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Red Herring · 25-06-11, 10:27 PM

I'm sure you could work out how much it would cost if you put your mind to it. If we say that it's going to cost £40 an hour to hire an instructor, appropriate vehicle, and put fuel and consumables in it.....

Basic course, 2 weeks = 10x8 hour days = 80 hours.
Standard course, 3 weeks = 15x8 hour days = 120 hours
Advanced course, 3 weeks = 15x8 hour days = 120 hours.

Total 320 hours, but normally 2 pupils in the car so nominally 160 hours each = £6,400
(but you do need to do it in pairs as you learn whilst as a passenger as well)

So that's the cost of getting the initial training, now you need to factor in the regular practice. Most operational police drivers get to drive on UDD (Urgent Duty Driving) several times a day, lets say for arguments sake it's a total time of an hour a day. For practicalities we'll let you save up a few days and do it all at once, lets round it down a bit and insist on 8 hours (one day) every two weeks, so that's another £320 you'll need to come up with. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh here, can't we just let you practice in your own time, in your own car? Possibly, but are you going to have the discipline to do so safely? Despite a few of us letting the side down police officers are generally considered to be reasonably trustworthy (yeah yeah I know....) but they do have quite an incentive not to abuse the system, like they can lose their job... would the same apply to all these now super trained drivers..... anyway I'm starting to ramble...

Oh I almost forgot, you need to budget for refresher training as well. In our force it's currently another weeks training, two to a car, every three years. So that's another £800 each please..... How much are we up to, I've lost count. I reckon it would be cheaper to leave things as they are and just pay the speeding fines.

25-06-11, 10:27 PM	#127
Red Herring Member Mega Poster Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,708	Re: Speed and Misconceptions about it I'm sure you could work out how much it would cost if you put your mind to it. If we say that it's going to cost £40 an hour to hire an instructor, appropriate vehicle, and put fuel and consumables in it..... Basic course, 2 weeks = 10x8 hour days = 80 hours. Standard course, 3 weeks = 15x8 hour days = 120 hours Advanced course, 3 weeks = 15x8 hour days = 120 hours. Total 320 hours, but normally 2 pupils in the car so nominally 160 hours each = £6,400 (but you do need to do it in pairs as you learn whilst as a passenger as well) So that's the cost of getting the initial training, now you need to factor in the regular practice. Most operational police drivers get to drive on UDD (Urgent Duty Driving) several times a day, lets say for arguments sake it's a total time of an hour a day. For practicalities we'll let you save up a few days and do it all at once, lets round it down a bit and insist on 8 hours (one day) every two weeks, so that's another £320 you'll need to come up with. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh here, can't we just let you practice in your own time, in your own car? Possibly, but are you going to have the discipline to do so safely? Despite a few of us letting the side down police officers are generally considered to be reasonably trustworthy (yeah yeah I know....) but they do have quite an incentive not to abuse the system, like they can lose their job... would the same apply to all these now super trained drivers..... anyway I'm starting to ramble... Oh I almost forgot, you need to budget for refresher training as well. In our force it's currently another weeks training, two to a car, every three years. So that's another £800 each please..... How much are we up to, I've lost count. I reckon it would be cheaper to leave things as they are and just pay the speeding fines.