Hello folks.
I’m Paul, a ‘wannabe’ driver.
I’ve been driving & biking for pleasure/commuting since 1996, aged 18.
In the last 5 months I’ve been working delivering commercial vehicles (yup, I’m a hitch-hiking trade-plater with a huuuuge backpack!).
The plating experience has been handy as I’ve experienced a variety of levels of helpfulness both from the office and from the sites I go to when collecting or delivering vehicles, not to mention the time spent sat in vehicles craftily observing the driver giving me a lift, learning how to operate range change and splitter boxes from their actions.
Still, I’m only on a standard 7.5t license, and need to drive more than tatty old sheds going to auction, and the like (though the brand new baby wagons I get now and again are nice!). So…
I’ve been preparing to do the theory test to get on the ladder to driving ‘proper’ trucks. Test 1, 34/35 for the theory, and not so well on the HPT, just missing out on a pass mark. Test 2, 34/35 again (the questions are either idiot-easy or simple common sense I found) and then the Hazard Perception debacle began. Clip 1, no worries. Clip 2 doesn’t arrive. Half an hour of the test team making tech support calls and I’ve nodded off. I’m woken up with ‘This terminal is now ready’ and being ushered to my new seat for clip 2, on the count of 2 seconds to go! I missed the click zone all together, and the next 2 clips were a bit of a blur of sleep being rubber from eyes… before it hung again! All 14 clips completed eventually, in a 2 hour test time (total - and the official allowance is 1 hour!).
I take my free re-test on Friday coming. Fingers crossed the HPT doesn’t crash, or hamstring me eh!
The annoying thing is I see the hazards nice and early, click, and then do a ‘safety’ or back-up click just in case but I reckon the 1st click must be TOO early and the 2nd must be quite late in the scoring zone and so I’m scoring low. The clips are driven so slowly and you’d need to be a complete headcase not to see the hazards a mile off.
Have to admit to 1 clip scoring low though due to my own dopiness - I recognised the road quite clearly as being in my bro’s village and was too busy sniggering at seeing his local pub landlord running out of the chippy to realise he was about to run onto the zebra crossing without looking.
Ooops - best stop - long thread, bored minds - people scrolling past all the above 
