Once you reach the minimum required age to start driving vehicles in your country, it’s likely that you’ll be enticed to get your license as soon as possible. Driving can open so many doors for you and allow you to broaden your horizons, as you can reach different destinations with ease. It can give you the opportunity to go on spontaneous adventures across the country and even get involved with careers that weren’t previously available without owning a license.
Before you can be given a license, you need to complete a training course for the specific vehicle you’re wanting to drive. For most people, this will involve taking regularly scheduled driving lessons for a standard car, either automatic or manual, before taking your test to get your license. However, getting this within a month can be a challenge unless you choose the fast track option, which can help you get the license you desire within a four week period.
This guide will lay out some of the vehicle training courses that you can complete in less than a month to get yourself a license that permits you to drive whenever or wherever you want, within reason. Let’s explore some of these options to give you some licensing inspiration.
Quick Driving Licences
HGV Driver
Heavy goods vehicles are an essential part of modern supply chains, logistics and the national economy, as they are crucial for moving large volumes of goods between production facilities. They help B2B operations run smoothly with there being no other vehicles that can transport such large quantities with this much ease. There is currently a shortage of HGV drivers worldwide, so the door is open for you to complete a training course within 6 days and get a long-term career off the back of it. Lifft Group offers this along with on-site reverse training for perfect road safety.
Bus Driver
The entire process of becoming a qualified bus driver takes around 6 to 10 weeks from start to finish, but some bus companies offer fastrack training that can take 4 weeks, if everything goes well. Applying for your provisional PCV entitlement can take up to 3 weeks or more for the DVLA to process. This step is a prerequisite for all training and testing, so we’re only counting this being within a month when the training actually starts. Your personal speed in learning and passing the required tests will impact the total time, so it could take longer than a month if you’re a slow learner. Once you’re done though, you can have a fulfilling career driving buses.
ADR (Dangerous Goods) Vehicle
A full initial ADR course, covering Core, Packages and most classes typically lasts 4 to 5 days with some companies offering an exam within this time frame too. If you need the tanks module, it usually adds a day, making it a 5-day course. This keeps you comfortably inside the 1 month period, meaning you can be road ready in a short space of time. These vehicles carry dangerous goods from one place to another, so they can be vital for many specialist industries. This makes driving an ADR a great career choice that you’ll really start to value once you take them to the roads.
Forklift Operator
The basic training courses for novice forklift operators typically last only about three to five days. The duration of the course depends on various factors, such as your prior experience and the specific type of forklift you are being trained on. Some programmes may extend a little longer, or you might need time to schedule the training, but the time investment is usually less than a week. Once you are fully trained up on driving a forklift, you can freely use them inside warehouses or on construction sites, allowing you to carry more materials.
Quad Bikes
The requirement for driving a quad bike is usually a full car driving licence (Category B), or a Category B1 licence if your car licence was issued before January 1997. If you already hold a full car licence, you are legally covered to ride a road-legal quad bike, meaning you could start riding within a month, subject to ensuring the quad bike itself is road-legal. The process of getting this license involves a theory test, practical lessons and two practical tests. You’ll need to get a fast track to secure the full licence within a single month, as test waiting times alone can exceed that period. Once you’re done, you can drive your quad bike almost anywhere including on artificial grass fields.
Private Hire Vehicles
Some local authorities can process the final licensing step for private hire vehicles in as little as 5 to 10 working days after receiving all completed documentation and a satisfactory vehicle inspection. You need to secure all necessary paperwork, including a valid logbook, insurance and a compliance certificate from an authorised vehicle test. Delays can easily occur if your documentation is incomplete or if the vehicle fails the initial inspection. Driving a private hire vehicle has proven to be a fruitful career for many people in the UK with ride sharing services like Uber and Bolt opening the door more than ever for a good career path.
Quadricycle
We’re going for more of a fun vehicle for this one. A light quadricycle (Category AM), it is possible to obtain the licence within a month, though this depends heavily on appointment availability. You first need to get a provisional licence before completing the Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) which is typically a one-day course. Following this, you must pass the Motorcycle Theory Test before passing the two-module practical motorcycle tests, which grants the AM entitlement. 16-year-olds in the UK can drive specific light quadricycles, which must weigh less than 350kg and have a top speed of 28mph or less.
Final Thoughts
The world of licensing offers several quicker routes to authorised driving or operating. The quick training programs available for specialist vehicles like HGV and ADR vehicles present the most reliable paths to getting a new qualification in a matter of days that can transfer into a profitable career. For those who already hold a full car licence, the immediate entitlement to drive a road-legal quad bike offers an instant way to drive a new vehicle class while having some fun with it along the way. By focusing on these fast-track options, it is entirely possible to gain a valuable driving skill and open up new career and personal opportunities in under four weeks.