IAM...

[boylucifer]

....Looking for a little bit of advice from any Scot's (especially the other couple from Fife and nearby) if they have done their Advanced Rider training and test.

My work have paid for me to do Skills for Life course, and sit my advanced test but being in Fife i am between IAM biking areas - Tayside and Edinburgh. Anyone have any advice as to which area would be best to sit it in???

Thanks....

[Hoppers]

I'm not a Scot, but a Yorkshireman, which is close enough (A Yorkshireman's a Scot, but with all the generosity squeezed out of him!)

As an alternative, you could try these fellas

http://www.edinburghrospa.org.uk/

Cheaper than the IAM, and more likely a higher standard of tuition.

[stoney]

Rospa ain't cheaper than IAM unless you think you're already up to test level! The test alone is £54, you have to pay for training privately on top of that at circa £150-£200 a day. The IAM skills for life is £109 and that includes all the training required to get you to test level...and includes the £50 test that goes to the examiner! But it sounds like thats already been paid for you anyway - lucky you!

I was talking to an IAM examiner on Monday who also does independent IAM/ROSPA/DSA training and he says that the levels required to pass an IAM test or ROSPA test are about equal. He explained that just passing your IAM test is like a ROSPA bronze, a good pass is like a ROSPA silver and a great pass (you guessed it) is like a ROPSA gold.

Both me and my wife have done the IAM course (amongst others) and it was excellent in improving our ability to ride safer and smoother and with more confidence. We would both highly recommend it whatever your experience.

There's a list of the groups in Scotland here:
http://www.iam.org.uk/iamgroups/groupdi ... /scotland/

[Hoppers]

Roadar (Rospa) Groups provide free training.

I know one guy with a Diploma who charges 150quid a day, but currently does not do the training through an organised Roadar group.

As you mentioned Stoney, an IAM pass is generally regarded as a Rospa Bronze. However, if you do well on the IAM test you will never really know, as you will get a pass like everybody else.

I'm not saying, don't consider IAM, its just that Rospa is worth a look at too.

[stoney]

Can you recommend a local group (York/Leeds etc) that provide the training required to do the Rospa - I'd like to get that one done.

[Gromit]

I did the IAM thing back in 1988 (can it really be that long ago?) on my Jota of all things. The big problem back then was that the instruction given by the IAM observers could be extremely inconsistent, to the point that it put me off doing any further training for a while. Soon after we had another guy take over who was brilliant (ex-copper in fact) which re-kindled my desire to carry on.

Personally (and this really is just a personal view based on experience) I'd rather spend a day with the likes of Rapid Training - sure one doesn't get a certificate or 'qualification' as such, but the tuition one receives really is of the very highest quality.

Last year I was invited to be an observer for the Middlesex IAM group (MAM I think they're called) so went along to have an observed session with their senior bod. As a result they offered me a position as an observer but I gracefully declined. I simply feel I'm not good enough to hold such a position; and having to ride text-book stylee all the time would do my head in!!

[Hoppers]

The new East Riding of Yorkshire Group, based in Hull, will be giving tuition very shorlty. Follow the link for the contact details.

http://www.roadar.org/groups/northeast/index.htm.

They will be getting the Tutors approved within the next couple of months and hopefully there will be a Tutor available who is based near York.

They have a serving Traffic Sargeant, an Army Bomb Truck instructor, Ex-Police instructor and an Ex-Army Bike instructor, so standards should be high.

I would also highly recommend the North Yorkshire Group if you wanted to do the car test.