Lorry licence categories and the HGV driving course you need

Quick takeaway

There are four HGV licence categories in the UK: C1, C1+E, C, and C+E. Each one covers a different size of vehicle, from 7.5-tonne rigids up to 44-tonne articulated lorries. The HGV driving course you take depends on what you want to drive and the work you want to do. This covers what each category means, who it suits, and how to book the HGV driving course that fits.

Table of Contents

The four HGV licence categories at a glance
What else you need before you drive
Booking the right HGV driving course
Frequently asked questions

Class 1, Class 2, Category C, C+E, HGV, LGV. If you’re looking at a career on the road, the licence jargon can feel designed to put you off before you’ve even sat down in a cab.

At Easy as HGV, we’ve been coordinating training routes for people at every stage of their driving career. Our service is fully managed, and we help you to pursue a category that actually fits your goals.

Our plain English guide to the four HGV licence categories will help to clarify what you can drive on each, and the HGV driving course that gets you correctly qualified.

The four HGV licence categories at a glance

The table below gives you the headlines. The sections that follow cover each category in more depth, including who it suits and how to book the right training.

If you want to talk through how these compare to your own goals, head to our guide to which HGV licence is right for you or you can talk to one of our advisors as soon as you like. 

Category C1 licence

The C1 licence covers rigid vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes, plus a trailer up to 750kg. It’s the entry point into HGV driving. The vehicles behind whose wheel you’ll see a C1 driver include ambulances, larger delivery vans, and small trucks used for local haulage.

C1 suits you if you’re stepping up from a car licence and want to widen your options without going straight to the bigger rigid vehicles. Many people skip C1 and go straight to Category C, because the work available on a full Category C licence tends to pay better and open more doors.

If C1 is the right starting point for you, the Category C1 HGV driving course will take you from provisional to qualified.

Category C1+E licence

Add a trailer over 750kg to your C1 vehicle and you’re into C1+E territory. This licence covers the same 3.5 to 7.5-tonne vehicles as C1, but with a proper trailer behind. The combined weight of vehicle and trailer must stay under 12 tonnes.

C1+E suits work like horsebox driving, events crews, catering setups, and removals. If you’ve ever watched a horsebox being reversed into a country show car park and thought that looked satisfying, this is your category.

Note: if you passed your car test before 1 January 1997, you already have C1 entitlement on your licence. Whether your C1+E is fully usable depends on the code printed on your photocard, and it’s worth checking with the DVLA before you assume you can hitch up a horsebox for hire this weekend.

Category C licence, also called Class 2

Category C is the licence most new HGV drivers train for first. It covers any rigid lorry over 3.5 tonnes, with no upper weight limit on the vehicle itself, plus a trailer up to 750kg.

With Category C on your licence, you can drive refuse trucks, tippers, breakdown recovery vehicles, medium haulage lorries; indeed most rigids on the road that aren’t articulated. The work is varied, the shifts are often local, and it’s a genuinely solid starting point for a long-term career on the road.

Although it’s no longer compulsory, most drivers take their Category C first and then step up to C+E once they’ve got some hours behind the wheel. If you already know Class 1 work is where you want to be, you can train for both together.

Book the Category C HGV driving course when you’re ready.

Category C+E licence, also called Class 1

Category C+E is the top tier of HGV licences. It qualifies you to drive articulated lorries up to the UK road limit of 44 tonnes. In exceptional circumstances, such as abnormal indivisible loads, you remain authorised within your licence to drive even heavier loads. The provisions are all set out in the Road Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) (General) Order 2003 rather than being part of your licence itself. Logistics Managers will take care of the authorisation required to carry an abnormally heavy load so you just need to think about the driving. 

Class 1 work is where you’ll find the best pay in the industry. Long-distance haulage, container transport, tanker driving, low-loader work, and specialist logistics all sit under C+E licences, and the pay increases the more specialist your load. If your heart is set on driving articulated lorries this is the HGV driving course that you need.

The traditional route is to take Category C first, drive rigids for a while, then progress to C+E. That’s still valid but is no longer the only route. If you want to move faster, this Fast Track Category CE course takes you straight to Class 1 without needing to hold Category C first. Otherwise, you can book a standard Category C+E HGV driving course.

What else you need before you drive

Passing an HGV driving course is one part of the picture. But a professional qualification has several stages of requirement:

• Age 18 or over
• A full UK Category B (car) licence
• Provisional entitlement from the DVLA (which we can help you with) 
• A medical examination on the D4 form (which we can help you with) 
• Three theory tests: multiple choice, hazard perception, and Driver CPC case studies (which we can help you with) 
• A practical driving test in the vehicle you’re training for (which we can help you with)
• Driver CPC qualification, which needs renewing every five years to keep working commercially (which we can help you with)

If you’re already qualified but have had a break in your career, you can re-enter the industry through a Return to Driving programme, which has been simplified to ease the process of catching up with your periodic CPC. 

Booking the right HGV driving course

Easy as HGV provides a fully managed HGV training service, coordinating the entire process on your behalf. We advise on your medical, help with paperwork, book your theory tests, match you to experienced instructors, and set you up at a training location that works for where you live.

That means you don’t have to piece it together yourself. When someone experienced is handling the admin, the bookings, and the schedule, you can focus on learning to drive.

Haulage is a career with genuine variety, decent pay, and open doors for young people and women who might not have seen themselves behind the wheel before. When you’re ready, browse our full range of HGV training courses or get in touch with us.

Frequently asked questions

Is LGV the same as HGV?

Yes. Large Goods Vehicle and Heavy Goods Vehicle refer to the same set of licence categories and the same courses. Most of the industry still uses HGV in day-to-day speech.

How long does an HGV driving course take?

Most Category C courses run over several days of practical training, once your theory tests, medical, and provisional entitlement are cleared, with the whole process coming to around 6-8 weeks. Fast-track routes to Category C+E can take you from provisional to Class 1 in up to 4 weeks, depending on instructor and test availability.

Do I need Category C before I can take C+E?

Not any more. You used to have to hold Category C before you could sit C+E, but the rules have changed. A Fast Track Category C+E course will qualify you to drive articulated lorries without holding Category C first.