new recruits in our warehouse, they cannot be enetered for their test until they have a reasonable basic competance. So newbies have to be supervised and run without any licence for a short period the duration of which, here again, is not defined in any regualtions.
Similar situations exist with construction plant too. I drove my first digger, an old Hymac (with help from the operator on whose knee I was perched) at the age of four, and I've driven dozens since - from little micro digger (under 1 tonne in weight and narrow enough to fit through standard doorways), up to 35 tonners - but I wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a 'proper' site, because I have no official competance.
Seems farmers & tractors are the only one's who seem to receive a 'light touch' where equipment legislation is concerned.
No one has a definitive answer, but whether you are the employee (forklift driver), or the employer, it's best to try and keep up with refresher courses every 3 years, just in case.
What always amuses me is that when we get new recruits in our warehouse, they cannot be enetered for their test until they have a reasonable basic competance. So newbies have to be supervised and run without any licence for a short period the duration of which, here again, is not defined in any regualtions.
Similar situations exist with construction plant too. I drove my first digger, an old Hymac (with help from the operator on whose knee I was perched) at the age of four, and I've driven dozens since - from little micro digger (under 1 tonne in weight and narrow enough to fit through standard doorways), up to 35 tonners - but I wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a 'proper' site, because I have no official competance.
Seems farmers & tractors are the only one's who seem to receive a 'light touch' where equipment legislation is concerned.
Just make sure you drive safely:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqeBcdbFJ4
(Don't worry about the german text - the pictures speak fotr themselves...
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqeBcdbFJ4
(Don't worry about the german text - the pictures speak fotr themselves...
AFAIK, there is no road licence specifically for fork-trucks, they come under the same rules as any other vehicle.
there are a plethera of 'certicicates' for there use, but non of these have jack s
t to so with driving one on the road, they all seem to be about H&S arse covering and the like.
same goes with JCB's, tracked excavators, crawlers, etc etc.
there are a plethera of 'certicicates' for there use, but non of these have jack s
t to so with driving one on the road, they all seem to be about H&S arse covering and the like.same goes with JCB's, tracked excavators, crawlers, etc etc.
While we were bending over and taking it from an HSE inspector earlier this year, he advised us that 5 years was the 'legal' validity of a forklift cert. but that as 'industry practice' was to refresh every 3 years, if you decided to go the full 5 years and then had an incident in year 4, you'd be rogered senseless by the HSE.
One of our guys tried to hire a Luton van with an electric tail-lift and was asked to produce his 'tail-lift operator's cert'
FFS.
One of our guys tried to hire a Luton van with an electric tail-lift and was asked to produce his 'tail-lift operator's cert'
FFS.AxelS said:
Just make sure you drive safely:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqeBcdbFJ4
(Don't worry about the german text - the pictures speak fotr themselves...
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqeBcdbFJ4
(Don't worry about the german text - the pictures speak fotr themselves...
I painted the inside of a factory when I was 16 (before college) and they used to put me on the forklift to reach the high bits ... just me standing on a pallet 30ft in the air ...
Then they'd move me round a bit when I needed to paint further along ...
One day there was no once to move me, so I climbed down the forklife and stepped on the acc pedal by mistake, putting the forklift through a set of double doors ... opps.
Then they'd move me round a bit when I needed to paint further along ...
One day there was no once to move me, so I climbed down the forklife and stepped on the acc pedal by mistake, putting the forklift through a set of double doors ... opps.
MikeyT said:
I painted the inside of a factory when I was 16 (before college) and they used to put me on the forklift to reach the high bits ... just me standing on a pallet 30ft in the air ...
me and a couple of cousins were bored one evening. kicking around my grandfathers factory (he owned it). most people had gone home but the forklift was still out. scooped up a pallet, parked the forklift in one of the car parking spaces, jumped on pallet and got one of my cousins to see how high up the forklift would go. remembering cruising past the conference room on a fairly high 1st floor where my grandfather happened to be. he clapped eyes on us and we were in trouble. haha. good old days.
still remember the forklift drivers at the factory. bunch of halfwits. i remember being told that the forklift was left to the idiots who couldn't be trusted not to feed their hands in the presses. lol.
MikeyT said:
I painted the inside of a factory when I was 16 (before college) and they used to put me on the forklift to reach the high bits ... just me standing on a pallet 30ft in the air ...
We used to use the same method to chance the big sodium light-bulbs in a warehouse I worked in once; but at least we had "caged" pallets, which were (a bit) safer.Sciroccology said:
MikeyT said:
I painted the inside of a factory when I was 16 (before college) and they used to put me on the forklift to reach the high bits ... just me standing on a pallet 30ft in the air ...
We used to use the same method to change the big sodium light-bulbs in a warehouse I worked in once; but at least we had "caged" pallets, which were (a bit) safer.colonel c said:
Good fun to be had drifting a counterbalance truck. Not sure if it's possible on a reach truck.
ha, better for doing 360's though, well I thought so when I was 18 and decided to fanny about on a truck, full throttle and a 360 degrees later, forks through a wall and oh fk run going through my mind 
you can in fact get a reach to wheelspin though, wet floor-to big a load to pull, thats pretty cool.
I used to look in amazement at the skill and precision that the guys in the haulage yard at the back of my factory used to hare about at full throttle, they used to be able to put those things in exactly the right place inch perfect. I thne looked on in amazement at the air ambulance came in and the fire brigade were trying to jack up a truck on it's side with the driver under the safety cage, he'd cliped the kerb on the fueling island in the middle of the yard and flipped it onto it's side, he'd fallen under the cage and it crushed his chest certified dead at the scene by the doctor in the helicopter. On a lesser not I had one of my lads hand slip getting out, his feet stayed in the truck and he head butted the concrete floor fracturing his skull which was pretty scary at the time (well we think that's what happened as he can't remember and no one actually saw him do it)
Maybe I'm just getting old but I don't think of them as "good fun" or a "laugh" to drive anymore.
Maybe I'm just getting old but I don't think of them as "good fun" or a "laugh" to drive anymore.
mel said:
Maybe I'm just getting old but I don't think of them as "good fun" or a "laugh" to drive anymore.
Mel is absolutely correct. Forklift trucks are not toys an should be treated with respect.Any potential forklift drivers should watch the video below.
It's in German (with sub titles) to emphasize just how serious driving a forklift truck is.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=22ehEhZ9A68
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