Passing hgv test

Just wondering what vehicles you passed your test in, what year and your first job after passing, mine was a ford d series plus thirty foot single axle trailer, and then BRS tunstall 1978,my first job was to hitch a lift to Oxford BRS, pick up a Seddon tractor unit and a forty foot van and return to stoke ,things were going well till a mechanic popped his head out of the garage in Oxford and shouted dont stall it , its got no starter motor good luck!

January 1983 in Bedford TK & 30’ single axle flat! Instructor told me; “if you can drive and reverse this, you’ll be able to drive and reverse anything”. He wasnt wrong!
As a teenager I used to spend every weekend at EMRogers Transport, Northampton washing trucks/trailers. Went for rides in the artics at every opportunity. They knew how keen I was and promised me a job once I got my HGV. Took a week’s course in Jan 83 and passed first time on Friday. Went to Rogers first thing Sat morning and showed pass certificate: “Well done Ash, you can start here on Monday, bring your night out kit”. I never slept all weekend and was ready for the off at the yard 5am Monday. 2 hours later I was on the road heading for Launceston Cornwall in… a 7.5tonner! :imp: Unbeknown to me, everyone had to start at the bottom and work their way up :frowning:

  1. Some kind of miniscule Dodge with a tiny flat trailer; could probably be taken fully loaded as freight on the second trailer of the 60 tonne multi combinations I’ve been driving since then, but at the time it seemed like I was sitting in something the size of a house :blush: :unamused:

  2. 1985

  3. Wilson’s transport of Stockport / Ardwick, ERF LV (4 wheeler rigid) with an A series cab, and I thank my lucky stars it wasn’t anything bigger :wink:
    And by the way, the fitters showed me where to hammer a wooden wedge in the differential if I ever had any trouble with the two-speed back axle.

My one regret driving-wise is that I can’t go back in time and tell those folks what a great privilege and advantage it was to get a start in a proper haulage company on a proper wagon. I really didn’t appreciate it at the time. :cry:

chrisv:
Just wondering what vehicles you passed your test in, what year and your first job after passing, mine was a ford d series plus thirty foot single axle trailer, and then BRS tunstall 1978,my first job was to hitch a lift to Oxford BRS, pick up a Seddon tractor unit and a forty foot van and return to stoke ,things were going well till a mechanic popped his head out of the garage in Oxford and shouted dont stall it , its got no starter motor good luck!

Hiya… was that Ford Graham machin from brown edge or ball green area…i think his training name was norton school of motoring.
he ended up at bassetts in the 90’s on the training side.
John

My boss put me on the young drivers scheme so I had a weeks intensive training for Class 3 and a test at the end of it. Narrow cab Bedford TM flat with a crap steering lock and the test was in Swindon, which included the Magic Roundabout on the test route… :open_mouth: :smiley:

My regular steed then was a Ford D-series 16 tonner with a fold flat body. General haulage out and bulk grain back was the norm. Brilliant days and such a variety of work… :smiley:

2 years later, another weeks course and an artic TM with a 30ft tandem and back playing with the Magic Roundabout again… :smiley:

I got back to the yard and got handed the keys to a Seddon 400 (with the backwards Fuller gearbox…) with a bulker on and told to go and load milling wheat at Lechlade…

Then got given an ERF with an M&G bulker and off we went for the next year… I was 20!! :smiley: :smiley:

I’ve been lucky and had some cracking jobs and employers but the first was the best, by far… :smiley:

Leyland Mastiff tractor with two axle flat trailer, passed in 76 with Export and General’s training school.

Then walked into my first job, they sent me out with a 16 ton rigid for a couple of days, then gave me a Mickey Mouse Foden and…Strewth how the hell do you change gear in this thing… :laughing:

Luckily i’d done 4 years prior driving vans and 7.5 tonners with loads of drops round London, that helped no end, i could concentrate on piloting the thing.

Happy days, if i had me time again i wouldn’t go near a bloody truck…:wink:

I passed in November 2000 with Rollright driver training on a G reg Merc SK 17t flatbed. My first and (and still) employer, Smiths Bletchington put an F reg Foden 4300 8w back on the road for me to get used to.

1983 in a Bedford TM with a 30’ single axle trailer. Did some agency work then got a job with a small firm first on a 10 tonner then after a few months moved up to a B series ERF with a 240 Gardner and was on a ferry on my first day with about 10 wine and champagne collections in France.

Never took a test got mine on “Grandfather” rights first lorry was an Albion artic for Jack Richards of Haddenham

chrisv:
Just wondering what vehicles you passed your test in, what year and your first job after passing, mine was a ford d series plus thirty foot single axle trailer, and then BRS tunstall 1978,my first job was to hitch a lift to Oxford BRS, pick up a Seddon tractor unit and a forty foot van and return to stoke ,things were going well till a mechanic popped his head out of the garage in Oxford and shouted dont stall it , its got no starter motor good luck!

Atkinson Mk.2 6x2 unit in 1981, 180 Gardner & 10-speed Fuller - my favourite lorry in the world!

D reg, Albion Chieftain with 20ft single axle and Scammell coupling, 1971 at Bredbury.
Courtesy Parkers (Ancoats) Ltd Manchester.

Ray

nov 1981,Eric Faulkener at galashiels.
Ford D series wi a perkins engine ,30ft single axle trailer.
Next day thrown the keys to a 2month old leyland clydesdale tipper , after i proved i could run wi the boys a constructor 6x4 tipper, then spare driver on a Ford D .2speed axle wi a 4in line knock out lowloader.
lol 4yr later a maggie D 192M16 4x2 drawbar outfit doing Eire,NI.and points south./ Foden artic (the ones wi the single round headlights).when needed .
jimmy.

Hi john, the fella i passed with first name was ray its been a while and i cant remember his surname , he had a farm in biddulph, used to do hgv training and deliver hay and straw with the same artic, he also had a coach he used for psv training,and a chip shop in chell we would always call there for fish and chips during my lessons, he was a nice fella and an entrepreneur, he could sell sand to the arabs! cheers all.

3300John:

chrisv:
Just wondering what vehicles you passed your test in, what year and your first job after passing, mine was a ford d series plus thirty foot single axle trailer, and then BRS tunstall 1978,my first job was to hitch a lift to Oxford BRS, pick up a Seddon tractor unit and a forty foot van and return to stoke ,things were going well till a mechanic popped his head out of the garage in Oxford and shouted dont stall it , its got no starter motor good luck!

Hiya… was that Ford Graham machin from brown edge or ball green area…i think his training name was norton school of motoring.
he ended up at bassetts in the 90’s on the training side.
John

Passed class 2 in a daf 1900 on Thursday was driving a y reg leyland constructor 8 wheeler the following Monday.
Passed my class 1 about a year later in a leyland roadtrain. The next day I was driving a scania 143 with a McGovern scissors trailer on bulk rubbish work.

Like LB76 I never took a HGV test.
Took my first driving test in the army in 1962 in a 12 ton armoured car which gave me a car licence which covered everything in those days.
Took a conversion course in a Chieftain tank in 1968 which was and still is a seperate group,(Group H,Track laying vehicle).
My first driving job after leaving the army was a Bedford TK for a few months until my boss borrowed a Mk V Mandator,(Park Royal cab) to go with the new single axle trailer he’d bought,until the new Albion Chieftain tractor arrived.
Then I had the “Old” Chieftain until I moved on to working in a commercial garage where I drove Big J’s,Commer TS3’s,Ford D1000’s and many more.
When the HGV licence came in,my previous employers signed the necessary form to say I had been driving vehicles now termed as Class 1 during the qualifying period and that was enough to get my new licence.
When my new licence was issued,although it had the new groups listed,they had not transfered my group H,so I sent the DVLA a letter and I had a new licence issued with Group H on it which I still have today.
I have used that group a couple of times,once when one boss had hired a Drott to level the uneven truck park and lay some ■■■■■■■■,and again when I had a day out on one of these “Adventure days” driving tanks on a private site.

Never had a test, on any HGV, when I started my licence was a little red hardback book type thing, then the HGV licence was introduced, I’d been driving a Ford (D1000 I think) artic, V8 ■■■■■■■ with a single axle tank on the back. The rest is history but the only test I have ever taken was on a Triumph Herald car. (many many years ago) :smiley:

LB76:
Never took a test

And your drivin’s still rubbish today mate… :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :wink:

I resemble that remark ! lol

Took mine in this in 85 - test route was round York town centre and back to Wetherby.

I took my test in February 1976 at Scarborough in a 1967 Foden eight legger courtesy of Tilcon/Slaters Transport. Gardner 150, 12 speed box and no power steering and the worst thing was the hydraulic throttle pedal that kept losing pressure and needed to be pumped every few minutes to get the revs back! Was still in the garage at that time, but went full time on the road in 1982 with a Sed Ak 400 (GWJ 823 V) with Gardner 201 ‘power’ and Fuller 9 speed.

Pete.