Cat. 'C+E' Training Blog - Test Day Update is here!

Day 1:

Oh boy – I’ve certainly gone and got myself into a ‘challenge’ this week
That felt like a tough old first day.
My steam-engine for a brain has certainly vented some this afternoon.

For some reason I have to admit to being a little apprehensive about today.
Really haven’t been able to put my finger on why exactly, but just knew there was a sense of ‘unease’ lingering in the background.
Maybe it was just the thought of that first time playing in one of the Big-Boys’ toys.
Maybe it’s simply down to the anticipation of knowing this is the final week of training and tests, and if I can just successfully negotiate this, then I can officially get into the saddle and start doing this for a living.

Either way, Davey drew the short straw this week. So yes, I am afraid all Terry fans, that means my former Class 2 instructor is having a well-earned break this week Probably using it to plan his next ‘escape’ from our country to down where the convicts, and part of his family, now live. Yes, Terry likes his month long sabbatical to Oz where he can leisurely top up his UK-depleted batteries.

And so poor Davey’s first job, after 2 weeks off, sunning himself and de-stressing on a Spanish beach, was to connect himself straight back up to a heart monitor and marvel at my series of attempts to drive an artic around inner and outer Newcastle
I can’t say I had the most auspicious start either. After an initial demonstration drive, he pulled into a lay-by and allowed me to jump into the captains chair.

As I have already mentioned, I was already a little uneasy – well naturally there then proceeded to be what seemed like an exodus of traffic past our lay-by that just did not yield a single gap for what felt like an eternity. Minutes went by as I patiently waited for any inkling of a opportunity. Of course that only heightened my already tender state of mind and I was beginning to sweat like a gypsy with a mortgage

What I should point out here is that, if you remember, I did my Class 2 in an automatic.
This time I am in a DAF CF75.310 with a 4/4 gearbox.
Another reason I was slightly anxious going into this week.
Don’t get me wrong, I have read the arguments for and against and am totally aware that doing my training and test in an automatic would certainly be one less thing to think about – but I took the view that, as I am a newbie starting from the very beginning, it would be beneficial to get some training and experience in driving a manual for that time in the future when I need to jump into an older truck. Yes, it’s going to add to the challenge, but there’s also a bigger picture to think about.

Well, my gap eventually materialised and I made it out onto the open road – so at that point the ship was sailing whether anybody liked it or not.
And yes, the first ‘trips’ up and down the gears were probably different to what Davey might have been hoping to see, but on the upside, I didn’t find the operation of the split switch as awkward as I thought it might have been. That’s not say that I didn’t think the idea of having a split switch RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE the 4 gears you use most often (3 to 6) to be VERY inconsiderate

Other initial impressions following the launch of HMS Turtle included:

-Working out that width-wise I was comfortable once I remembered my Class 2 training and vehicle.

-Although this sounds stupid, it doesn’t actually ‘feel’ like you are pulling 50ft of trailer behind you – but best to keep reminding yourself as I’m pretty sure that point is going to be an important component of most things we undertake

-Trying to re-engage that continual mirror-check philosophy that I had begun to become more comfortable with during my Class 2 week. And realizing pretty quickly that, as well as those specific checks you HAVE to do at given points, the more active and forward-looking you are in this department, the more prepared you are going to be able to approach junctions, roundabouts and traffic lights. Doubly important this time due to having to think about changing to, and being in, the correct gear.

I do remember the first day in the Class 2 being a bit fingers and thumbs on approach to a roundabout for example, because you are having to think about each and every step you are doing. Until you start automating and instinctively doing some of those steps you are pretty much always going to end up with too much to do in too short a distance.
In fact, if I had to highlight anything as the major point from today it would be the knots I could get myself into approaching whatever the upcoming road feature was. In fact, I often felt busier than a one-armed bricklayer in Baghdad trying to ensure correct road position, signalling, mirror checks, gears, forward anticipatory vision etc etc.

Anyways, the hours marched on and I think somewhere along the line, Davey’s heart monitor dropped out of the danger-zone. That’s not to say that I didn’t still keep him on his toes having to remind me, constantly and successively sometimes, of things I wasn’t doing at all, or at the incorrect time – but all the time I was getting more comfortable with the overall feel of the truck and what I needed to be doing.

After a run back to the yard, I got the chance to try my hand at reversing in a straight line to begin with. Luckily I found I was able to instinctively steer the correct way (another thing that had maybe added to the uneasiness factor I mentioned earlier) so that was a weight off.
Final practice was to see if I could a simulate the general direction of the test reverse, without cones or guidelines, and that went OK for a first stab.

Overall, I have to say an interesting day.
Tomorrow we will introduce the coupling/re-coupling and add in some more reversing after the regular morning drive round the test routes.

Take care all,
Jon

Nice blog and as good as the C blog you did

good luck with the training mate

once you have a few hours under your belt you will start to really enjoy it, i did. then you can put the nerves away till test day

Love these blogs.

All the best!

Day 2:

One word - PROGRESS
Yes OK, yesterday was certainly a shock to the system – but that is now history.

As I dozed off to sleep last night, with never-ending thoughts of gear-boxes going through my hideously over-worked brain cell, it occurred to me that what I had failed to allow myself was a little bit of leeway when it came to Day 1 of flight school.
I mean just think back to the last time you bought a new car, or jumped in a friends, or hired one perhaps – well you weren’t instantly Ayrton Senna, now were you?
No, you also wondered how long that bit of bonnet you couldn’t see at the front actually was; why all the gears now seemed to be in the ‘wrong’ place; and cursed as to why manufacturer’s can’t all get together and finally decide to put the indicators on one side of the steering wheel or the other.

And so it was with renewed vigour that I approached the second day of taming the Class 1 beast
And, apart from a life and death battle with 5th gear after about 10mins into the new day, I started to feel that buried amongst the struggles of yesterday, somewhere along the line a decent foundation had been formed. A foundation that I could now use to push on and bring some much-needed refinement to my driving.
Rather than me having to actively think about every single step I was supposed to be fitting into an impossibly small amount of time, I was beginning to gain a feel for which gear I needed to be in, and where I needed to be positioned on the road to minimize the chance of any trailer ‘tail-end wandering’.

On reflection, I now realize that there was a very big area I had very much misunderestimated (my homage to George ‘Dubbya’ Bush btw ) in my approach to yesterday. I really did not expect to have to be moving so quickly up through the gears. Not sure if it’s quite the right word, but the effective operational ‘range’ of each gear is so very small. No sooner are you happy that you just hit one sweetly, but after a quick squirt on the accelerator, the engine is telling you that it is ready for you change up again.
The second part of this equation was also having virtually no concept or feeling of the overall weight, momentum and inertia of the vehicle. Yesterday this particular lack of awareness ended up with me in situations which were only helping to exacerbate my gear problems. For example, I changed up a gear and then eased off the acceleration because of some close-up potential hazard (which failed to develop), but failing to spot the increase in gradient of the road in the distance. In my car mind this obviously isn’t a problem as you just re-apply the throttle and you have power to pull away. Not so in the HGV where once you lose that initial momentum you are going to sound like you flogging the proverbial dead horse all the way up that incline.

And this is where I now realize that everything you do in these behemoths is very much amplified compared to what you can get away with in a regular car.
As an example, I think one of the things Davey mentioned today was that a difference in positioning of your cab of 6 inches would translate into a 2 foot difference by the time it got to the back of the trailer. If the figures are off, feel free to correct me – my attention was much more focussed on trying NOT to hit the curb Davey was talking about, than actually remembering the exact detail in what he said

A further example would be that I am beginning to fully understand the ‘real’ reason as to why an HGV driver wants to be observing the road ahead as far ahead as possible. It allows, in simple terms, for the vehicle to be set-up correctly when it reaches any particular road hazard – and the reason that is so important is that the tolerances of what you can get away with are vastly reduced from that of a car driver. It sounds somewhat obvious when you start to piece together the jigsaw, but these are the concepts I am now working on and which will help improve my overall drive to a smooth, safe and progressive demonstration to the examiner.

Well that little fountain of mental diarrhoea just about covers my main drive early today.
I have to say that overall I felt a lot more comfortable and confident with the way things went.
Just a case now of continuing that improvement each day reaching, what I hope will be a peak, on Friday.

Today did include a bit of change in routine as we met up with a guy taking a re-test at noon. And actually that provided me with my first opportunity to sit and observe another driver while we gave him the best part of an hour’s warm-up for his test.
I will get back to you on this tomorrow actually, as I am doing the next 2 days of 2-to-1 training, but my first impressions were that it was quite nice to take a break from the actual driving and watch someone else in the hot-seat. It also allowed me to take in more of the peripheral route information that I just wasn’t having time to take in whilst driving.

The other side benefit was being able to enjoy my bait out in the lovely Geordie sun.
Nothing better than ‘parked-up’ on the picnic bench outside the test centre, catching some rays and chewing the cud with whoever else was around waiting for their test candidates to return.

Unfortunately, however, the re-test wasn’t successful this time either, but in any event I drove us back to HQ where Davey set up the reversing area for me to attempt my first official crack at this section of the training.
And I have to say, with good, clear and concise instruction I was able to navigate my way backwards through the rabbit hole each and every time I gave it a go. Admittedly at first there was plenty of verbal help from Davey, but with each subsequent attempt, he had to say less and less to the point where I basically pulled off the 5th repetition without help.

And so following that, along with my earlier feelings of solid progress, I began the trek back home a much happier camper.

Apologies for the tardiness today, but as I eluded to, I was a home a good deal later today so consequently everything got pushed back somewhat.
Still, hope you enjoy.

Take care,
Jon

Day 3:

Ahhhhh… going to need a double dose of inspiration medicine tonight

So I’ve read about the ‘mid-week lull’ – and that it is reasonably common and isn’t anything to get overly concerned about. Well now I know what it feels like.
Somehow I think I am going for the full T-Shirt set this week.

All I can say is hopefully that is going to be my ‘bad’ day for the week over and done with

6 A.M. and despite wanting to play indoor squash with my alarm clock, I felt good as it beckoned me from my slumber early doors. After the customary shower and pouring something vaguely edible down my gullet, I was back on the road to the yard.
My thoughts were positive.
I knew if I could just press home yesterday’s progress, I would feel as if I was well-placed for Friday.
And, as if to add substance to my ambition, I was soon greeted by another lovely day up in the North-East. A little overcast first thing, but it soon got out into fantastically refreshing British, grade A sunshine

As I mentioned in yesterday’s update, there would be myself and another guy out today and tomorrow. So after initial hello’s, I jumped in the cockpit and Pete got comfortable up on the bunk.
Well things started reasonably well.
I at least managed not to wind Davey up within 10mins today, like I did yesterday, by sailing past an exit road he asked me to take
However, this first half hour is just our transit drive up the A1 to the test area and, at the time of writing, and foreseeable future actually, is basically spent negotiating the roadworks through the Tyne Valley.

And then it started…
Once out on ‘proper’ routes, the illusion of paradise began to unravel.
I was fumbling around more than Jimmy Saville in a children’s home
What the hell was happening?
Whether it was missing gears and then battling to regain some semblance of control, or misreading a gap and faffing around trying to re-adjust, I just couldn’t seem to get a rhythm going.
Then it was over-revving too much before changing up, or applying too many revs before fully releasing the clutch. Apparently this I have been guilty of for the last couple of days, but it’s now that Davey has really started hammering me for it.

Another nasty ‘car habit’ I have is still turning my wheel in on roundabout lead-up roads and junctions. And of course, you know what’s coming - at some point I would be inevitably collecting a goldfish in a bag for clipping or curb (or worse).
What it turned out to be, and apologies to Newcastle Council, Works Division, was 3 of their traffic cones which are now a little bit more crumpled than they once were. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not pancaked… just ‘mis-shapen’ on one side.
In my defence I must say that there is an area covering 2 major roundabouts and all the approaching roads which are totally coned off – but it looks like the lanes were designed for pygmies and certainly not Tonka toys.
The gap they had left for a lane in places is tighter than a camel’s a*se in a sandstorm
Factor in me having to turn left into a tight road from one of these coned sections and the sacrificial lambs became the aforementioned 3 cones which were placed alongside the curbline.
So technically they ‘stole’ a foot off me and I only touched them, not the curb – so no fail.
Hey, it’s my blog – so my call

The rest of the day was much of the above repeated at various times and in various places.
Even after a spell out of the hot-seat and up on the bunk watching Pete, I still just couldn’t get a grip on things when summoned back into the driving seat by the organ-grinder.

Speaking of the 2-1 instruction, I did say yesterday that I would attempt to galvanize my thoughts on the subject.
Of course the answer is largely going to depend on the type of person you are.
Much like the way people respond differently to the way instruction and training is delivered to them – there are going to be those people who will, and those who will not benefit from 2-1 learning.
I think I preferred the way I did Class 2 – ie 4hrs continuous instruction in the morning with a token tea-break in the middle. By then you have taken in what you can and have the rest of the day to relax, digest and process the accumulated information.

On the other hand, there are those people who have shorter attention spans, but who can absorb a lot in that period. They then need a break and are good to go again after an hour or so.
I guess this would be the people with good stamina who perform well over the marathon rather than the sprint.

However, I maintain everyone can benefit from a stint of observation, irrespective of learning style.
Being able to ‘become’ a passenger allows you to take in so much more of the overall situation in front of you.
In essence, my contention is that when you are driving you are so purely focused on that task alone, you really only have enough time for glimpses at the periphery. Even road-signs are limited to narrowing down the one you want and ignoring the rest. You almost become ‘blinkered’ to what is immediately affecting your ability to negotiate that particular piece of road at that particular time. And that is where Davey jumped in of course, saying that you shouldn’t be blinkered and should have all-round awareness at all times.
My retort was easy and that, yes, that is what we are working towards and what you are already able to do Davey, but WE are learning and until we start to automate some of the decision making and some of these processes, our brains just cannot cope with the overload of information and requests for action they are receiving.

Either way, I enjoyed my time up on the bunk taking in what I could in the hope it would be stored away and brought to the for at some opportune moment in the future.

By this time it was time to make our way back to the yard where my form continued to desert me on a few reverse practices.
I know where the ‘issue’ lies and I think with a bit of thought and more practice tomorrow I should be able to bring it together.

Again, apologies for posting somewhat later than I would prefer, but again our finish time has pushed things back a tad.

Final day tomorrow.
Let’s hope for better progress and begin to think about whether a small sacrifice to the God of Tests will help with this final push

Take care,
Jon

When you pass your test and get into a job with trucks, a sat-nav becomes a good friend.

Apart from the obvious route supply and avoidance of bridges and weight limits etc, it gives you an accurate ’ picture ’ of junctions and turns. Where a road sign very often shows, lets say, a left turn, when you get there its a switchback or acute angle.

As you rightly say, positioning is everything and very often the sat-nav has helped immeasurably with being ready for it. Class 2’s suffer with ocean liner steering and in my opinion are more of a pain than artics.

Crusher75:
Pete got comfortable up on the bunk.
I enjoyed my time up on the bunk

Does this cab only have 2 seats

I thought that practice was now outlawed

Yes to the first question, Rog.
And I wouldn’t know to the second.
But either way that’s where one of us was whilst the other was driving.
I have to say that the consequences of an emergency stop had crossed my mind as I sat/laid back there.

Actually just so there are no crossed wires, when I say ‘bunk’ I mean the ‘bed’ that is behind the seats - not a drop down bunk that comes off the back wall of the cab.

Jon

PS Day 4 update to follow.

ROG:

Crusher75:
Pete got comfortable up on the bunk.
I enjoyed my time up on the bunk

Does this cab only have 2 seats

I thought that practice was now outlawed

Day 4:

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I’m having a celebratory end-of-training beer (but just the one health and safety freaks).
Today was an all-round better day.
Confidence rebuilt

And with that, yesterday is going straight into the dog house – not passing go and certainly not getting anywhere near 200 notes.
It was blatantly trying to play tricks on me and screw with my mind.
Bad, bad ‘mid-week lull Wednesday’

Alarm clock was on early shift this morning as we were starting earlier. Had to be up in the yard for 7am, so it was a 5:30 start at my end.
Again though, didn’t take long before the sun was rearing to go.
God this country is bloody beautiful when we lose the overcast skies and get some sun beating down.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a carbon copy and it will make test day that bit more ‘enjoyable’.

How we must have looked keen.
7 in the morning and already there we were with cones out practicing the reverse and the couple/uncouple.
Pretty happy I have the latter in my head now.
Baring a test brain ■■■■ I reckon that should be OK.
As for the reverse, much better and executed under much more control.
Had one where Davey had to ‘rescue’ me in the middle part, but what he said made complete sense and I think I could replicate it if I got myself into the same situation.
I think the key element for myself is the fact that I did my Class 2 around a month ago and fully remember what happened there. In a spat of over-eagerness, due solely to test nerves, I got lairy with the steering and nearly over-cooked it into the 1st driver’s side bay cone.
Hopefully I can use that experience to be more controlled and gentle tomorrow.
Whatever the case, I am determined to get those exercises done correctly and at least get out for a drive and give myself a chance of entry into the fellowship of awesomeness.

After an hour or so, it was Pete’s turn to weave his way up the A1 to the test centre and then start his test route practice for today.
From my perch at the back of the cab, things were looking pretty good.
There is, however, always that odd moment where Davey would just need to help out both Pete and myself on our drives, for those particularly nasty spots which require a specific action or approach to master successfully.
All that leaves us wondering is, will we remember these little titbits of knowledge and experience come test hour?

My best method of remembering such locations revolves around something stand-outish, stupid or dangerous that happened there. The more of those situations we come across the better as they stick in my mind much more memorably.

A couple of examples would be:

• The white van driver, who ignored the fact Pete had tried to split both narrow entry lanes to a roundabout in the middle of Newcastle Town Moor and decided to drive half on the road up our outside and half on the pavement separating traffic lanes, just so he could get past us.

• The learner car driver who, at a distance, looked to all of us to be in a ‘funny’ position on the road. By the time we got closer it turns out they were attempting to turn right across our front at a junction with 2 approach lanes on their side. What they had actually done was move over to the right another lane, thinking it was the right-turn lane for them, but which was, in fact, OUR side of the road. Unsurprisingly they moved once they realized the error of their ways

• The corner with the petrified Citroen C2 driver
  A T-Junction with traffic signals that we approach on the single side and proceed to turn right. However, if waiting traffic has sneaked too far forward on the right and you don’t take your cab far enough ahead towards the metal railings protecting pedestrians on the pavement, you will undoubtedly re-arrange their front wing. The kicker here was that all of us saw the look on the old lady’s face as she saw this trailer cutting further and further in towards her pride and joy. She had no need to worry, in fact, as Pete had judged it perfectly.

• A final example was actually a contender for our ‘W*nker of the Week’ award. This was a guy in a Newcastle Council Works flat-bed van who parked just after, but not far off parallel to one of those middle-of-the-road bollard islands and was so close that poor old Pete could simply not get through. When we got there and just had to park in the road, he final noticed and attempted to reverse back, but we could see that he was about to demolish a set of plastic barriers on his nearside that he apparently couldn’t see (even though he had probably put them up himself). By this point Davey had endured enough and amid a torrent of Geordie based expletives got Pete to drive around the wrong side of the island when completely safe.

And so, after Pete had practised a few places he wanted to re-visit it was time for me to step up to the plate and show that yesterday was all a terrible misunderstanding and that I was going to be starting that test tomorrow with a solid chance of making the grade.
And I have to say thing went pretty well.
Again though, just a couple of niggles here and there. Most often, if I am being honest, a missed or miss-selected gear just not helping the fluidity of the drive.
Or equally, my nemesis cropping up and ‘making’ me turn too far left on approach to roundabouts/junctions - same as I mentioned yesterday and with the potential consequence of me clipping a nearside curb
Overall though, much happier and the drive served to rebuild my confidence.

After a 20min stop for a bite to eat, it was time to head back down to the yard where I wanted to do another couple/uncouple and a couple of reverses.
Those went well. For Pete also.
That being said we decided to wrap things up on a positive note.

So tomorrow, Pete is on at 8 (as well as a girl who has been training in the 7.5t’er this week for her paramedic job) and I get to ‘perform’ at noon.
Going to get a good sleep tonight and then head up tomorrow and give it my best.
And having just said that, what was that clip out of The Rock…?

• I’ll do my best.
• Your ‘best’! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and ■■■■ the prom queen.
• Carla was the prom queen

Here’s hoping I find my prom queen tomorrow

Take care,
Jon

i took my ce lessons last week and reading though your blogs all makes sence and is pretty much how you said it for me like you have described all seems to come together on the last training day, its a bit of a brain overload especially when you have drove for years in a car or van and some of the things you just take for granted and are no issue all of a sudden become a massive challenge! however i passed my ce on Tuesday so i was made up so best of luck tomorrow hope to see th progress tomorrow!
Liam

come on crusher how did you get on!!!

Day 5 – Test Day:

Aaaaaand… cue the scrolling down to insta-know the result.
Yeah I know you lot
It’s all about instant gratification and nothing about savouring the hors d’oeuvre or whetting your appetite first.
Oh Lord, I must be getting old - I’m starting to sound like my dad

Well we all know what was at stake today.
Secret handshakes, ‘that’ special membership card and entry into the ‘Gods of the Road’ club

Got to admit, it’s been a tough week, relatively speaking of course.
I think coming from no experience at all, through Class 2 and then straight on to Class 1 as soon as possible, is a proposition not for the feint-hearted.
But it is a journey I can truthfully say I have enjoyed immensely.

It probably helps that I have always enjoyed learning new skills and abilities even if I have not always realized this and taken advantage of some of the opportunities that have come my way.
But I think we can all admit to that in some shape or form.

I guess the biggest ‘regret’ I have in life so far, and really it is the only one where I sometimes think, ‘I wonder how things would have turned out if I had tried that?’ was back after leaving London and the City in the early Noughties.
I could have, but only if had gone b*lls deep financially, gone and learnt to fly helicopters in New Zealand.

It was an interest that has always been close to me and something which I followed during school years by joining the Cadets. Now don’t get me wrong, it was really nothing to do with the Cadets as such, or life in the Armed Services that attracted me. It was purely down to the fact that we got to go to R.A.F. Leeming and Catterick for free flying and gliding.

In time I gained my Basic Glider Training (involved going solo which was amazing) and racked up a good number of hours in powered, fixed-wing aircraft. Unfortunately for me it was at about that time that I discovered I needed to wear glasses. And after double checking with an optician and the R.A.F. application process, I was found to be unsuitable for any aspect of flight whatsoever.

Long and short, after doing well in my first job working in Canary Wharf, I knew London really wasn’t for me and so decided to up sticks and leave completely.
And at this point we’re back to the choice of a lifetime.
Go all in and try the helicopter route (fixed-wing civil aviation had no interest for me as all I saw was an office in the sky – let’s just ignore the very generous remuneration argument for now please) or go more conservative and still travel to New Zealand and explore, but base it around a Ski Instructor’s Course?
I chose the latter.
I had never skied before, but what has that got to do with anything?
Those 3 months and subsequent qualification lead to 3 years of teaching and further instruction between New Zealand and Colorado, chasing the season each year.
It also lead to meeting a bucket full of awesome people, many of whom I consider to be good friends now.

Anyways, point being – I have always felt most ‘alive’ when challenging myself in some activity that includes both a mental and physical aspect.
An academic I am not.
Skilled with hands alone, I am also not.
Safe to say then, that those who find themselves in this industry should have some understanding as to why it appeals to me.

And so I arrived at the Test Centre, as agreed, at 10 this morning.
Nice day, but slightly overcast. That was OK though as, if it got out sunny again like yesterday, I might be in fear of breaking into a sweat struggling through my couple/uncouple

I found Davey in fine fettle.
Probably mainly due to the fact that there is butty-van that comes by the test centre at about 9 doing the breakfast rounds for the on-site staff.
He informed me that Pete (from the last 2 days) had passed in his 8:15 test, as well as the girl doing her 7.5t for the paramedic course.
So, no pressure then

And out we went for a good-length warm-up drive.
After asking if I wanted to go anywhere in particular, I just said, ‘Squeeze as many of the awkward bits into the time we have please.’
And that kind of talk is basically like giving carte blanche to a bull in a china shop with Davey.

Well, as we got going, I quickly realized this wasn’t going to be the confidence booster I might have liked. What smooth parts I did cobble together were interspersed with others that had me looking like a fish out of water.
Oh, and I really scored highly for sending Davey’s blood pressure through the roof as I again missed an exit off a roundabout that I screwed up yesterday, despite the fact that he was actually counting the exits off for me
By the time we had to think about returning to the test centre, I was beginning to look like I could string a drive together, but the jury was out on whether I could hold it together for the full test duration.

Before long it was time.
We got parked up in the start position on the reverse area and I took the last few moments to give myself a pep talk and run over things in my head.

And then who should turn up, but the same examiner who took my Class 2 test
As soon as she got into the cab and looked up, she asked if she was right to recognize me?
Of course I explained and I have to say I was happy to see Linda again. She was very clear and fair with me last time, as well as being relaxed and chatty, when appropriate.
You really couldn’t ask for much more in an examiner.

And so a little bit of chat later I was starting my reverse.
Same result as my Class 2.
I decided to take a shunt as I was a little too far over with the left-hand side of my trailer.
Once I straightened up forward, I was in for a simple reverse into the bay.
OK – 1 minor, shame. But I am still in the game.

Straight into the couple/uncouple.
This had me worried a couple of days back as we hadn’t introduced it by then, and it was all completely new to me. But a couple of solid sessions during Day 3 and 4 had pretty much etched it into my brain.
Cue a problem-free exercise.

And there we were again, out onto the open road.
This time left out of the Test Centre and right at the first roundabout.
Comfortable, until I made it to the exit and then the thing you don’t want to happen at that point.
In the split up from 4th I just couldn’t find that transition into 5th. Cue a bit of ‘gear-fishing’ and what I think was a bit of a loss of control on the steering, and I found it and got round onto the next section of road.
I have to say I wasn’t overly convinced I had got away with that exhibition.
But, as I kept the next part together and had the time to think back briefly, I thought if I nail the rest of the drive, I am still in with a chance.

Before long we were into the ‘Independent Drive’ section.
Pretty sure that went well, perhaps apart from a tricky section on a huge roundabout which did it’s best to confuse me as to whether I should be signalling or not. It was 4 lanes in places, with road-markings clearly visible and took a long time to get round so I was unsure in my mind of the appropriate places to indicate.

And then it happened
I reckon a good two thirds into my test and I was feeling pretty positive, as if I was getting stuck in and demonstrating I could do this.
Cue a good sized roundabout under a flyover and I pulled out - without picking up on the little, white car-van thing that was headed for me through the barrage of other traffic.
As soon as I set off I knew I was in trouble.
It went exactly as we had just discussed during training the previous day.

• You know you are in trouble and try to get out quicker.
• But in the process you over-rev and start rushing the gear change.
• At the point where you need to split up from 4th to 5th it all falls apart.

And it wasn’t just gear-fishing at this point.
To quote one of my favourite lines from the incredulous Dr. Lecter – I was ‘fumbling around like a freshman pulling at a ■■■■■ girdle.’
Long and short, my trailer blocked the mini-van, who also couldn’t resist using his horn despite the fact I must be driving nearly the world’s biggest mobile advert for HGV LEARNER drivers. And on top of that, I basically free-wheeled most of the way around the roundabout, only managing to sort myself out by we had pretty much reached the exit.
At that point I knew I was done
But I didn’t let it throw me. I drove the rest of the way back to the Test Centre well.

Once parked up I knew my fate.
Linda confirmed it, but did mention to Davey on the way out that I had a good drive and was just about at the standard she needs to see.
And in the immortal words of Davey, ‘If you make a mistake mate, they [the examiner] will rubber-stamp it for you.’

Overall then, not quite the result I really wanted, but a great week that has filled me with respect for the skill and care HGV drivers need to exhibit.
If I was being asked to sum up where I thought I stood in total honesty, I’d say today was a ‘fair’ result as in the back of my mind I did feel just a little short on my test preparation time.
Having said that, going through the test has given me a good shot of confidence as I now know that I am fully capable of passing.
All I need to do is string a solid, safe and smooth drive together.

Needless to say re-test is in the process of being booked at the earliest opportunity.

Thanks for all the support.
Take care out there,
Jon

Unlucky Jon. Roundabout roulette got you.

unlucky mate!

roundabouts are definitely the killer part of the test.

but as you said even the examiner knew you were test standard, so chin up and get back out there as soon as poss and hopefully it goes better next time.

Not happy that it went awry for you but am happy that we have more of your wonderful blog to come

You are going to have to make a hard choice next time … pass and end blog or fail to keep blog going !

Gutted to hear that you failed but at least we get to read more of your entertaining blogs Anyway, the best LGV drivers have a few failures under their belts (I passed C test at the third attempt) so onwards & upwards & we look forward to the next thrilling installment

Cheers guys.

After a little thinking time it’s definitely one of those, ‘If only I hadn’t done that’ moments
Also, it’s ‘funny’ to think how, even with an automatic, the situation wouldn’t have been different as I would still have been pinged for Observation.
All having gears did was add another part to the failing equation.

Long and short is that I did what I did and there’s nothing I can do to change it now.
Instead, I intend to annoy the cr*p out of people until they get me the earliest possible re-test and I then get to show the next examiner the way it should be done.

Interesting dilemma with passing/driving vs. the blogging btw - but unless you’re seriously suggesting you would pay for the privilege of reading my verbal excrement, then it’s tough to come to any other decision other than trying to pass asap

Jon

I think you should keep failing deliberately so you can keep the blog going …

… and of course I mean that so seriously

The wonderful roundabouts. Nightmare on your test but once you get that license they cease to be a problem. Ready for round 2?