Hi I’ve been driving hgv for about 7 months after a change in career at the age of 40. I have a class 1 license but have been mainly driving class 2 for my current employer. My reason for posting is that I have had a couple of incidents (scrapes) whilst delivering and now it has got me questioning if this is the right career for me. These incidents have happened in tight residential areas which I still believe we shouldn’t have been delivering to. I was wondering if anybody else has any issues like this when they first started driving hgv. I must also add that these were minor scrapes of a wing mirror or 2 and have all been reported correctly to employer etc
Nothing wrong carry on , you’ll get better
You’re doing pallet network stuff ?
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I wouldn’t worry yourself over it, I still do it now and so does everyone else.
Yeah doing pallet network stuff at the minute, trying to gain a bit of experience
You should try harder 
. In my time I’ve dragged a car by the wheel arch, whacked 3 undertakers when they got in my blind spot, and reversed halfway up a Ford Fiesta bonnet.
Not ONE of those resulted in a claim, a disciplinary, or even a week of earlies. Because witnesses.
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Incidents when I first started? Not only then, but 30 odd years on they’re still happening! Trust me mate, you can be the worlds most experienced and accomplished driver but if you’re delivering to completely unsuitable places then the law of averages state that you’re gonna have a scrape sooner or later.
If you take pride in your work then these bumps will ■■■■ you off far more than they do your employer, and that is how it should be.
At the end of the day if you are taking a large vehicle into a restricted environment there’s going to be issues. Don’t sweat it, learn and move on.
Some people are just not cut out to be vocational drivers, as the posts above prove.
Stuff happens. Forget about it and crack on.
^^^^ having a bad day? Pm me hun ■■
I’ve written off a Peugeot (not my fault), taken off a camera on the side of my truck, removed my passenger side steps, caught a skip spinning round 180 in one of our shop yards…don’t worry about it.
Mistakes maketh man [emoji106]
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the maoster:
There won’t be any “issues” taking trucks into restricted environments if one engages one’s brain beforehand instead of just blundering in, crossing fingers and hoping for the best. It takes no more than a minute to get out, scope the area for access and then make an informed decision on whether or not the vehicle will fit without incurring damage. Too many “drivers” don’t give a ■■■■ because “it’s not my wagon” and “they don’t pay me enough to look after it” 
. I treat another person’s property as if it were my own and on the rare occasions I’ve smashed a n/s mirror on a stray branch I’ve always offered to pay for it as I take pride in my driving and it’s through my own carelessness that it happened. Never been taken up on the offer but I expect that’s because the management know who their good and bad drivers are.
A lot of “professional” drivers these days aren’t safe to be let loose with a wheelbarrow, never mind £100k+ of truck and trailer. I’d say if you’ve been doing the job for 30 years and are still having bangs and scrapes then it’s high time you put your licence in an envelope to Swansea with a covering letter asking them to cancel it.
Amateurs… 
In the early years
I’ve managed 13 wing mirrors in 1 street in Bury St.Edmunds.
Trashed a full 500ltr fuel tank on a kerb at Batleys C&C in Hull.
My “piece de résistance” was probably an SLK merc that tried to undertake me while I was swinging it around the old Black Cat roundabout straddling both lanes, and the trailer wheels ended up and over the O/S/F corner of the SLK bonnet 
R420:
the maoster:
There won’t be any “issues” taking trucks into restricted environments if one engages one’s brain beforehand instead of just blundering in, crossing fingers and hoping for the best. It takes no more than a minute to get out, scope the area for access and then make an informed decision on whether or not the vehicle will fit without incurring damage. Too many “drivers” don’t give a [zb] because “it’s not my wagon” and “they don’t pay me enough to look after it”
A lot of “professional” drivers these days aren’t safe to be let loose with a wheelbarrow, never mind £100k+ of truck and trailer. I’d say if you’ve been doing the job for 30 years and are still having bangs and scrapes then it’s high time you put your licence in an envelope to Swansea with a covering letter asking them to cancel it.
When I took off my side camera it was on a telegraph pole, I’d not noticed a pothole in the road and my rear wheel dropped in and rocked the wagon. 6" either side clearance and the rocking tapped the camera on the pole. No other damage to the wagon, just the camera dislodged. Was reversing up an alleyway to the back of a shop in Darlington.
That same telegraph pole had been hit 22 times in 18m, our company had had to replace it twice. I knew it was there and was clear of it, just poor road surface caught me out
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R420:
the maoster:
There won’t be any “issues” taking trucks into restricted environments if one engages one’s brain beforehand instead of just blundering in, crossing fingers and hoping for the best. It takes no more than a minute to get out, scope the area for access and then make an informed decision on whether or not the vehicle will fit without incurring damage. Too many “drivers” don’t give a [zb] because “it’s not my wagon” and “they don’t pay me enough to look after it”
A lot of “professional” drivers these days aren’t safe to be let loose with a wheelbarrow, never mind £100k+ of truck and trailer. I’d say if you’ve been doing the job for 30 years and are still having bangs and scrapes then it’s high time you put your licence in an envelope to Swansea with a covering letter asking them to cancel it.
Come and have a go on the cabin game. Rural sewer works down a 10ft wide lane with a 11ft cabin “But they get the tankers down there” lolol
Just last week collected some cabins that where damaged on the way in and now got damaged on the way out Management dont give a monkeys as they have had the hire, Severn Trent Water didnt give a monkeys as the cabins were off their site and us drivers didnt give a monkeys…Crack on drive!
Everyone has the odd “oops” moment.
I may or may not have reversed into the main airside/landside differentiating fence at Gatwick Airport once… 
Also reversed into a telephone pole when turning around after fire brigade closed the road putting a house fire out.
Anyone who says they haven’t had an “oops” moment is a liar.
As new drivers, you take on crap paying jobs to get experience.
Employers offer crap paying jobs as they expect the odd bump, so the pay rate savings offsets the risk.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one and a few of you have had same issues. For the record I do take pride in the truck I drive whether it’s the companies or not. And thanks for you honesty
Kizza76:
Glad to hear I’m not the only one and a few of you have had same issues. For the record I do take pride in the truck I drive whether it’s the companies or not. And thanks for you honesty
Learn from your mistakes. A lot of these silly scrapes happen through laziness, eg. can’t be arsed to stick it in reverse and take a quick shunt to ensure it goes round, instead you just keep going as it looks like it might go round okay in the mirror but actually grazes the steps or corner of the bumper. Take your time and don’t let others pressure you. If you are unsure, get out and look or take a shunt. You don’t win any prizes for rushing about. After 7 months you should have enough experience now to gauge what’s gonna go and what isn’t.
It usually goes down on your CV as “experience”
It just take a couple of years to gain the “experience” employers are looking for
R420:
Some people are just not cut out to be vocational drivers, as the posts above prove.
No, some people shouldn’t drive cars. The wheel arch? Don’t pull out of a side road while looking right, because I’m braking and I’m not where you think I am. The undertakers? Drove into me when they hit drain grids.
The Fiesta driver was pretty special. He’d driven onto our weighbridge, which was drive on reverse off. I asked him to move, and the video shows him going round behind me and reversing as I drove forward.
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Any new driver is entitled to a couple of scrapes here and there. It’s when a driver regularily causes damage to vehicles that it may become unacceptable.
As has been said some drivers are more careful than others and some have far more scrapes than others. Looking at a drivers car sometimes gives you a fairly good idea of the type of driver.