Taxi Driver Online

The BTEC that everyone refers to:

1) Is it exactly the same "Exam" for every LA?

2)Who is the company that put the modules together?

3)Why does the cost vary so much between LA?

4)Are some boroughs making money out of this? if so we need to know as to whether or not they (the LAs) are making money out of this which would be an underlying factor in their wish/instruction for people to take this "exam".

The reasons/questions I am asking is that it is very strange that they the "LAs" are all singing from the same hymn sheet which is unheard of.

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

The BTEC should only cost the drivers £10 the rest is claimed back or paid by the relavant Government department

1. As far as I am aware there is a pool of questions to select from. It is radomly selected by a computer. Although there will be more than one person sitting the test at the same time their questions will all be different.

2. Don't know

3. The cost of a Btec should be between £120/£150 if you were to pay for it cos there's no funding available for this. A % of this cost goes towards the certification body such as City & Guilds or Edexcel etc. It should be about a 25 hour course which if charged at £150 is only £6.00 per hour and less once you take out the certification costs.

The money maker is the NVQ

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

1) No.
2) It's a number of scammers, not just one.
3) Some councils subsidies, in some the gov fit the bill, in others the trade meets the bill.
4) Some are making money, but doubt any of it is declared.

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IDFIMH

Is this a suspicion or a fact that you are aware of?

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Cardiff is a 70 hour course (probably cos we are thicker) and the cost is either £220 or £270 (sorry cannot remember which one as it does not apply to me so it does not matter). The bottom line being the cost and the time which varies so much.

Toots you seem to be a great defender of this course, but can you not see how derogative the course is and how it varies so much it cannot possibly be credible from one end of the country to the other.

You mentioned your daughter going to Uni, but her qualifications will stand up anywhere because the exams are the same all over - ours are not.

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

Sorry it's a minimum of 25 hours my mistake.

I'm not particularly a defender of the course I'm a believer in driver training and we don't seem to have got it completely right but it's a start. Having said that and as pointed out I have seen some benefits to peoples confidence cos of the course and do like to glean the benefits as opposed to the disadvantages that's just the way I am. Always look on the bright side as much as possible

There is nothing to stop anybody coming up with a course and getting it accredited providing it meets standards. So whilst the trade maybe complaining they aren't doing anything about it

As pointed out in another post it appears that Goskills did colaborate with the trade for this course so you need to find out which bright spark in the trade ok'd it all

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

I'm not sure that the exams are the same all over. I think there are various examining bodies.

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Grandad,

There is there's City & Guilds, Edexcel and Edi but the standards should be the same.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Its £270 John - Dragon are currently running the course for exsisting drivers for £75. I was talking to one of the owners yesterday who said that as soon as the council make it compulsory they will have to charge the same as them (£270)

He also said that they weren't making any money on it - and they were charging the drivers only what it cost them for the exam.

SO if it's only costing £75 but the council are going to charge £270 thats another load of bunce in the councils back pocket

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HOW MUCH !!!!!!

If a council makes it mandatory for all existing drivers, then there is no government funding.

Funding is only available when the NVQ course is taken voluntarily.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

A little more info, but not a lot new.

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/n ... ticle.html

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IDFIMH

That seems awfully low and definately lower than what I was informed was a pass rate

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

This whole scam's reason for being is to gain as much money for the testers as possible, and the easier it is to pass the less likely drivers will moan.

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IDFIMH

Well maybe one day there will be an altenative or a more difficult qualifacation who knows. One thing is for sure if there is or it does become more difficult to pass they will then complain about that instead of how easy it is. Personally I think some of the drivers in the trade believe themselves above training, period. I have no doubt at all that there are some extremely experienced drivers out there and there are some that are far more knowledable than the trainers are or ever will be. What everybody seems to be missing is this is not just about training it's about a government programme to have as many people as possible with an actual paper qualification.

The thing is if the qualification is more difficult to attain it is likely to be too time consuming for the fly by night training companies to be interested in delivering cos they are after a fast turnover and also may be too time consuming for drivers to take time out to attain it. There is no perfect solution to the qualification requirement it is a no win situation really but the government will have everybody in the country with some kind of paper qualification whether we like or not. I personally would like something that is relevant to the trade and isn't so easy that an idiot could pass it, but, that's just me.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!