Truck Driver Hayley spent a full week on an ADR driver training course and filmed a round-up on the Friday afternoon. Her verdict, after six exams: not hard, provided you read the course book. This was a Great Britain course run against ADR as applied by the Carriage of Dangerous Goods Regulations, so what she describes maps directly onto the certificate every ADR driver here holds. Her account is a useful map of what the week actually contains, and where the syllabus ties back to ADR’s own numbering.
How the course is built
The ADR driver training certificate is modular. The core is compulsory, then you add a carriage mode and at least one class. Classes 1 (explosives) and 7 (radioactive) are specialist modules and sit outside a standard course.
| Module | Status | Typical timing (as reported) |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Mandatory for every certificate | Days 1 to 4, alongside packages and classes |
| Packages | One of packages or tanks is required; both is common | Days 1 to 4 |
| Classes 2, 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 8, 9 | At least one class required | Days 1 to 4 |
| Tanks | Optional add-on | Day 5 |
| Classes 1 and 7 | Specialist, not on a standard course | Separate course |
Her course split the classes into Group A (2, 3, 6 and 8) and Group B (4, 5 and 9) for teaching and exam purposes. If your employer only ever moves one class, there is no obligation to sit all of them, but the certificate only covers what you have passed. The certificate runs for five years under ADR 8.2.2.8.2, with a refresher required before it expires. For a comparison of the certificate combinations, see Understanding the Six ADR Driver Pro Training Routes.
What the core module actually covers
The core is where most of the regulatory detail lives. Hayley’s list of topics reads almost like an index of ADR Parts 1, 5, 7 and 8.
| Topic covered on the course | Where ADR deals with it |
|---|---|
| Transport document and instructions in writing | 5.4 |
| Vehicle and crew equipment, fire extinguishers | 8.1.5 and 8.1.4 |
| Orange plates, placards and marks on the vehicle | 5.3 |
| Tunnel restriction codes | 8.6 |
| Limited quantities | 3.4 |
| Excepted quantities | 3.5 |
| Loads below the driver training threshold | 1.1.3.6 |
| Segregation, including toxic substances and foodstuffs | 7.5.4 |
| Security and high consequence dangerous goods | 1.10 |
| Packing groups and UN numbers | Part 2 and Table A in 3.2 |
| Certificate validity and refresher | 8.2.2 |
Two points from her core module deserve underlining. First, a load under the 1.1.3.6 threshold, or in limited quantities under 3.4, does not need an ADR-certificated driver, but the vehicle, marks and the 1.3 awareness training still apply. Second, the GB domestic and international ADR positions are not identical. Operating solely within Great Britain puts you under the Carriage of Dangerous Goods Regulations, which apply ADR with a small number of domestic variations. A journey through two or more contracting states is full ADR. The course teaches both because a driver can move between them in a working week.
The core also covered spillage response, PPE, static, BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion) and which extinguisher not to use. Water on a flammable liquid fire was the example question she remembered.
Packages, classes and tanks in brief
The packages module is about the packaging itself: UN-approved packagings, IBCs, drums and composite packagings, plus the marks that go on the package and on the vehicle. The exam question she cited, which packing group is more dangerous, I or III, is answered by ADR 2.1.1.3: Packing Group I is high danger, III is low. If the UN mark on a drum is unfamiliar, Reading a UN Packaging Mark walks through it.
| Class | What the course concentrated on |
|---|---|
| 2 | Gases and pressure |
| 3 | Flash points, flammability ranges, miscible and immiscible liquids |
| 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 | Spontaneous combustion, dangerous when wet, control temperatures and self-accelerating decomposition |
| 5.1, 5.2 | Oxidisers and why they stay apart from flammables |
| 6.1, 6.2 | Routes into the body: inhalation, ingestion, absorption; segregation from foodstuffs |
| 8 | Chemical burns, handling PPE, composite packagings |
| 9 | Lithium batteries, polychlorinated biphenyls, polymeric beads giving off flammable vapour |
The tanks day was more practical than chemical.
| Tank topic | Point the course made |
|---|---|
| Discharge methods | Gravity, pressure or pump |
| Decompression | Failing to decompress before opening can cause an implosion |
| Earthing | Required when loading or unloading flammables such as petrol |
| Manlids, valves, gauges and seals | How they are protected and safely opened |
| Anti-static clothing | Part of the personal precautions against ignition |
She was clear on one thing that the tanks module cannot teach: every tank is different, and a driver should expect company-specific training on the actual vehicle before working it. That is good practice, not a shortcut.
The exams and how hard they are
Hayley sat six exams across Thursday and Friday. The counts and timings below are the ones she reported for her course. The examining body sets the format and it can change, so treat them as an illustration of scale rather than a rule.
| Exam (as reported) | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Core | 25 | 40 min |
| Packages and bulk | 15 | 25 min |
| Common characteristics | 20 | 30 min |
| Classes Group A (2, 3, 6, 8) | 36 | 55 min |
| Classes Group B (4, 5, 9) | 24 | 40 min |
| Tanks | 20 | 30 min |
All twelve candidates on her course passed. Two failed one paper each and resat it the same day. Her honest assessment: the questions test what a driver must do, not why the chemistry behaves as it does. Questions asked what IMDG stands for (the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, the sea regime, not the road one), which placard was being described, or which extinguisher to avoid. Every paper is multiple choice, and she found that re-reading the day’s section each morning was enough preparation.
She also noted that the course counted towards Driver CPC periodic training hours, reporting 21 hours for core plus packages and 28 with tanks. Confirm the exact upload with your provider, because the hours claimed depend on how the course is registered.
How ADR Driver Pro Fits Into This
The pattern Hayley describes, read the section, then answer driver-focused multiple-choice questions on it, is exactly what ADR Driver Pro is built around. The app carries 1820 revision questions, of which 110 are free, organised into 13 modules covering the core plus the individual hazard classes. That mirrors the course structure above: core first, then the classes you are actually sitting.
The 6 driver routes let you set the app to the certificate combination you are working towards, so a packages-only candidate is not revising tank discharge methods on the morning of the core exam. The 8 quick reference sets cover the placards, tunnel codes and equipment lists that the core paper draws on, and the 5 calculators include the 1.1.3.6 load points calculator for checking whether a load falls under the driver training threshold in the first place. The 6 field tools are there for after the course, when the questions come from a loading bay rather than an exam screen.
