forklift licence

[Wideboy]

right so today at work I'm "informed" bye a piece of paper left on my bench that I'm to do my forklift test in 2 weeks time. WTF:confused: i thought, so went to my foreman saying "first I've herd of this", and he replied "well I'm telling you now" and walked off so I'm left stood there like this>>>> :smt017

no basically i don't know whether or not to do it. i don't think i get paid anymore money and its a big responsibility as in if there were to be an accident (which some of you may know can easily happen with a forklift) I'd be well and truly up the creek without a paddle. Having said all this i reckon it would be fun :cool:

now I'm considering refusing to do it and being a pain in the ar5e simply because i wasn't asked and it was all organised without me knowing a thing in the past few weeks which as you can probably guess left me a little miffed.


also i thought you had to be 21+ to drive plant, which I'm not

[Sean_C]

I can't drive our forklift at the site, big telescopic bugger, but I've never tried.. I wouldn't want to. Things go wrong, that cant be helped, I've seen a pallet of bricks just split through the plastic and dump themselves all over the ground, things that cant be helped, but I still wouldn't want the responsibility.

I don't have the ticket for a dumper either, but I drive that a lot. Even parked it on its side a couple of weeks a go!

[Luckypants]

If you have a ticket for the plant, been given the H&S lecture, then the company's liability insurance will cover you. Caveat: and you have permission ot have been instructed to use the plant....

I think you can drive plant at 18. My son did his fork lift / tele-handler license at college, to be able to use tele-handlers on the farm.

[dirtydog]

Most forklift training courses cover all the H&S stuff, well mine did and Luckypants is right you should be covered by your companies liabilty insurance

[Biker_Billy]

As above really...but its worth thinking that its another qualification, that you can take elsewhere, and be paid more money for....

[fizzwheel]

Go for it, what have you got to loose ?

Also if you are thinking of leaving, well its something else to put on your CV isnt it.

[Wideboy]

yeah suppose i will then, so you can drive plant at 18+?

its involves driving on the road aswell but i have a car licence

[Gene genie]

do it wideboy, another string to your bow.

[the_lone_wolf]

love the avatar wideboy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d72wgT6swCA

[arenalife]

I did it at work as I ocasionally need to use it, very interesting and bizarre to drive (the back wheels steer). Anyway, just after passing a senior manager asked me to come in on the next saturday to move some palettes (totally not my job, not even in the right dept!) so I had to tell him no freaking way matey.

If it's not within the general remit of your job to be moving things around you should question why they want you to do it.

[philbut]

I have a standard forklift licence from when I used to work for me old man. Its pretty easy and worth having as if you ever need to do any temping etc forklift drivers can generally demand better wages than say a manual handler.

[jimmy4237]

Its a piece of **** m8. You just drive a forkie truck in forward and reverse with an empty pallet on the forks through a tight wee chicane. Then built up empty pallets or IBC's into a stack. Just don't run over the cones. Any fool can pass the test.

I drive the company's diesel 3 tonner forkie all the time (I have to when I'm myself, and trailers need loading to my own personal prefence.) Still don't have ticket for it (Boss can't see the point....), but I've seen some people on sites when in the truck driving the things, and for a "qualified driver" they're useless. I've even had to tell them what to do and how to work the sideshift.:-s:-s At some customers the warehouse guys just tell me "The keys in the forkie driver, you can work it quicker and better than me".

If you're getting put through the test for free, then grab it:smt063, as its a dear licence to pay for privately. It's always another thing to put on the CV as well.:):)

[Tim in Belgium]

I drove one of those tipper trucks that bends in the middle and steers on hydraulics one summer, great fun after I almost took out half the village cars. Never had any training/ticket, so probably shouldn't have been (but I did have a driving licence).

[ooger]

ONE point to mention:

Some employers have specific clauses in your contract that says if you leave at ANY time they will("can" - depends how friendly) ask you to reimburse them for all training covered in the last 12 (or "x") months.

+1: useful to have etc
+1: expensive to foot the bill yourself when you wave byebye (you kinda want to aim for holding all the cards on that day).


Grass....greener....etc

[wheelnut]

Yes. do as Jimmy said, grab it with both arms. actually if you pass a forklift test you could grab it with the forks:smt117

Anybody want to buy an HGV licence? I want to be a fork lift driver!

[dirtydog]

The last company I worked for paid for me to do my HGV class 2 and then changed my job and i needed to drive a forklift so they paid for that as well

[G]

Its another string to your bow so to speak.

I did mine when I worked at toys r us lol. I think you have to renew its yearly/2 yearly cant remember.

[Foey]

According to the instructor/examiner my son just did his with you have to re take the test every two years, that was a shock to his employer as he had to put four people through the test & not just the two he had planned.

As has been said before, i'd personally take it if it's free, if it doesn't say about driving a forklift in your JD then don't drive it, you'll still have the licence for two years.

[Ed]

As long as they're paying for it... why not. As ooger says - check whether you'd have to repay the cost if you leave.

[dirtydog]

I think you have to renew its yearly/2 yearly cant remember.

you have to re take the test every two years.

I've just checked my forklift certificate and it has no expirey date on it, so i phoned the company that i did it with and they said the certificate doesn't expire as such but they recommend that a refresher is done every 3-5years. When you do that refresher is upto the company you work for

As long as they're paying for it... why not. As ooger says - check whether you'd have to repay the cost if you leave.

I should've paid them back for my HGV and forklift but as we parted on bad terms i didn't bother :smt003