I'm old enough to have a 7.5 tonne on my license just from passing my driving test (C1). What I do know is that I can only drive one for non-professional/commercial reasons as I now need to pass CPC training (a 35 hour course), howevere as an LD, I'm allowed to drive one for a delivering to a job as: The driver is carrying equipment for their work, where their work does not mainly involve driving (e.g. glazer, scaffolder). For the operator license, a small company can have a restricted license which means that you can only carry their own goods (I think this includes hired in stuff). This is renewed every 5 years and the easiest to get and involves another useless course.