Category C - Training Diary

Hey All

So the journey is finally starting for me if you like. I have an appointment with my trainer tomorrow morning to fill out paper-work which should take no more than an hour apparently. I’ve yet to be told if the training will be 1:1 or 1:2 etc but I guess all will be revealed tomorrow. Then, my training starts on the week beginning 5th November, it will be a 5 day course with the test on the Saturday.

So wish me luck and I’ll keep everything crossed for anyone who has any resits, lessons or test booked for this week. I will update this thread each day of the training to keep you all informed and I’ll do my best to get some pictures for you.

Sam

First post edited to add Day 1: It is also below.

Just risen from what was supposed to be a half an hour kip at 18:30, it’s not 20:01.

Day 1: My alarm clock went off at 07:30, I was to be at the yard for 08:15, so I was all prepared and showered the night before etc. I opened the front door only to be greeted by this. Of course it doesn’t look much, but as is always the way in Scotland, it’s not just snow, it’s FROZEN snow. The blue lights are interior dashboard lights, no where near as bright as they seem, simply reflecting off the heavy snow on the windscreen making them look much heavier than they are.

So anyway, the roads were actually quite bad despite all that was there to to show for it. I got on my way, only to realise I nearly forgot my glasses, good thing I was only at the end of the street. So it was back to the house, got my glasses and arrived at the yard a near 10 minutes later.

I hand my license and counterpart into the office where it’s photocopied and given back to me, and I’m told to go make myself a brew in the ‘cafe/waiting room’ area. It’s not about 08:15 and the clock in the waiting room is ticking away as the room starts to fill up, slowly but surely everyone comes in and there’s about 7 of us all waiting. The odd instructor pops in to make himself a brew cracking the joke "■■■■ sake boys i know it’s snowing but jesus " There was someone waiting to do BE, two for CE and 4, including myself for C.

Thankfully to everyones delight, the first of us is taken away and we all pretty much go at the same time with about 20 seconds between us. I’ve been paired with another young fella, as some will know I’m only 18 so I was glad to see someone else quite young. My instructor is Jock, or “laugh a minute” same fella I had on my assessment drive. We walk out to the yard where he does a walk around check showing us and telling us what he’s doing as he does it. He also tells me my Mod 4 is on Thursday (!!!). Would of preferred it to be after my practical driving test so I could solely concentrate on that but I guess we can’t have it all ways. So all walk around checks done and we’re into the cab for a demonstration drive through town, by this time the snow is coming down thick and fast and Jock says, “well if you’re going to learn then you’re best learning in this”. Obviously the vehicle is unladen so there’s no weight over the axle causing the occasional wheel spin etc.

I was first up into the driving seat and I immediately felt comfortable driving the lorry, I never had the gearbox 100% on my assessment drive but it seemed to have fell into place in the time I had been waiting for the course to start. So I had to work on checking my mirrors - I was incredibly surprised but how much you have to check, almost every 5 seconds or so. He said that we wouldn’t have passed our car test if we never done it then so it was just a case of getting the hang of it again. Once I got my mirrors sorted my road positioning fell into place - before this I tended to sit too much to the right hand side. Not much else to it really - we had a drive through Irvine, Ayr, Troon and back to Ayr again for a cuppa where the other lad took over.

I had about 4 hours driving in total throughout the day, we done some reversing just to see how that went and none of us had any problems really so two reverses each, nailed and in the box. I’ll wrap it up now as I’m absolutely shattered, like I said above - went for a kip at 18:30 for half an hour and only just got up!

Hope Day 2 is as successful if not better than Day 1.

Day 2

Morning was a shambles, kept going from 5th to 6th instead of 5th - 7th which would of been better as it meant less mirror checks and over all less work. My mirrors were to pot and as a result so was my position - i was sitting just a little too far to the right. The more he nagged the more I thought and made more errors.

Afternoon though was better and did some very tight turns, up and downhill starts and angle starts. Must remember it’s double changes on downhill starts and single on ups, as well as foot on the footbrake and handbrake off on downhills. Also went through how to operate different loading/restraining devices etc and revised some more for my Mod 4 practical demonstration which is on thursday at 12:15 - this is the part i’m least looking forward to as when I’m asked questions I tend to forget absolutely everything. I’d rather do it practically than explain which you need to do also as you know.

Not a bad day but it’s not been great, hope today was the ‘slump’ all people seem to have during training.

Day 3:

Excellent first drive, everything fell back into place, it was a long one though. Second drive was all going well until he threw his hands up in the air to wave at someone going past while I was looking in my mirror and I completely got ■■■■■■ over by flipping the paddle down without knowing it and when i changed it went into 3rd or some ■■■■■■■■, not to mention there was a transporter right up my arse who had to brake harshly. “That was a fail” yes, but it’s not a test. “It wasn’t a fail because of the paddle switch, it was a fail because he nearly crashed into you.” Yep, not my problem, he shouldn’t be so close, it’s a learner vehicle isn’t it? it says ‘driver under instruction, please stay back’. So anyway he goes on about how that just cost me my test on Friday and it would have to be postponed or some ■■■■■■■■. “That’s a stupid mistake, you should of stopped doing that from day 1, and it also cost you your test on Friday probably because now I need to say you don’t know your way around the gearbox.” Well clearly I know my way around a gearbox, i just made a mistake in day 3 of an intensive course.

Anyway, in an absolute ■■■■ of a mood now and really not looking forward to tomorrow.

Sam Millar:
… my training starts on the week beginning 5th November, …

Did Delorean ever make trucks?

Good luck chap, it’s actually quite fun once you’ve got your confidence levels up. My C+E training starts in a couple of weeks.

good luck sam i can drive a class c but i struggle with a time machine you will be fine mate stay positive and you will nail it

Good luck sam
Hope u enjoy it , we will all be rooting fer ya
Looking forward to the diary

Jen x

Thanks guys. I filled out some paperwork today just underlining any H&S issues etc. My training will be 2 candidates in the cab to 1 instructor, so 2:1 and will start we will leave the yard at 08:30 and finish at 1600. Good thing about it is the fact that I got the same guy on my training as I did on my assessment drive and he’s a top bloke.

Just had a met office warning for snow and frost on Sunday and following days - hope it stays away for another week as honestly can’t see training company taking students out in the snow - or do they?

Ohhhno Snow!?! thats really not what you need! I dont know about if they train in the snow but Im sure someone helpful will be along soon

Anyway, best of luck Sam, look forward to reading your training diary.

Good luck & keep us updated Sam

Good luck Sam (doubt ya will need it tho)

Last year we continued to train during the December snow. The problem is that only the DSA can call the test off due to bad weather and they tend to do that on a day by day basis. Last year we had to present the vehicle and candidate for every booked test. They would not even call the whole day off in advance in the morning.

This means that if we cancel the training but on the test day the snow has melted the DSA will expect the test to proceed. There is the option of a trainer cancelling the test and applying for a refund but that has to be done 3 clear working days ahead (not counting the day you cancel and the actual test day) so it is more like 5 days ahead. That is hard to predict.

One problem that no longer exists is that the stopping exercise has gone from the test. This used to be a major reason the examiner would call off the test with even light snow or even frost.

Good luck with it Sam

Regards

John
Flair Training

Tests will be cancelled if curbs and road markings cannot be seen clearly or if normal speeds cannot be maintained. So, as John has said, it puts trainers in a horrible situation when there’s snow. We either don’t train and risk loosing a test fee as the test would have run on that particular day/time or we risk life and limb carrying out training in lousy conditions to find that the test is cancelled anyway.

Our company policy is to cease training as soon as there is a greater danger than normal to the candidate/our trainers/other road users/our vehicles. I don’t believe we have any business making life harder for other road users who have little choice but to be out there.

Trainers normally have to give 3 clear working days notice - as John said. But they can also cancel on the day if it’s not safe to travel to the test centre. It’s normally us who calls the shots for whether or not tests are cancelled as it’s our test centre so we’re “on the spot”.

We always explain the situation fully to candidates who find themselves caught in this potentially difficult period. Pete

Thanks for the info guys. The first of the snow hit here this morning in Scotland in my area. No where near bad enough to call off training but I suspect there is a lot lot more on the way. I absolutely love driving in the snow and for me I think it might even give a little help if it was to go ahead as everything is done at half the speed in snow but I guess safety always comes first.

Good luck Sam, hope it all goes well for you!

Hey, good luck with your training Sam.

I also start my training tomorrow (with my test on Thursday) and I’m hoping to pass my C+E just like I did my ‘B’ and ‘C’ both in the month of December. Like you pointed out, the traffic seems to flow at a slower pace in the not so good conditions, so it’s not all bad taking your test then!

Hey Sam, just wanted to wish you all the best with your training and test next weekend, look forward to reading your story, also the same to LJA with his CE, and anyone else in the hotseat this week.

All the best Sam enjoy it
Jenx

Good luck with your training sam.

Looking forward to your diary. Hope the weather holds out.

Disco.

good luck, hope its going well??

Hey Sam, good luck mate, no need to tell you to keep chilled in that weather! I’m looking forward to your reports of how it’s doing, all the best man.
Rich

Just risen from what was supposed to be a half an hour kip at 18:30, it’s not 20:01.

Day 1: My alarm clock went off at 07:30, I was to be at the yard for 08:15, so I was all prepared and showered the night before etc. I opened the front door only to be greeted by this. Of course it doesn’t look much, but as is always the way in Scotland, it’s not just snow, it’s FROZEN snow. The blue lights are interior dashboard lights, no where near as bright as they seem, simply reflecting off the heavy snow on the windscreen making them look much heavier than they are.

So anyway, the roads were actually quite bad despite all that was there to to show for it. I got on my way, only to realise I nearly forgot my glasses, good thing I was only at the end of the street. So it was back to the house, got my glasses and arrived at the yard a near 10 minutes later.

I hand my license and counterpart into the office where it’s photocopied and given back to me, and I’m told to go make myself a brew in the ‘cafe/waiting room’ area. It’s not about 08:15 and the clock in the waiting room is ticking away as the room starts to fill up, slowly but surely everyone comes in and there’s about 7 of us all waiting. The odd instructor pops in to make himself a brew cracking the joke "■■■■ sake boys i know it’s snowing but jesus " There was someone waiting to do BE, two for CE and 4, including myself for C.

Thankfully to everyones delight, the first of us is taken away and we all pretty much go at the same time with about 20 seconds between us. I’ve been paired with another young fella, as some will know I’m only 18 so I was glad to see someone else quite young. My instructor is Jock, or “laugh a minute” same fella I had on my assessment drive. We walk out to the yard where he does a walk around check showing us and telling us what he’s doing as he does it. He also tells me my Mod 4 is on Thursday (!!!). Would of preferred it to be after my practical driving test so I could solely concentrate on that but I guess we can’t have it all ways. So all walk around checks done and we’re into the cab for a demonstration drive through town, by this time the snow is coming down thick and fast and Jock says, “well if you’re going to learn then you’re best learning in this”. Obviously the vehicle is unladen so there’s no weight over the axle causing the occasional wheel spin etc.

I was first up into the driving seat and I immediately felt comfortable driving the lorry, I never had the gearbox 100% on my assessment drive but it seemed to have fell into place in the time I had been waiting for the course to start. So I had to work on checking my mirrors - I was incredibly surprised but how much you have to check, almost every 5 seconds or so. He said that we wouldn’t have passed our car test if we never done it then so it was just a case of getting the hang of it again. Once I got my mirrors sorted my road positioning fell into place - before this I tended to sit too much to the right hand side. Not much else to it really - we had a drive through Irvine, Ayr, Troon and back to Ayr again for a cuppa where the other lad took over.

I had about 4 hours driving in total throughout the day, we done some reversing just to see how that went and none of us had any problems really so two reverses each, nailed and in the box. I’ll wrap it up now as I’m absolutely shattered, like I said above - went for a kip at 18:30 for half an hour and only just got up!

Hope Day 2 is as successful if not better than Day 1.