Driven teenager passes HGV test at 18

Mark Hostick, from Woodmansey, near Beverley passed his HGV test just four days after his 18th birthday.

Mark, who can already drive a moped, car, forklift truck and a tractor, is now aiming to try and beat the record set by Josh Fayle of North Yorkshire who passed both the class two test and the class one test, which allows him to drive a lorry and trailer, within 28 days.

Mark, who works for his family's driving school Welwyn LGV, said: "I've been brought up around vehicles and I've always liked physically driving things. I had my birthday on the Sunday, the theory test on Monday, a four-hour lesson on Tuesday, another one on Wednesday and my test on Thursday morning.

"If I can do something I will. I did my moped test on my 16th birthday, my tractor and forklift a week later and my car test as soon as I was 17."

Mark's driving instructor Duncan Garwell said Mark would be hard to beat: "Mark has been driving round in a tractor on the farm since he was knee-high to a grasshopper but when I took him out on the road he was exactly like any other learner. He wasn't prepared for the onslaught of other drivers.

"He'll be almost impossible to beat because you can't do your test till you do your theory test, then you have to do on average 16 hours training and get a test date and squeeze that all in.

"He's a really good listener. When you tell him stuff he takes it on board."

Mark, who works in the office at the school, is aiming to become a Driving Standards Agency-registered instructor.

The legal age for people wanting to be an HGV driver was lowered in 2009 from 21 to 18.

Mark, who is now eagerly waiting for his licence to turn up in the post so he can take the class one test, said he'd be "ecstatic" if he surpassed Mr Fayle's record.

But the 18-year-old said he isn't tempted – yet – to take up flying or navigating a boat: "I'm a grounded person," he explained.