Forklift License

[Little Butch]

Is It worth it?

I left school 3 years ago and have no qualifications, always done hands on labouring type work and thought It'd be good to start getting a few things under my belt, is this a good place to start?

Are there many jobs available doing this?

Butch

[Alex@POD]

Little Butch said:

Is It worth it?

I left school 3 years ago and have no qualifications, always done hands on labouring type work and thought It'd be good to start getting a few things under my belt, is this a good place to start?

Are there many jobs available doing this?

Butch

I want to say yes, as there probably will be quite a few jobs available that require it. However just like anywhere else, someone with experience will be more likely to be offered the job, so make sure that's not your only selling point!

[fatwomble]

Always a handy one to have. In busy times we struggled to hire a Forklift driver for our site. In the current climate it may just ensure you are more in demand than someone who doesn't have one.

[anonymous-user]

By all means do the trainig, but don't expect people to be falling over themselves to offer you a job, as any jobs out there need experience, and both reach and counterbalance, and most of them right now are temporary and not that well paid, but good luck if thats what you want to do

[marshalla]

coincidentally, whilst walking through Leicester this afternoon I saw a recruitment agency blackboard which had at least 6 vacancies for various types of FLT driver - seems they are in demand in some areas.

[Little Butch]

Yeah, I thought I'd start with the forklift license and over time hopefully get a few different tickets under my belt.. Just gives me some skills I can use to make myself more sellable!

Butch

[anonymous-user]

Little Butch said:

Yeah, I thought I'd start with the forklift license and over time hopefully get a few different tickets under my belt.. Just gives me some skills I can use to make myself more sellable!

Butch

One bit of advice i will give you, don't take too many courses, employers will ask why. FLT licences are fine, and say maybe train as a plumber,mechanic.welder etc etc, but don't take too many courses, it make you look like you are avoiding work

[Rooster]

absolutely, in the waste industry the amount of my staff that need this licence is quite high, loading, baling, moving and stacking. Fairly easy to get as well, some brilliant trainers out there.

[marksx]

Go for it, it's a relatively cheap course and one of the easiest 3 days you will ever have! (Counterbalance anyway!)

[VB]

be careful about which training board you get it done by. I did mine (CB, RE & RT) in the MoD, every agency I approached for work turned me down because most of their contracts didn't accept the governing body I did mine through.


There is no real requirement for a FLT licence, IIRC it states 'adequate training', unless it's changed in recent years.

If I was going to do some driver qualifications I'd look at CITB & get some plant machinery licences.


If I were you- at your age (18,19?) I'd be getting myself in to do my A Levels. Get it done while your GCSEs are still fresh in your mind- it'll open up a lot more opportunities in later life, that you may not appreciate right now, which I completely understand because I was like that and have learnt the hard way. I'm now doing FE with a family, full time job & mortgage to worry about, you won't get another opportunity like it in life IMHO.

The above isn't meant to sound patronising BTW

[steveo3002]

whats it cost ?

[marksx]

Between £200 and £300 I think for the basics. Probably up towards the higher side. It's a few years since I did mine.

[Handie Andy]

VB said:

If I was going to do some driver qualifications I'd look at CITB & get some plant machinery licences.

This can pay double the amount of couter balance and reach.

VB said:

If I were you- at your age (18,19?) I'd be getting myself in to do my A Levels. Get it done while your GCSEs are still fresh in your mind- it'll open up a lot more opportunities in later life, that you may not appreciate right now, which I completely understand because I was like that and have learnt the hard way. I'm now doing FE with a family, full time job & mortgage to worry about, you won't get another opportunity like it in life IMHO.

I did exactly the same as the OP when i left school, just wanted money!. I started on the picking, now i have RTITB accredited reach truck (with double deep attachment) counterbalance, llop truck and ride on pallet truck. The market is flooded because the jobcenter give them away for free. Rate of pay is imo only good at the larger companies ie Kelloggs.

Now with great difficulty i am looking for a different line of work with more chance of climbing a ladder.

These days if only i could turn the clock back i would snatch that snippet of advice just above and get stuck right in.

[Burnham]

I took mine in the States and it was worryingly easy. If its anything like that over here its worth doing just for a tick in the box.

Its good fun too )

[Little Butch]

Cheers for the advice people, it's much appreciated! What plant machinery tickets would you advise going for? I work down a skip yard where we separate all the skips that come in.. Got a loading shovel and a 360, I've had a play in the shovel which was a laugh..

[liner33]

VB said:

be careful about which training board you get it done by. I did mine (CB, RE & RT) in the MoD, every agency I approached for work turned me down because most of their contracts didn't accept the governing body I did mine through.


There is no real requirement for a FLT licence, IIRC it states 'adequate training', unless it's changed in recent years.

If I was going to do some driver qualifications I'd look at CITB & get some plant machinery licences.


If I were you- at your age (18,19?) I'd be getting myself in to do my A Levels. Get it done while your GCSEs are still fresh in your mind- it'll open up a lot more opportunities in later life, that you may not appreciate right now, which I completely understand because I was like that and have learnt the hard way. I'm now doing FE with a family, full time job & mortgage to worry about, you won't get another opportunity like it in life IMHO.

The above isn't meant to sound patronising BTW

ditto is it training for trainings sake , I also got my FLT licences in the MOD and had to sit two others for subsequent employers despite in one job never actually needing to drive one

[Duncan2]

Bumping this old thread.Lots of people bothered it seems by the need to participate in a paper-chase (particularly CPCE which truck-drivers now need and employers are reluctant to pay for).In a different but related context I have about ten years driving High-Level Order-Picking trucks and a few years on VNA trucks but no external licence.Family commitments mean I don't have the money to undertake the full R.T.I.T.B Course for VNA and I need that in order to get a job that pays a half-decent wage(am in the Midlands).To finally get to the point does anyone know if it is possible to just put yourself in for the RTITB or ITTSAR test which yields the full external licence without paying for the three day course which I am confident I can safely do without?It seems to me if you can just apply for a car-test off your own bat the same thing should apply with fork-truck licences is that right?Hasten to add I am not recommending this for anyone else just that I have loads of experience and zero access tothe folding stuff.

[marksx]

I think the answer to that would be down to individual training providers and whether they would offer just the course.

With the car test, the training is provided and the course booked at an independent (ie government body). With the FLT, everything is done in house, albeit to a certain standard, as dictated by RTITB.

Make a few phone calls would be my advice.

I imagine many people could resist refreshers tests without training, and sail through. But that wouldn't make much money.

Edited by marksx on Saturday 12th March 21:30

[Duncan2]

Thanks Marksx guess that is the problem with fork-lift licences the people who do the tests are also the people selling the preparation training for the test.You are probanly right and the answer to my question is no.