A TEENAGER who spent £1,200 on a test so she could drive 25-tonne trucks has seen her ambitions hit the skids because she can't get insurance.
Lizzy Coulson, 19, wanted to join the family haulage business at High Harbour Farm, Middle Rasen, when she leaves university.
But after getting her licence, she discovered she would need to shell out another £12,000 a year to get insured on the vehicles.
Lizzy, who has been able to drive a tractor towing a 15-tonne trailer on the road since she was 16, helps out on a part-time basis around her agricultural degree studies at the University Of Lincoln's Riseholme campus.
In January, she passed her class C test, which qualifies drivers to take the wheel of rigid-bodied HGVs and articulated tractor unit cabs without their 40ft trailers.
But since then she's had just one day on the road – after the family were forced to pay £37 for 24 hours of fully comprehensive cover.
Miss Coulson said: "What's the point of being legally qualified to drive a vehicle of any size if you can't get insurance?
"I passed my tractor test at 16 and my car test a year later. I'm covered for both under the company's insurance policy.
"But now it seems I'm unique because nobody wants to offer me cover for a lorry.
"I really feel stereotyped as a teenager who is a mad driver when I'm definitely not."
Dad David, 51, says there seemed little prospect of an affordable HGV premium until his daughter is at least 23 years old.
"She had a day out with me driving soon after she passed in January and did very well," he said. "But that cost £37, the equivalent of a £12,000 annual fully comprehensive policy.
"All she wants to do is move a few loads around locally when I'm out on longer runs. Then we'd intended to get another lorry next year, but there doesn't seem much point.
"This situation surely means there must be so many uninsured drivers out there?"
The Association Of British Insurers said it was aware of Miss Coulson's dilemma.
Spokesman Linsey White said: "Insurers want to see the cost of motor insurance fall. But the sad truth is that drivers aged under 24 are more likely to be involved in a serious road crash.
"So we are urging the Government to implement our proposals to improve their safety.
"They include a minimum one-year learning period and restriction on the number of young passengers a young driver can carry for an initial period after passing their driving test."
