AndrewG:
Lots of good advice here already. Dont forget, mirrors, mirrors and yet more mirrors, not only for bays but any kind of reversing…would have saved smashing a fully freighted tilt through the workshop doors……
Oh if not mentioned don’t for get use your mirrors
AndrewG:
Lots of good advice here already. Dont forget, mirrors, mirrors and yet more mirrors, not only for bays but any kind of reversing…would have saved smashing a fully freighted tilt through the workshop doors…
Were they the back doors you smashed in? 
Captain Caveman 76:
AndrewG:
Lots of good advice here already. Dont forget, mirrors, mirrors and yet more mirrors, not only for bays but any kind of reversing…would have saved smashing a fully freighted tilt through the workshop doors…Were they the back doors you smashed in?
No mate, unfortunately the front ones instead My ins covered it but i still get the ■■■■ taken to this day… … 
For what it’s worth: I used to think of backing onto a bay as ‘unsteering’. Having positioned the wagon with the steering on somewhere near full lock, I’d unsteer the lorry into the gap. All the rest of the advice above is just what you want: get out and do a recce if unsure, open the doors / lower the tailgate, slowly does it, have your driver’s window down if necessary, mega-use your mirrors, and turn that distracting radio off! Cheers, Robert
I would say I’m “competent” at reversing - I know what I need to do, and can get the lorry to do it… but it’s almost never slick!
Rule number 1 is - don’t hit anything! So long as you go slowly, take as many shunts or total re-tries as you need, or are getting in and out of the cab like a yo-yo, it doesn’t really matter whether it takes you 1 hit or 15 shunts. Getting good takes experience.
I’ve been driving for just over a year now and one big thing I’d recommend is keeping an eye on what other drivers do. How do they position the truck? Did it work? What did they do to correct it? How did they use the space available?
Whilst I’m confident that I can get the lorry to do what I want and go where I want, I lack the experience to spot the best way to use space in some situations. I’ve seen a couple of drivers put a glove down about 3’ from the front of their bay of its tight and use that as their reference point. I keep meaning to try it but haven’t yet!
Hi Sammym,
I think however good the advice is that you are getting, a big point is clearly being missed.
You dont like : uncomfortable chairs, shifting cages, handballing, helping out with other jobs, waiting, other drivers, retards, degenerates, being social, being patient, etc, etc.
Please, I am not trying to be rude, but dont you think you have more important issues to work on before learning to reverse artics. Harvey
Pat Hasler:
I am sorry if I sound discouraging but this is a ridiculous question… There is no answer to it at all.
yes there is - 42
any more or less and you could end up with ‘A Dent’ 
Bluey Circles:
Pat Hasler:
I am sorry if I sound discouraging but this is a ridiculous question… There is no answer to it at all.yes there is - 42
any more or less and you could end up with ‘A Dent’
Dipper_Dave:
[It’s not really front bottom more the same body part that rhymes with ‘shunt’ can’t be any more descriptive without being rude but try picturing a badly packed kebab and youl know what I mean].
There really should be a health warning on your posts. I laughed so hard I’ve got to go and make myself another cup of tea now!
The points I have picked up are -
Always go forwards more than you think you need. Get enough room and ask another driver if you need to. Double Deckers can be tricky and don’t pick them up too high or they leap about like frightened deer IMHO
Don’t let someone direct you who isn’t a driver. They tend to stand where you can’t see them or do limp-wristed hand waving in the general direction of where you want to go. In my case an old guy directed me into a lamp post and was seen running like the devil away when I hit it! Lesson learned that time…
Franglais:
Bluey Circles:
Pat Hasler:
I am sorry if I sound discouraging but this is a ridiculous question… There is no answer to it at all.yes there is - 42
any more or less and you could end up with ‘A Dent’
Don’t panic (in large, friendly letters) and take a towel with you
If you are in the West Midlands and only considering part time work while you finish your uni studies why on earth are you looking at a job in Andover??
Have I missed something? There are far better set ups to consider than trekking all the way down there for a rotten job pushing cages around for the co-op
…
good_friend:
Don’t let someone direct you who isn’t a driver. They tend to stand where you can’t see them or do limp-wristed hand waving in the general direction of where you want to go. In my case an old guy directed me into a lamp post and was seen running like the devil away when I hit it! Lesson learned that time…
A while ago the yard we had involved a herring bone, blind side reverse to park. One driver had just parked and was about to go home. Seeing another guy backing in he dropped his bag and ran across to watch him in.
Yep, directed the truck over his own kit bag!
It’s funny to see a post about reversing here. A couple months ago I posted myself about that too, same situation, few months down the lane I am killing It, no stress, nothing. I just need a bit more work on blind side that’s it.
Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
AndrewG:
Lots of good advice here already. Dont forget, mirrors, mirrors and yet more mirrors, not only for bays but any kind of reversing…would have saved smashing a fully freighted tilt through the workshop doors…
My top tip would be GET OUT AND LOOK! Too often I didn’t when I started out and I reversed into so many things so don’t be afraid to look with your own eyes. Blank out everything but what you are doing. Ignore everyone else, dont let other road / yard users get to you, concentrate on the job in hand and nothing else
I’ve been class 1, seven months now. I posted the same thread last year when I passed. I’m now unfazed by anything. I learnt a bit struggling on to bays at tight RDC’s but the best experience has been on containers, as some seriously ridiculous blindsides and tight jack knifes at farms and residential houses, you name it, as a lot of the drops and collections are not designed for an artic at all lol.
Best advice I had was don’t concentrate on the rear of the trailer but watch the middle axle ! Pick a line you want to follow in (bays are great as they have the straight white/yellow line) and start as far away as you can and slowly come around as you go back starting with that bit of opposite lock to get the trailer swinging towards the line, then take it off again. Once I get close I stick a good bit of lock on to get it swinging more then stop. You’ll then want to straighten up and probably go the other way. I always swap the lock when I’m at a stand still, this is the most important part, when I first started getting it I was swapping locks whilst still moving, nah, at the last bit swap locks at a stand still, dry steer if you have to. Also you’ll most probably need to pull forward now and straighten up as moving forward then go back again.
Finally if you have totally messed up swinging it around as you go back and you’re no where near straight, I find it better to pull all the way off and back to the right, start again and maybe further away if you can, rather than trying to shunt it back and forward to line it up, just start again tbh
Pat Hasler:
I am sorry if I sound discouraging but this is a ridiculous question… There is no answer to it at all.
That’s the correct answer, it depends on the surface, the camber, the fifth wheel height, the weight, one or all of these things can alter the pivot point unless you have a single axle trailer with tight U bolts and no slack.
I taught myself to reverse as many did, unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often as haulage companies are reluctant to let a 12 year old boy shift all their trailers on a Saturday afternoon. [emoji23]
Wheel Nut:
Pat Hasler:
I am sorry if I sound discouraging but this is a ridiculous question… There is no answer to it at all.That’s the correct answer, it depends on the surface, the camber, the fifth wheel height, the weight, one or all of these things can alter the pivot point unless you have a single axle trailer with tight U bolts and no slack.
I taught myself to reverse as many did, unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often as haulage companies are reluctant to let a 12 year old boy shift all their trailers on a Saturday afternoon. [emoji23]
Many companies would welcome a 12 year old to work weekends.
Provided they worked for less than the minimum wage!
good_friend:
Don’t let someone direct you who isn’t a driver. They tend to stand where you can’t see them or do limp-wristed hand waving in the general direction of where you want to go. In my case an old guy directed me into a lamp post and was seen running like the devil away when I hit it! Lesson learned that time…
To be fair there’s the odd good one out there. I asked a guy in Bristol to watch me back and it was like hed been waiting for this moment his whole life. Old chap with the best banksman signals ever like hed been a volunteer at the royal banksman core lol
Definitely not full lock or even close to it unless you’re in a really tight spot.
What you have to do and what you’re not doing is giving the trailer time to react to steering input before you’re adding more. You need to put a bit of lock on, start going back slowly, give it several feet so the trailer gets time to start to turn and you can see how much its turning by then add more lock to speed up its rate of turn or take more off to slow it down.
100% of the time the success of a reversing manouvre is decided before you’ve even put it in reverse by the position you start from. Lets assume you’re reversing on a bay to your right. As you’re driving parallel to the bays and come to yours, swing in right to it then back out wide to the left and then turn right. You’re trying to end up with the back fo the trailer just past the bay but pointing towards it and your cab parallel with the building. You can then start by reversing with the steering straight and as the trailer starts to turn more you put more right lock on.
