Every hours figure on this page was read off gov.uk, not remembered
This is the only subject on this site where a wrong number could put somebody over a legal limit while believing a practice test had told them they were inside it.
So the assimilated rules page was read and the wording taken from it. Nine hours daily driving, extendable to ten twice in a fixed week. Forty-five minutes of break after a driving period of no more than four and a half hours. Fifty-six hours in a fixed week, ninety across any two. Eleven hours of daily rest, reducible to nine up to three times between weekly rests. A weekly rest due after at most six 24 hour periods.
Every one of those questions links to that page. If a figure here is ever wrong, you can catch it in one click, which is more than a printed question bank offers.
What is deliberately missing
There is no question here about how long tachograph records must be kept or carried.
That is not an oversight. The assimilated rules page does not state it, and a plausible-looking retention period would have been easy to write and impossible for a learner to check. The rule on this site is that a figure nobody can verify does not get published, even when leaving it out makes the bank smaller.
The break rule is about shape, not total
This detail fails more learners than anything else in the whole subject. A 45 minute break may be replaced by one break of at least 15 minutes followed by another of at least 30.
The order is fixed. Thirty then fifteen does not satisfy it. Nor does forty and ten, even though that totals fifty minutes, because the rule sets a minimum for each part rather than a total to reach. Fifty minutes in the wrong shape is a breach and forty-five in the right shape is not.
And the break is taken immediately. Pressing on to a preferred services is the practical temptation and it is the exact moment the accumulated driving has already gone past four and a half hours.
Why a lorry test contains car theory questions
Because a professional driver is examined on the same road rules as everybody else. The Highway Code does not have a separate edition for lorries.
What part 1 adds is the professional layer: hours, rest, breaks, and the qualification itself. So this paper is built as a guaranteed split rather than a random draw across a merged pile, which means every practice paper contains the professional share instead of occasionally handing you a hundred road rule questions.
Your result is broken down by area, so you can see whether you are losing marks on the road rules you thought you knew or on the hours you have never had to recite.
The repeat rate on this one is not good enough yet, and it says so
A hundred question paper needs a bank of around 250 for a second attempt to be worth sitting. This bank is smaller than that.
So the warning above the test fires, and it is left to fire. The professional slice is reported separately from the overall figure, because the overall figure is flattered by the larger road rules half and the professional half is the part you came for.
The way to fix that is more questions from verified sources, not a quieter warning. Every other free practice test has exactly this problem and simply does not mention it, which is how people score 95 per cent on a mock and then fail the real thing.
Two years, and five tests
The theory certificate lasts two years from the day you pass the first part. Miss the part 3a and 3b driving tests inside that and part 1 has to be taken again.
The full initial qualification is five tests: part 1 theory, part 2 case studies, part 3a off-road exercises, part 3b on-road driving, and part 4 the practical demonstration. Part 4 surprises most people, and it pays to know it exists before you book anything.
A hundred questions is too many to re-sit blind
Part 1 is a hundred questions, twice the length of the car paper, which makes a blind re-sit an hour and a half of mostly answering things you already knew. Questions you get right twice in a row drop out of your revision list, so the second pass is the forty you were shaky on rather than the hundred. Questions, marking and progress stay on your device, with no account and no limit on attempts.
Common questions
Are these the real Driver CPC questions?
No. DVSA does not publish its live bank, and it says the same about its own free practice test: "The questions are not used in the real test, but they are based on the same topics as the test." These are written from The Highway Code and from the gov.uk drivers' hours guidance, and every answer links to the page it came from so you can check the figure rather than trust it.
What is the real part 1 test?
Two halves, booked separately and sittable on the same day. The multiple choice is 100 questions in 1 hour 55 minutes with a pass mark of 85. The hazard perception is 19 video clips with up to 5 points per developing hazard and a pass mark of 67 out of 100. You need both within two years of each other.
Why is there no hazard perception practice here?
Because it is video, and there is no honest way to practise clicking on a developing hazard using written questions. Describing a clip in a paragraph tests reading, not perception. So this covers the multiple choice half properly and says plainly that it does not cover the other one.
Why are there car theory questions in a lorry test?
Because that is what the test is. A professional driver is examined on the same road rules as everybody else, plus the professional layer on top: hours, breaks, rest and the qualification itself. The paper here guarantees the split rather than drawing at random from a merged pile, so every practice paper has the professional share in it.
How many questions repeat if I sit it twice?
More than we would like, and the page tells you the figure above the test rather than hiding it. A 100 question paper needs a bank of about 250 to keep repeats under 40 per cent and this bank is smaller than that, so a second full attempt is substantially questions you have already seen. The professional slice repeats more than the average because it is the thinner half, and that is reported on its own line.
What is the difference between the assimilated rules and GB domestic rules?
Which vehicle you are in and where you are going. The assimilated rules, which are the retained EU rules, apply to goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes in the UK and EU. GB domestic rules cover lighter vehicles, and AETR rules cover certain international routes. Knowing which set you are under comes before knowing any of the numbers, because the numbers differ.
How much does it cost to let a Driver CPC lapse?
Up to £1,000, and the fine falls on the driver rather than the operator. The requirement is 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years, and one set of 35 covers you for both lorries and buses if you drive both, which plenty of drivers do not realise and pay for twice.