Lantra ATV Training

We've just spent a wonderful week training the gardeners, forestry and game staff at Holkham Hall. Quad bikes featured on a few days, but one of the best bits of the week was a day of Sit-In ATV Training. The staff were looking to replace their John Deere Gator, so we were lucky enough to have the Gator, a JCB Workmax, a Polaris Ranger and a Kawasaki Mule to compare side by side.

Lantra ATV Training

There were pros and cons for all the vehicles and they all have a niche in which they fit, so I won't pick a favourite, but having the chance to test each vehicle was invaluable.

Quad Bike Gritter and Snowplough ATV training

Due to the unexpected snow over this winter, several organisations have recently contacted us regarding training their employees in how to safely operate a quad bike, with a trailed gritter and attached snowplough.

We have been running these courses for clients across the UK. The Lantra-Awards Sit-Astride ATV course includes the option for trailed equipment, and attachments like the snowplough. It also includes the option for a 'level ground only' course, which can often be undertaken at your workplace. This minimises disruption, and eliminates staff travel and overtime requirements, as the course can be completed in one day.

However, we have found that many of the quad bikes and snowploughs have not been particularly suitable for the job, with some suppliers selling companies manually clutched bikes, bikes which are not road legal, despite being sold as such, and other bikes simply being unsuitable for the purpose. Often, the cheaper snowploughs supplied have simply not been able to deal with the job they were sold for. We have also been disappointed to find that suppliers (who have seen a niche in the market and jumped at it) have been giving some very odd advice, sometimes with serious legal and H&S implications.

At Beyond Driving, we are always happy to offer email or phone advice for free, whether you decide to take training with us or not, so please, if you're thinking of equipping your staff with a quad bike, snow-plough or trailed gritter - please get in touch.

info@BeyondDriving.co.uk

Update (11/11/2012): We've recently added a page to our site dedicated to the ATV and Quad Bike with Snowplough and Gritter Training Courses we have run for many of our clients.

Quad Bike Courses and 4x4 Training in Scotland

We've been doing more and more training courses with ATV operators and quad bike riders requiring Lantra certification recently, so we've added a few more specific pages so that people can find us:

Quad Bike and 4x4 Training Dumfries and Galloway
4x4 and Quad Bike Training Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire

We've mainly been providing Quad Bike Courses in the workplace, for industrial clients such as Scottish Coal, but we've also been invited to some of the most picturesque areas of the country by some incredibly professional forestry contractors.

As ever, we've been working with Protec Training to provide the Lantra 4x4 course at their Ayrshire Off-Road Training venue and instructor and asessor's courses for international clients.

Lake District Quad Biking

We do quite a lot of work with activity centres who need their quad trek instructors training up to the Lantra ATV certification.

Though many of these centres run enjoyable treks, we've rarely found one we're happy to recommend, until we visited the guys at Lake District Quad Treks, who run quad biking tours across the Lakes. Their ethos of sustainable trekking, high safety standards and attention to detail really surprised us.


The company has grown out of Paul Chuter's Quad and ATV Sales and Servicing company based just north of Keswick, and their road legal Can-Am single and 2 seater quad bikes are excellent, and of course maintained to the highest standard.

Off Road Training in Devon

We've recently spent a couple of enjoyable days working with Ian Shacklock of MTF Training on their purpose built off-road site in Winkleigh. Ian is a DSA Approved Driving Instructor, Registered Fleet Trainer and Lantra Approved 4x4, Quad Bike and ATV trainer.

We were training the Devon Coastguard in how to use their Nissan Navarras in a range of situations. Though we were unable to do any work on sand, we did manage to get a good amount of experience in soft turf and mud - working on techniques to keep moving. We did however manage to get them stuck up to their axles a couple of times. Thankfully, Ian is one of the few trainers who has the experience and know how to use a KERR (Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope) properly.

If you're looking for Off-Road Training in Devon, or need some training in the correct use of the KERR, then either contact MTF directly or get in touch with us:

info@beyonddriving.co.uk

Cumbria 4x4 days

We base ourselves in the North West at a fantastic venue in Cumbria and we thought we had better return a favour and give a bit of publicity to them!

Holmescales run 4x4 Days across 300 acres of Cumbrian fells, forest and mud! The venue is fantastic for all of our training, and we even run Holmescales Lantra Courses for them. All of the instructors are extremely friendly and knowledgeable (we have to say that - we trained most of them!) and from what we can tell, customers always seem to leave with a huge grin on their faces (along with a lot of mud!).

Let's hope things go from strength to strength in 2010 for one of the best activity centres in the Lake District.

4x4 and Quad Bike Training in 2010....?

Well, 2009 was a busy year, running training for a huge variety of clients, from farmers who have found themselves under more and more pressure to formalise their quad bike training, through to government organisations requiring their operators to receive Off-Road Training to the highest standards possible.

It seems that throughout industry Lantra training is now the recognised standard, and as it is the government sector skills council for agriculture and rural skills, the HSE are also recommending Lantra certification more and more often.

In 2010, we hope to be doing more of the same, training HART teams, MOD staff and trainers, National Park rangers on quad bikes or in 4x4's. Things are already looking good with a big contract in the Lake District, and we're hoping to be able to run both quad bike and 4x4 training in Buckingham soon, at an excellent site just outside the town. Over 2009 we added a site in Essex to our already busy sites in South Wales, Cumbria and Ayrshire. We're also looking at sites in the north of Scotland (Aberdeen and Invernesshire) and the North East of England in order to be able to provide training within 2 hours travel of the whole of the UK.

Best wishes and safe riding and driving for 2010 from Beyond Driving.