Mrjen:
Everyone I can’t thank you enough for the feedback…it’s genuinely appreciated, I’m just a working man trying to make a living and your comments really are gold dust for me to move forward with.
There is nothing wrong with you. No one is born with the ability to reverse an artic (don’t get me started on the test and training you get for real world stuff). Similarly no one is born with the ability to teach. I have done some teaching and doing it well is not easy. Sounds like the assessor has bigger problems than you mate.
Continuing on from my own little driving CV stories… After Sainsburys I quit being a student (and part time driver) and went off to SE Asia to ride a motorbike. I didn’t even look at a truck for 3 months. I worried I’d be hopeless. First thing when I got back was an assessment at Tesco. And I walked it. Even did the blindside without a shunt (much easier on supermarkets with the window in the back of the cab, so it’s not actually blind).
So once you have gone through this pain and frustration you will have a skill for life and it all get’s easier. Everyone will have been in your position. Some so long ago they can’t even remember it. Once you get in somewhere (and I promise you will) a few months later you will read this back and not recognise how you are feeling now.
Just to balance this. I even started a thread asking how many times to turn the wheel to reverse an artic! I was widely ridiculed for even asking. I am proof that even the most incompetent fool can master reversing a bendy truck. Once you do get it, try then reversing a rigid. I find them shockingly hard to reverse now. Everything is back to front.
Final tip. Clean the mirrors. Really clean them. And wind down the windows (both sides) even if it’s raining. Set up the mirrors. Take the time to set it all up before you leave the yard. If you need to clean them again when you get to wherever then do so. I find reversing between two trailers much easier than a massive wide open space. But I might be just odd. Drive slowly past the bay. When the unit is about 1 trailers width past it then full lock away. Then get the cab as straight as possible. Slowly revers back. Keep at it mate.