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NPORS Multi Directional Lift Truck Training (N135)
A multi directional truck turns its wheels through ninety degrees and drives sideways, which is how a nine metre length gets down an aisle that a counterbalance truck could not turn in. The NPORS N135 is the ticket for it, and the skill is knowing what the machine is doing when the direction of travel changes under a laden mast.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N135 Multi Directional Lift Truck different
About this course
The NPORS N135 Multi Directional Lift Truck category covers the four way truck: a machine whose wheels rotate through ninety degrees so it can travel forwards like a counterbalance truck, then sideways like a sideloader, and place a long load into racking in an aisle it could never turn round in. Timber, steel, tube, board, pipe, profile and panel, indoors on a warehouse floor and outdoors on hard standing. Manufacturers use several trade names, but the NPORS category is the same.
A multi directional truck is a rider operated lift truck, so operator training sits under the Approved Code of Practice L117, Rider operated lift trucks: operator training and safe use, with its three elements: basic training, specific job training on the actual machine and the place it works, and familiarisation on the job under supervision, after which the employer authorises the operator. These machines are bought to solve a particular building's problem, which makes the specific job element unusually important: the aisle widths, the door openings and the racking are the reason the truck was specified.
In training the emphasis sits on the transition. Changing the direction of travel is a deliberate act with a sequence, and doing it with a laden mast, near racking, or on a surface that is not flat is where mistakes happen. Beyond that, the course covers what any long load machine has to: deflection in a single length, loads that are heavier at one end, banding that lets go, swing through an arc much longer than the truck, stacking in cantilever or pallet racking, and the difference between a smooth warehouse floor and a yard that drains to a gully.
- The legal frame: the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and the L117 Approved Code of Practice, and what authorisation by the employer means
- How multi directional steering works, the sequence for changing direction and what the truck does during it
- Stability travelling forwards and sideways, laden and unladen, and the effect of raising the mast
- Reading the data plate and capacity chart, including residual capacity at height
- Long load handling: deflection, uneven weight, banding, swing and load security
- Aisle and door discipline, clearances, rack end protection and reporting a strike
- Working outside: gradients, yard surfaces, weather and moving between yard and warehouse
- Pre use checks, defect reporting and thorough examination records
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N135 Multi Directional Lift Truck category on the operator's NPORS record
- A traditional NPORS card for yard and manufacturing work, or a Red Trained Operator or Blue Competent Operator card carrying the CSCS logo where the operator also works on construction sites
- Operators who change direction deliberately rather than by habit, and who know when not to
- A clear handover to the employer on the specific job training, familiarisation and written authorisation that L117 still expects
Who should attend?
Timber and builders merchants, steel stockholders, tube and profile suppliers, board and panel manufacturers, joinery, plastics and extrusion, and any operation storing long product in a building that will not take a conventional truck. It suits new operators, counterbalance and sideloader drivers moving onto a four way machine, and cardholders coming up for renewal. If the machine works out of one side only and carries the load on a deck, that is the N006 Sideloader Lift Truck instead, and we will confirm which category matches your machine.
Entry requirements. You should be above minimum school leaving age, which is what HSE set for lift truck operators outside ports, and most employers set eighteen. You need to be fit enough to work a shift in the cab, with eyesight and hearing adequate for the work, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, with reading support available on request. No prior card is needed for the novice route. Where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed, a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years is required, which we can book. Tell us at enquiry what machine you run, what lengths and weights you handle, your aisle widths and whether the truck also works outside.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the law, stability and multi directional steering, then practical operation on the machine with your own loads, finishing with the NPORS theory and practical test.
The law, the machine and long loads
- The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 duties on employer and operator
- The L117 Approved Code of Practice: basic training, specific job training, familiarisation and authorisation
- Multi directional steering: how it works, the change sequence and the controls
- Stability forwards and sideways, the load centre, the data plate and capacity at height
- Long load behaviour: deflection, swing, uneven weight and load security
- Racking types, arm and beam capacity, clearances and damage reporting
- Working outside and moving between yard and warehouse surfaces
- Pre use checks, defect reporting, thorough examination and inspection records
Operating the truck
- Pre use inspection and reporting on the actual machine
- Travelling forwards, then changing to sideways travel in open space until the sequence is automatic
- Manoeuvring through a door opening and into an aisle with a long load
- Picking up, transporting and placing long loads and pallets
- Stacking and destacking at low, medium and high level
- Loading and unloading a vehicle
- Working outside on hard standing and on a gradient
- Parking, shutting down and end of shift checks
Method of assessment
How the N135 multi directional lift truck test works
NPORS assess the category with a theory test and a practical test on the machine. Both run with us, because Acadame is an NPORS test centre as well as a training provider, and the pass goes onto the operator's record without a second booking.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many operators you have and what each one has already done. That decides which timetable each of them needs and how many can go through at once. We quote per group, because the length follows the numbers.
2. Pre course check
We confirm the route each operator needs, check any existing cards, look at the machine and its thorough examination record, agree the loads, aisles and yard areas we can use, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the law, stability and multi directional steering, then practical operation with the lengths you actually store, in your own aisles.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, machine knowledge, stability, long loads, racking and workplace transport safety.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, change direction of travel under control, handle long loads, stack and destack and shut down, assessed against the NPORS test specification for the category.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and the N135 category goes on the card, as a traditional NPORS card for yard and manufacturing work or a CSCS logo card where the operator also works on construction sites.
After the course
The truck was bought for your building
Multi directional trucks are specified around a particular layout: a door width, an aisle, a product length, a racking type. That makes the specific job training element of L117 more than a formality, because the machine is only as good as the operator's understanding of the space it was bought for. The employer still owes familiarisation under supervision on the actual machine and the actual layout, and a written authorisation to operate. We leave you a plain summary of what is outstanding.
There is no legal interval for refresher training. HSE say there is no specific requirement to retrain after set intervals, but that operators need reassessing from time to time, and three to five years is the usual practice. Reassess sooner after an incident, a racking strike, a change of machine, or a change in the product being handled, because a longer or heavier product changes everything about how the truck behaves.
- A written record of what specific job training and familiarisation still sits with the employer
- N006 Sideloader Lift Truck where the same operators also run a sideloader
- N036 FLT Supervisor Awareness for the person who authorises and monitors operators
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
Build your course
Who is coming, and how many
We do not run these to a timetable. The course is built around your people: how experienced they are and how many of them there are, which is what sets the length and the cost. Pick the mix and we will come back with a date and a price.
The course builder needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us how many people and what experience they have and we will price it up.
N135 Multi Directional Lift Truck FAQs
A truck whose wheels can be turned through ninety degrees so it travels sideways as well as forwards. That lets it take a long load down an aisle it could never turn round in, which is why they are used in timber yards, steel stockholding and panel manufacturing. Several manufacturers make them under their own trade names and all sit under the NPORS N135 category.
A sideloader works out of one side and carries the load on a deck between its wheels. A multi directional truck carries the load on forks in front like a counterbalance truck and can then change direction to travel sideways. They are different NPORS categories, N006 and N135, and we confirm which one matches your machine before you book.
NPORS publish three timetables for this category: five days for a novice, three days for an operator who already has some experience, and one day for a refresher. We ask what each operator has actually driven before we quote, then confirm the route and the group size.
No. It is a separate NPORS category because the steering, the stability and the loads are different. A counterbalance driver usually adapts quickly, which is what the shorter routes exist for, but the category still has to be gained and tested.
The transition between forward and sideways travel, particularly with a long load raised or near racking. It is a deliberate sequence rather than a flick of a switch, and getting it wrong in a narrow aisle is expensive. Most of the practical time goes there.
Only where the operator works on construction sites, which needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years. For timber, steel and manufacturing work the traditional NPORS card covers the same category to the same standard.
Yes, and with this category it is the only sensible option. The truck was specified around your aisles, your doors and your product, and training somewhere else teaches an operator very little about the space they will actually work in.
There is no legal interval. HSE say operators need reassessing from time to time rather than at a set period, and three to five years is common practice. Reassess sooner after an incident, a racking strike, a change of machine or a change in the product being handled.
NPORS courses are priced per course, not per person. What you are paying for is the instructor, the registered tester and the machine time, so the figure turns on four things: the category, which route your operators need (novice, experienced, conversion or refresher), how many people are coming, and whether we run it on your site or at one of ours. It is also why a squad works out considerably cheaper per head than sending operators out one at a time. Use the course builder on this page: tell it who is coming and it works out how many days the course takes and how many times it has to run, which is what the price is built from. Then ask us and you will get a figure for that exact group rather than a list price with conditions attached.
We run NPORS courses across the UK rather than out of one fixed centre, and for most categories the better answer is that we come to you: your operators are assessed on the machine they will be using anyway, nobody loses a day travelling, and for a group it costs less. If you would rather come to us, we have centres at Trent House in Stoke, Pride Park in Derby, Europa House in Manchester and Kingsway House in Liverpool. Tell us where the work is and we will say honestly which way round makes more sense.
There is no fixed timetable to wait for. NPORS courses here are run to order, which means the dates are built around your programme rather than ours, and a single operator or a full squad can normally be booked in within a couple of weeks. If you have a card about to expire or a start date to hit, say so when you enquire and we will work to it.
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