Driving simulator for professional drivers – get to know the cab before you hit the road
Kategoria C+E w prawie jazdy nie oznacza jeszcze, że pierwszy dzień u przewoźnika pójdzie gładko. Wielu kierowców zdaje egzamin, a potem przez rok nie siada za kierownicą zestawu. Inni mają uprawnienia od dawna, tylko od kilku lat pracują poza transportem. Część przyjeżdża do Polski z zagranicznym prawem jazdy i po raz pierwszy wjeżdża w polski ruch. Efekt jest za każdym razem ten sam: człowiek zna przepisy, ale nie czuje pojazdu. Pierwsze cofanie naczepą pod rampę w obcym magazynie, z niecierpliwym magazynierem za plecami, to zły moment na naukę.
Holding a category C+E licence does not mean your first day with a haulier will go smoothly. Plenty of drivers pass the exam and then spend a year without sitting behind the wheel of an articulated truck. Others have held the licence for years but have worked outside transport for the past few. Some arrive in Poland with a foreign licence and drive in Polish traffic for the first time. The outcome is the same every time: the driver knows the rules but does not feel the vehicle. Reversing a semi-trailer onto a loading bay in an unfamiliar warehouse, with an impatient warehouse worker standing behind you, is a bad moment to start learning.
That is why there is an articulated-truck driving simulator in our office in Bydgoszcz. More than 500 drivers have already been through it. The training runs for two weeks, around four hours a day, so roughly forty hours in the cab. After the simulator training, the new employee goes out on a training run with a second driver, sees what the job actually looks like day to day and puts their skills to the test before being left alone with a real rig for the first time. On the simulator you can get it wrong as many times as you need to, and it does not cost anyone a single złoty or a single frayed nerve.
Work Partner Service is a driver recruitment agency and driving school based in Bydgoszcz. We hold every permit required, along with a simulator and our own tractor unit with a semi-trailer on which we check how drivers are progressing. We run Code 95 training entirely remotely, for drivers from all over Poland, and we take the PKZ profile, the medical and psychological examinations and the official paperwork off your hands. For details, call +48 696 653 869.
What our driving simulator is?
It is a training station built to reproduce the working environment of a tractor unit cab as closely as possible. Three monitors set in an arc give a field of view with mirrors on both sides, so the driver is not watching a single screen but genuinely keeping track of both sides of the vehicle. The steering wheel carries a full set of switches, and there is a separate gearbox with a function panel and a set of pedals. A manoeuvre is performed here exactly as it is in the vehicle: looking in the mirror, adding steering lock, feeling the trailer coming round too fast.
The reflexes built at this station carry over into a real cab. We see it afterwards on the manoeuvring yard and in city traffic, when we test the driver in our own tractor and trailer. After forty hours of training, a driver is not hunting for switches with their eyes or working out which way to turn the wheel when reversing. They just do it.
For us the simulator is preparation for on-road lessons and for the first weeks with a haulier. Nothing replaces hours behind the wheel in real traffic. Going into those hours already at home in the cab is, however, a completely different proposition from starting from zero.
Stations like this are rare in Polish schools and agencies. From our conversations with candidates, most centres stop at a lecture, a test and a certificate. We gave drivers something nobody requires of us, because after enough recruitment interviews we can see where the real problem lies. It is not knowledge of driving and rest times. It is confidence behind the wheel.
What you will actually practise before your first run
- The layout of the cab. Where the engine brake, the retarder and the diff locks are, and how the switches work – the ones a passenger car simply does not have.
- The gearbox in an articulated vehicle, including pulling away uphill under load and coming back down on the engine brake instead of burning through the pads.
- Reversing a semi-trailer and backing onto a bay. The most common source of stress for beginners. On the simulator you will repeat this manoeuvre thirty times in an hour, and several hundred times over two weeks.
- Positioning the vehicle on a yard: between other trucks, in a tight space, alongside a kerb.
- Reading the mirrors and judging the blind spot. A reflex you either have or are still working on.
- How the vehicle behaves in a bend and under braking. The mass behind the cab changes everything.
- Stopping on a marked spot to the accuracy expected of you at the dock.
The hauliers we work with know about this stage and treat it as a point in the candidate’s favour. A driver who turns up for their first vehicle and knows where everything is in the cab needs a few days of induction rather than a few weeks. Before we recommend anyone, we also test them in our own tractor and trailer, driving in the city and on the manoeuvring yard. That is a standard step in our recruitment, so the haulier receives a driver who has already been verified.
The simulator, initial qualification and Code 95
The route to Code 95 always looks the same: first the PKZ profile (Profil Kierowcy Zawodowego, the Professional Driver’s Profile), together with the medical examination and the psychological certificate, then the training, then the vocational qualification certificate, and finally the Code 95 entry in the driving licence. Which training applies to you depends on your categories and the date you obtained the licence. Periodic training is 35 hours with no exam, for drivers renewing the qualification every 5 years. Initial qualification applies to drivers who obtained category C after 10 September 2009 or category D after 10 September 2008, and it ends with a state exam.
In initial qualification, the hours break down as follows:
| Course | Theory | Practical training | Of which driving in special conditions |
| Initial qualification (280 hours) | 260 hours | 20 hours (16 hours in road traffic) | 4 hours on a skid pan or 2 hours on a simulator |
| Accelerated initial qualification (140 hours) | 130 hours | 10 hours (8 hours in road traffic) | 2 hours on a skid pan or 1 hour on a simulator |
Course hours are accounted for separately, in line with the course programme. Our simulator training runs alongside the course, as preparation, and nobody requires it of you.
The Code 95 theory itself is delivered by us as e-learning. You get access to a platform with lectures and tests, and you use it whenever you like and as many times as you like, including out on the road. A full description of the procedures, documents and deadlines is on the Code 95 in Poland page.
Who gets the most out of the simulator?
You have come from outside the European Union. This is the most common situation among the drivers who reach us. You drove trucks back home, but Polish roads, signage and the pace of work in European transport are something you are learning from scratch. Alongside Code 95 we arrange your Driver Qualification Card, the plastic version of Code 95, and we help with changing a foreign driving licence, with the work visa and with the residence card. Two weeks on the simulator give you time to settle into Polish conditions without pressure and without risk.
You have category C+E but no mileage. You passed the exam and that was that, because every employer asked about experience. The simulator will not add years to your CV. What it will do is make sure that on your first induction you are not looking around for the retarder switch. That is usually enough to come across as credible.
You are coming back to the job after a break. You still hold the licence, but you have been working elsewhere for a few years and your Code 95 expired long ago. Cabs have changed a great deal in that time, electronics have arrived and tachograph operation is different. A few hours on the simulator bring the reflexes back faster than any lecture.
How the simulator training works?
It starts with a phone call. We agree a date and, while we are at it, ask about your licence categories and the dates you obtained them, so we can tell you straight away which Code 95 course applies to you.
The sessions take place at our office in Bydgoszcz, at the training station, over two weeks at around four hours a day. We build the schedule individually, so if you live in another city, say so during that first call. The training is run by Marek, a professional driver with 10 years in transport rather than a theory lecturer. After each session the two of you go over what went well and what is worth repeating. There is no assessment and no pass mark, so there is nothing you need to prepare for.
For drivers taking up work through Work Partner Service, the simulator training is free of charge.
The final stage is the real thing. Our tractor unit with a semi-trailer, driving in the city and on the manoeuvring yard, to see how much of the training has carried over into the cab.
Want to try it, or ask about the details? Call +48 696 653 869.
The simulator is one piece, not the whole route into the job
Our main job is to get you working in the profession. You cover the Code 95 theory remotely, we help book the medical and psychological examinations in your own city, and we handle the PKZ profile and the application to the transport department for you. Once you hold the qualification, we look for work for you in domestic or international transport, including without experience, because for beginners we arrange runs with a mentor driver who takes them through tachograph operation and the realities of the job. Current job offers are published on the site.
The simulator is one of several elements in all of this. It will not shorten the course and it will not replace kilometres. In our view it is the most underrated stage of entering the profession, because it shortens the most uncomfortable moment of all – the first time a driver is left alone with an articulated truck.
You complete the Code 95 theory remotely from anywhere in Poland. You only come to Bydgoszcz for the practical part.
Frequently asked questions
No. Course hours are accounted for separately, in line with the course programme. The simulator is our additional preparation, which you go through alongside the course and which nobody requires of you.
No, and that is not what it is for. Nothing replaces hours of practice in real traffic. What the simulator does is let you start those lessons already at home in the cab, without the stress of a first manoeuvre.
Yes, we also recruit drivers with no experience. The simulator is the first step; after that we test you in our own tractor and trailer in the city and on the manoeuvring yard, and to start with we arrange runs with a mentor driver.
Two weeks, around four hours a day. For drivers taking up work through Work Partner Service it is free of charge.
Yes, the simulator is at our office in Bydgoszcz and the training takes place there only. You cover the Code 95 theory remotely from anywhere in Poland, so you come to Bydgoszcz for the practical part alone. We agree the date and the daily schedule by phone.
Yes. For drivers with a licence from outside the EU, EFTA and Switzerland we arrange the Driver Qualification Card, the plastic version of Code 95, and we help with changing a foreign driving licence. The simulator is available on the same terms.