Harry Monk:
The agency I work for once tried to place me on an assignment where I would be required to do a driving assessment, I refused to do it.
I had my driving assessment in 1986 and I passed it and if that’s not good enough for them then they can go find somebody else.
So between 1986 and now it’s not possible you’ve picked up bad habits?
I don’t see it as an insult that an employer wants to ensure you’re safe behind the wheel and not a [zb] liability that’ll cost them money.
The agency I work for have plenty of clients who are prepared to let me out of their yard without my needing to take an assessment carried out by some company bully-boy who hasn’t done a tenth of what I’ve done yet seems to feel he can sit in judgement of me.
So I’ll work for one of them, and the other company can find somebody else prepared to sit their assessment. That’s what happens in a free market economy.
Harry Monk:
The agency I work for once tried to place me on an assignment where I would be required to do a driving assessment, I refused to do it.
I had my driving assessment in 1986 and I passed it and if that’s not good enough for them then they can go find somebody else.
So between 1986 and now it’s not possible you’ve picked up bad habits?
I don’t see it as an insult that an employer wants to ensure you’re safe behind the wheel and not a [zb] liability that’ll cost them money.
The agency I work for have plenty of clients who are prepared to let me out of their yard without my needing to take an assessment carried out by some company bully-boy who hasn’t done a tenth of what I’ve done yet seems to feel he can sit in judgement of me.
So I’ll work for them, and the other company can find somebody else prepared to sit their assessment. That’s what happens in a free market economy.
Yeah fine and you’ve been driving a year less than I’ve been breathing. You’ve perhaps earnt that right to say no. Just personally think you’re making a mountain of a molehill. I’m sure some assessors are ■■■■■■■■■ on a power trip. But that’s not to say there isn’t good reasoning behind a company wanting to assess a driver.
Harry Monk:
The agency I work for once tried to place me on an assignment where I would be required to do a driving assessment, I refused to do it.
I had my driving assessment in 1986 and I passed it and if that’s not good enough for them then they can go find somebody else.
So between 1986 and now it’s not possible you’ve picked up bad habits?
I don’t see it as an insult that an employer wants to ensure you’re safe behind the wheel and not a [zb] liability that’ll cost them money.
The agency I work for have plenty of clients who are prepared to let me out of their yard without my needing to take an assessment carried out by some company bully-boy who hasn’t done a tenth of what I’ve done yet seems to feel he can sit in judgement of me.
So I’ll work for one of them, and the other company can find somebody else prepared to sit their assessment. That’s what happens in a free market economy.
Well said Harry. Plenty work for good experienced drivers. And once a company gets one the good firms with low driver turnover will do there best trying to keep a hold of him.
Braveheart2009:
So, is the driving assessment anything like your driving exam?
The agency I work for once tried to place me on an assignment where I would be required to do a driving assessment, I refused to do it.
I had my driving assessment in 1986 and I passed it and if that’s not good enough for them then they can go find somebody else.
I see your point Harry, but tbf you can’t blame them for wanting to see how someone drives, when you see some of the sorry arsed pathetic driver impersonators that have managed to blag a Class 1 licence nowadays mate.
I know a few places that use services such as licencemanager.co.uk/ just for running checks on their new drivers just to make sure their safe on the road. Spoke to them recently and they tend to use it to run monthly checks as well, as sends alerts on points and such.
As I conduct pre induction assesments you have to pass my interview first.
I will start by chatting to the candidate about their work experience then a more informal chat about anything in general (ideally their ■■■ life). This is done over a cup of tea or beverage of choice (not alcohol though).
Usually I will discuss the companies philosophy (corporate bs) and then give some tips on how drivers are expected to behave in order to get on better with other drivers.
Then we go off to the truck and this is where the fun begins. I will say on the approach to pretend it’s the start of a shift and to do everything as they would on a normal day. Yes I want to see a walk round check, a fairly good one to boot.
From there I will show the driver the controls if they haven’t driven this vehicle before, paying particular attention to the engine retarder as I want this used. I don’t want drivers using just brakes to slow as this is the real world.
Then usually we go on a 15minute drive, bit of single carriageway and some dual. I want to see a nice safe gap in traffic, some forward planning and attempts to keep the momentum up at roundabouts. Also like to see the prospective candidate drive 2mph below the limiter speed.
Then on arrival back in the yard or truckstop if I want a breakfast I will ask the driver to perform a good side and a blind side reversing manoeuvre.
Some leeway is given to new passes as I will recommend they spend half a day with me to undo bad habits taught for their test. My one on one mentoring sessions are a good way for new drivers to learn some valuable tips, mainly about coitus.
Candidates can usually tell if the assessment is going well when the assessor relaxes and starts talking about day to day stuff ie: ■■■, beer, footy.
My last 2 assessments (DHL & Polypipe) where extreme opposites, at DHL the guy seemed to know me from somewhere in the past and we struck up a conversation about motorcycles, while he filled in the corporate BS Q&A forms and passed them over for me to sign, then out on the road the conversation about motorcycles continued, even while stuck in RTA traffic and I was doing my best to let motorcycles through, demonstrating my observation skills.
The Polypipe assessment was 4-6hrs sat in a room being given corporate H&S BS info, filling in a pile of forms big enough to decimate a rain Forrest, a walk round the yard, 30mins in the canteen so the assessor could have his breakfast, before being given a 10 min driving assessment involving hooking up a trailer, out the yard, down the road, round the roundabout and back to the yard. By this point you’d lost the will to live and never wanted to go back. Needless to say the latter seems to have a high turnover of limpers.
