The boy margate is back! :-)

Well what can i say people!!! reading all your messages is just overwhelming and that is a serious understatement how the hell can i all thankyou enough for all of your kind words and messages of suuport you all just never fail to amaze me .

after a couple of boozy days margate is back!!! i have had a good think about things, got up off my sorry self pitying arse and sorted myself out. i think it hurt me more not so much that i didn’t pass but in the manner in which i didn’t pass that really got to me!! what made it worse was that when the examiner came over to tell me i knew straight away what i did wrong and could not believe i had not done anything about it, after all it was all happening in the mirrors for me to see and my mind just went blank like a numpty!!! so i suppose i was really angry at myself for not putting into practice what i had learnt all week instead of just driving at the centre cone .

i had the same examiner as i had on my class 2 and i felt ok when i realised it was clive taking me again, we walked over to the truck he asked me the two safety questions about how i would check the reflectors and the lights on the veichle, no problem there. then i jumped up into the cab and pulled forward to the end cones and got as close to the centre cone as i could and stopped dead on at the end ones. still feeling fine then.

i put it into reverse get full right hand lock, and go back at walking pace checking the mirrors and as soon as i see the the white trailor leg handle in left mirror put full left hand lock on to get the cab parellell with the yellow line but not quck enough, so turn on trailor was minimal. had a good foot and half too yellow line so more right hand lock could of been applied to get trailor round, but my mind just went blank and kept going taking out the middle cone…end of test.

test examiner clive comes over to tell me i had failed and gently asked me wether i wanted to go out for drive anyway…for which i didn’t need to long to think about that i just wanted to get out of there and get home. test lasted approximately 5 mins. so you can see why i was so down sat morning, not only dissapointed with myself but the fact i had just chucked £834 down the drain in 5 mins.

anyways i have phoned up driving school and they have nothing till 29th june, but hopefully i may be able to get a cancellation before then with any luck but i’ll have to wait and see. like one of the replies said it is in my veins now so there aint no going back , when i got home saturday i just went upstairs into the bedroom as i did not want to be with anyone for a while, especially as all my kids gave me a big hugwhen i got in and told me not to worry about it, i got a text from oldest daughter to cheer me up who is 12 and that has made me even more determined with what she said " if i am as good a lorry driver as i am a great dad, then next time i will walk it!!" you can all imagine how that made me feel at the time especially as she kew how important it was to me bless her

so once again thankyou all so much for your messages you really helped drag a man back up off his knees and not only do i owe it to my family to pass next time, but i really owe it to all of you too your support has been…well i can’t put it into words just sayin thankyou just does not seem to be enough but THANYOU

P.S. Tiggz doesn’t know me better than any of you tartanraider

P.P.S. Its like having a second or extended family on here!!!

P.P.P.S just had driving school on the phone got another test on 29th june at 2.30pm

YE HA You’ve had your mope now and you’re gonna do it. Great news I told you it’s in your veins now. You’ll never get it out now trust me. Remember to relax (thats easy to say I know) and enjoy. You will be surprised how it all comes to you. You were lucky that you only got 2 questions, we get five or six in Belfast. Well I did anyway, I wonder why■■?

No smart answers now guys.

Any way Margate glad to hear your back up and running again. Never let it grind you down cause it will only pull you down and keep you there.

Have fun and take it easy

Lori

My wife, having failed 5+ car tests on silly errors, (mostly silly ones that is,) I can guess how you are feeling, but glad to hear your back up & ready to get back into the driving seat.
All the best for the 29th.

Keep On Truckin’

Margate, As i’ve said before now it’s sunk in you will have no trouble with the reverse.

Keep up the good work.

margatemafia:
after a couple of boozy days margate is back!!!

Seems you’ve passed the “What to do when weekended” test

That’s the spirit Marge! (you’re Marge from now on ) You did exactly what all of us would have done,drowned them sorrows and got it out of the system,best of luck for the 29th

thanks guys what is it they say you can’t keep a good man down just been out and bought a little toy truck to play with, it’s a tesco curtain sided truck with a scania unit great detail on it even the back doors open up so i can load it up and pretend to drive it loaded it’s even a tri axle as well, exactly the same as what i am learning in too

jesus guys what am i like gettin excited over a die-cast truck no seriously i have bought it as my kids have one of them carpet road maps in the middle of their bedroom, so its now gonna come out of theirs and into mine and i can drive it round toy town and more importantly practice reversing on my coffe table where i have a reverse pad set up like at the test centre

anyways i am off now before i get too excited bout this truck or i end up gettin sectioned but spirits are high and so is confidence too just can’t wait for the 29th now when i am gonna my class 1licence and be the happiest man on the planet they might not wanna give my licence just yet but they definately can’t take away my sense of humour and if you had seen me saturday you would of known just how good it was

this is marge signing off gotta lorry to drive

sorry marge… you`ll have to park it up outside an rdc (cornflake box) for a few hours, go and stand outside your house and look in through your window while the kids ignore you(transport office) . good luck mate… told you to have a few days off and come back fighting fit didnt i!.. rgds jon

JONBOY@RH:
sorry marge… you`ll have to park it up outside an rdc (cornflake box) for a few hours, go and stand outside your house and look in through your window while the kids ignore you(transport office) .
I like that!
Go for it Margatemafia!

Sorry to read about your failure, and with a 2.30pm test, you are not going to get a lot of time for road practice.

The thing you now need to do, and I’m sure your instructor has already told you, is to set aside 20-30 mins EVERY working day, when the pressure is off, to practice driving to Test Standard.

It’s very easy to let things slip and revert to bad habits, and when the pressure is on, then that is the time when bad habits come to the fore.

Best of luck next time.

Hiya Wayne,

Just got back off holiday to read your news. Bad luck, but it does happen and you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself down etc etc etc

Meanwhile, were thinking of having a BBQ tomorrow so if you want to pop round and have a chat about stuff, just let me know and Ill pm you my home address.

All the best,

Vince

hi vince,

thanks for the invite but i already booked up tommorrow mate, out with a few mates to watch england. but i would like to meet up for a beer before my next test mate which is on the 29th june if you fancy it■■?

Ill pm you my mobile number, give me a call sometime before your test. Meantime, Ill be taking the kids to Palm Bay for the bucket and spade vintage car rally on sunday if you are around, and if you can get yourself up to Sittingbourne one sunday early evening, I`ll let you have an hour or so of reversing practice if you think it will help.

Vince

thats a real nice offer vince, marge youd be mad not to take it. good to see theres still some goodhearted people out there.

margatemafia:
test examiner clive comes over to tell me i had failed and gently asked me wether i wanted to go out for drive anyway…for which i didn’t need to long to think about that i just wanted to get out of there and get home. :

Look, I dont want to rub salt into the wound, but I knocked over the pole on my reversing manouevre. I had already been told by my instructor (Mike West, who founded the Learn HGV driving school) that if I failed the reversing manouevre, then I would fail the test. In fact, Mr West told me that I wouldnt even get to go out on the road if I failed the reversing test.

However, I was taken out on the road, convinced that I had already failed, and as a result of this conviction, put in a good drive.

Back at Hersden test centre, after answering the Highway Code questions (which you had to do then as there was no theory test) I waited for Mr Mummery to tell me that I had failed.

He took a deep breath, and said “Would you like to have another go at the reversing manouevre?”

Well, talk about pressure. It was quite obvious that I was going to pass or fail on the next thing I did.

I messed it up again. I didn`t knock over the pole, but I took half-a-million shunts to get into the box.

Mr Mummery said (and I will never forget these words for as long as I live)…

“Im going to give you the benefit of the doubt. And believe me, its a very big doubt”

You should have gone out on the road. You may well have been given a second chance, like I was. It`s too late now, but remember it for the next test.

I will be at Palm Bay on sunday for the vintage car rally. I will be with my 5-y-o twin boys, and I`ll wear a green T-shirt with a picture of a dragon on it. Watch us from a distance and work out for yourself wether I am an internet axe-murderer or not.

If not, introduce yourself, and if you can get to Sittingbourne this sunday at around 6 pm, I will show you how to couple and uncouple trailers, and let you practice driving my truck until it gets dark.

Its not a problem with my boss, and I wont take a penny off of you for doing it.

Vince

My hat comes off to you Vince.

You have read margate’s posts, and if anyone deserves a licence, it’s him.

It’s nice that in this day and age , with everyone thinking ‘self,self,self’ ,that someone can give his time up to help someone else.

Utmost respect to you mate, if I could help myself , I would.

All the best.

Niall.

Margie, (sorry but if my gaffer will insist on abbreviating Ian to E then I’ll abbreviate Margate to something). Nice to see you back kiddo and on good form too by the looks of it .

Vince you are a gentleman and a scholor, I’m proud of you.

hello vince,

i really don’t know what to say mate, i am gobsmacked truly in a nice way of course. Like niall said usually in this day and age its self self self so it has really taken me by surprise to read your offer .

But i would love to take you up on your offer vince, two reasons;
Firstly - it is a superb and fantastic gesture on your behalf, and not to accept it would be very ungrateful on my part not mention being an arrogant one and one thing i ain’t is arrogant, after failing as bad as i did, it did humble me and has taught me that swallowing your pride isn’t such a bad thing

secondly - to have a four hour lesson and test is costing me £ 252.25 and i am not in the posiion to keep finding that sort of dough with a wife and four kiddies you know what wives are like

but i will accept it on one condition vince mate - that i at least get the chance to take you out for the night for a few beers when i am back at work - or if we get to know each other really well i take you and your wife out for a meal to say thankyou at least for your more than kind offer mate■■?

i will pm my mobile number and home numbers to you mate then you can put them in your mobile

i gotta say people that vince just epitomises everything i have said about everyone on trucknet and what a grand bunch you all are

P.S. Bigone i am on good form mate, took it all far far too seriously last time, let what other people were gonna think of me if i failed get in the way…not this time mate i am not gonna be a numpty for a second time

hi vince,

did go up to palm bay today to see you, got up there bout 11.15 and stayed till bout 12.30 mate but didn’t spot you anywhere loved the cars though so wasn’t a complete wated trip i have pm you my mobile number and home number too mate