Level 3 Certificate in Emergency Response Ambulance Driving

Two components, 150 guided learning hours, everything assessed.

Component 1 — Prepare, Drive and Manoeuvre Ambulance Vehicles

The Level 2 foundation. Seven credits, 45 guided hours.

• Pre-shift inspections and pre-driving checks, and the paperwork that goes with them
• Legislation and driving regulations, including incident management
• Braking systems, including tapered braking
• Steering, bends and road positioning
• Transmission and speed — driving economically, varying speed on the accelerator and engine braking
• Dual carriageways and motorways
• Reversing and manoeuvring, including working with a banksman
• Vehicle safety systems, and avoiding and managing skids
• Overtaking and passing safely in routine driving
• Adverse conditions — fog, ice, rain, high winds, snow and poor visibility
• Human factors in collisions, and managing confrontational behaviour
• Navigation and managing in-vehicle distractions

Component 2 — Drive Emergency Ambulance Vehicles

The Level 3 component. Sixteen credits, 105 guided hours.

• The system of car control — forward planning, anticipation and observation
• Progressive driving and transmission use under response conditions
• Overtaking and passing safely in an emergency
• Driving in darkness, emergency and non-emergency, including managing dazzle and fatigue
• Emergency response driving — vehicle positioning and managing your own stress
• Using the emergency response exemptions, and being able to justify every one
• Managing confrontational behaviour while responding
• Navigation and in-vehicle distractions during a response

The exemptions component matters more than people expect. Blue lights do not make a manoeuvre legal on their own — you have to be able to justify the decision afterwards, and that is what gets drivers into difficulty.

The FutureQuals Level 3 Certificate in Emergency Response Ambulance Driving (RQF), qualification number 601/7335/X, endorsed with the pathway you completed.

Total qualification time 230 hours, of which 150 are guided learning. Minimum 23 credits across the two components.

How you are assessed

Nothing is a surprise, but the standard is high — it is a qualification that ends with you driving a two-tonne vehicle through traffic on blue lights.

• Two multiple-choice papers — 60 knowledge questions and 60 traffic sign questions. The pass mark is 85% on both.
• A portfolio of evidence built across the course
• Direct observation and direct assessment by your assessor
• A pre-emergency driving assessment before you progress to response driving
• Two independent driving assessments, each around an hour — one routine ambulance drive, one emergency response drive

How the drives are marked

You are deferred on a drive if you make a serious error, more than two minor errors in any one section, or more than five minor errors overall. The final grade is competent or not yet competent.

You get one resit. Beyond that it is a decision for your employer and for us together. We would far rather put the extra time in before the assessment than have that conversation after it, so if your instructor thinks you are not ready, they will say so early.

Prior to starting the course learners must meet the following criteria:

• Be 21 years of age or older on the first day of teaching.
• Possess the right values, behaviours and attributes appropriate to the role.
• Have no outstanding court cases, prosecutions or pending disciplinary action in any area being brought against them.
• Hold a valid driving licence for the class of vehicle being driven, for the full duration of the qualification, with no more than 6 points.
• Have a contract with an NHS ambulance service, or with a voluntary or private ambulance provider that is CQC registered and contracted to provide emergency ambulance provision to the NHS ambulance services.

Learners with Type 1 Diabetes can still apply as long as it is well controlled.

Any previous driving ban, for any reason, must be declared to us when booking. It does not automatically stop you taking the course, but we need to know before you book rather than on day one.

If your licence expires part way through, the qualification is paused until it is valid again rather than failed.

Our age requirement is 21, which is higher than the awarding organisation’s minimum of 18. That is deliberate — insurers and ambulance services generally expect it, and there is no point certificating someone a service will not put on the road.

£3,530 including VAT. Vehicle use, fuel, instruction, all assessment and certification are included — there are no separate charges once you are booked.

We provide a number of options to support you fund and finance this course:

12 month payment plan

We can support learners to spread the cost of their training over a 12 month period in equal instalments at 0% interest.

ELCAS funding

Learners from the military may have funding available to support new civilian qualifications. Depending on the length of your service you may be eligible for £1,000 or £2,000 towards this course.

Multiple booking discount

For companies who book four or more learners onto this course, you will be given a 15% discount on the total price. For an ambulance service putting a cohort through, that is over £2,100 back on four places.

Returning learners

Trained with us before? When you come back to requalify, take 10% off your refresher.

Employer invoicing

Most learners on this course are funded by their service. We invoice employers directly rather than asking individuals to pay and reclaim. Get in touch and we will set it up.

Staying overnight

Travelling to us from outside Teesside? We have agreed learner rates with the Sporting Lodge Inn at Stainton, a 5 to 10 minute drive from our Stockton-on-Tees centre, with easy access from the A19 and A174.

• £75 per night — bed and breakfast
• £95 per night — dinner, bed and breakfast, including a two-course evening meal and a drink

Both rates include free on-site parking and free use of the hotel gym and 25-metre pool. There is a pub and restaurant on site.

These rates are only available through us, not directly with the hotel. Add the nights you need to your checkout when you book your course, and we will arrange it and confirm the details with you.

The course runs across several weeks. A five-night week at £75 is £375, with breakfast and parking included — and you only pay for the nights you actually need.

Rooms are subject to availability, so book as early as you can. Plans change — cancel your room up to 24 hours before arrival and we will refund it.

Download our Teesside accommodation and local area guide for learners (PDF)

Our centre is Faraday House, Sopwith Close, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3TT, with free on-site parking and direct access from the A66 and A19.

By rail

Darlington sits on the East Coast Mainline, under three hours from London King’s Cross, with direct services from Edinburgh, Newcastle, York and Leeds. Eaglescliffe is the nearest station to the centre, with parking, cycle storage and ticket facilities.

By air

Teesside International Airport is around twenty minutes away and Newcastle Airport about an hour, with direct flights from Aberdeen, Belfast and Dublin.

What it costs to attend

Teesside is straightforward to reach from anywhere in the UK, and cheaper to stay in than most training locations. For a course of this length that difference adds up quickly.