I completed my first shift on Class 1 last night and now feel like a proper trucker and I think that I really ought to be awarded a special badge to recognise this achievement. 
I was rubbish at getting it lined up on the bay, what is the best thing to use in order to get the truck lined up and square on? When I try to line up with the painted bay marking guide lines the mirrors make them appear narrower at the rear and wider at the front, they don’t all seem to be painted on squarely either - I noticed last night that one side of the truck was parallel with the line whereas the other side was running at an angle 
The banana wheel guides are a bit too far away to be able to see clearly enough to judge it completely accurately and just aiming for the bay itself is not accurate enough, no doubt I will get better with more experience but does anyone have any tips to help me along a bit?
MickyB666:
I completed my first shift on Class 1 last night and now feel like a proper trucker and I think that I really ought to be awarded a special badge to recognise this achievement.
I was rubbish at getting it lined up on the bay, what is the best thing to use in order to get the truck lined up and square on? When I try to line up with the painted bay marking guide lines the mirrors make them appear narrower at the rear and wider at the front, they don’t all seem to be painted on squarely either - I noticed last night that one side of the truck was parallel with the line whereas the other side was running at an angle The banana wheel guides are a bit too far away to be able to see clearly enough to judge it completely accurately and just aiming for the bay itself is not accurate enough, no doubt I will get better with more experience but does anyone have any tips to help me along a bit?
Normally the lines have been painted by the site handy man and are ever straight so ignore them,use the banana guides but as you say they are a bit far away,it really is just practice tbh I tend to look at the buffer plates on the bay if there is no banana rails.
It will come eventually.
Try and get smack bang between the bananas. If either side is tight, and you have an older trailer, it’s all too easy to nip a mudflap between the tyre and banana, and rip a mudguard off (so I’m led to believe [emoji6])
Some lines are bang on, others are miles off. Takes only a few seconds to have a nosey under the bay flaps to see if the leveller will go on ok (which you can pass off as checking your trailer height [emoji6])
At some Aldi depots, they have two colours of blocks, apparently to mark out your lane. These bear absolutely no relevance to any width of vehicle I’ve ever driven. Best thing really is to try and get the white lines on the flaps (if there are any) equidistant from the sides of your trailer.
It’ll all come together in no time at all mate
I was really pleased when I completed my first few reverses in between the lines. Gave myself a big pat on the shoulder.
10 miles down the road when I remembered that I had left my number plate on the trailer, I wasn’t so smug.
eagerbeaver:
I was really pleased when I completed my first few reverses in between the lines. Gave myself a big pat on the shoulder.
10 miles down the road when I remembered that I had left my number plate on the trailer, I wasn’t so smug.
That’s because you’re a bellend. [emoji6]
Bloody amateur
And to think that I have just congratulated you on your questionable long word.
Awful behaviour. What kind of example are you setting?
PaulNowak:
eagerbeaver:
I was really pleased when I completed my first few reverses in between the lines. Gave myself a big pat on the shoulder.
10 miles down the road when I remembered that I had left my number plate on the trailer, I wasn’t so smug.
That’s because you’re a bellend. [emoji6]
Bloody amateur
I’m a 10 year Veteran and I left my number plate on the back of a trailer I dropped off in Doncaster,remembered when I got to Tamworth though so not too far away 
Lol! Been in Tamworth today. Sainsburys RDC. A bit odd that ‘shutters down’ business.
I don’t like the dark.
eagerbeaver:
Lol! Been in Tamworth today. Sainsburys RDC. A bit odd that ‘shutters down’ business.
I don’t like the dark.
One of the few I’ve never done. There and Stoke, luckily.
Stoke is shocking mate. You have to sit in a tiny crappy room with a stinking sofa for hours on end.
It’s like being back at home.
ckm1981:
PaulNowak:
eagerbeaver:
I was really pleased when I completed my first few reverses in between the lines. Gave myself a big pat on the shoulder.
10 miles down the road when I remembered that I had left my number plate on the trailer, I wasn’t so smug.
That’s because you’re a bellend. [emoji6]
Bloody amateur
I’m a 10 year Veteran and I left my number plate on the back of a trailer I dropped off in Doncaster,remembered when I got to Tamworth though so not too far away
Wasn’t a dig mate. Me and Beaver like throwing insults at each other.
Cheers for the tips… … … and for the entertaining banter that followed. 
eagerbeaver:
Stoke is shocking mate. You have to sit in a tiny crappy room with a stinking sofa for hours on end.
It’s like being back at home.
Have you done Boots in Beeston yet pal not the fast track on the right but other one around to the left what a hole
Nice one Micky and I’m sure it will come with a bit of practice…
I personally can’t seem to steer my VAN straight onto an open raised loading bay area!
It’s almost like I’m a complete bellend, but Paul & the Beaver show I have a little way to go yet…
Trucker Ed:
eagerbeaver:
Stoke is shocking mate. You have to sit in a tiny crappy room with a stinking sofa for hours on end.
It’s like being back at home.
Have you done Boots in Beeston yet pal not the fast track on the right but other one around to the left what a hole
Not sure if I’ve done Beeston, our notes just say Boots Nottingham on it. It’s the one where they give you a pager then park you up on some waste ground like the surface of the moon.
Was about the 5th drop I ever did in an artic, tight as hell, with that bloody flower bed/shrubbery where you’d ideally like your unit to be. There were about 15 drivers stood watching me, and not one offered to help. Was sweating like a pig, and it didn’t help that the guy on the bay on my near side had left his unit well on the skunt.
In all fairness though, when I went into the waiting room, and it came out in conversation that it was only my 3rd day in an artic, I got a round of applause and some total stranger bought me a brew.
The lines will always ‘look’ wrong in the mirrors. Consider that the vehicle you’re driving may be nearly 17m long, visual perspective is going to play a part in looking along the length of it. The lines near the back of the trailer should look closer to it than the line nearest you in the cab. Imagine looking along a pair of railway tracks, they appear to narrow as they go away from you. If you’re making the line on your drivers side look parallel in the mirror, it won’t be straight. You should be aiming for an equal sized ‘wedge’ on both sides made up by the lines on the ground and the sides of the vehicle.
PaulNowak:
Trucker Ed:
eagerbeaver:
Stoke is shocking mate. You have to sit in a tiny crappy room with a stinking sofa for hours on end.
It’s like being back at home.
Have you done Boots in Beeston yet pal not the fast track on the right but other one around to the left what a hole
Not sure if I’ve done Beeston, our notes just say Boots Nottingham on it. It’s the one where they give you a pager then park you up on some waste ground like the surface of the moon.
Was about the 5th drop I ever did in an artic, tight as hell, with that bloody flower bed/shrubbery where you’d ideally like your unit to be. There were about 15 drivers stood watching me, and not one offered to help. Was sweating like a pig, and it didn’t help that the guy on the bay on my near side had left his unit well on the skunt.
In all fairness though, when I went into the waiting room, and it came out in conversation that it was only my 3rd day in an artic, I got a round of applause and some total stranger bought me a brew.
That’s the place Paul that’s the fasttrack you went to the waiting room there is ok, it’s the other place on there I was on about, you turn left just past the the bay’s you went on and follow around to the right, put it on bay go upstairs into a ■■■■■■cabin no TV, no drinks machine, no toilets and only two seats and you have to lock your truck and hand keys over
Not had the joy of Boots yet Ed.
Handing the keys over is no problem. I might have accidently forgotten to leave the ignition key on the bunch though, before now.
