Harry Monk:
My agency have offered me two jobs in the last month “subject to passing the assessment” and I’ve turned them both down on the basis that I’ve already been assessed by the Government and passed.
“Driver assessments” are in reality simply as extended interview carried out by the company’s most brown-nosing yes-man designed to ascertain how far you are willing to bend over and take it up the back passage without lube, so you should be proud of failing yours and move on to find someone decent to work for.
I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true. I know from my own experience at my current company we’ve got a few very good trainers who aren’t like that at all and are all qualified for the role and are all good blokes who would have cut you slack and helped you for being new. Another company I went to before this one it was one bloke who was also very good. They aren’t all brown nosing yes men.
Maybe I’ve just been unlucky in the past.
My agency offered me an assessment at Hermes in Rugby. I searched on TruckNet and discovered from a previous applicant that this would take five hours, four in the classroom followed by a one hour driving test. And they wouldn’t be paying me for this, despite Hermes being privately owned by a multi-billionaire.
So I phoned the agency back and said “Errr, I won’t be doing that”. There are plenty of places which will give me the keys and the paperwork and I’m driving out of their gate 20 minutes later earning wages.
OssieD:
…he pulled out of line and spun the motor round and proceeded to back the trailer blind side in hitting the trailer on the nearside badly scraping it, then pulled out to have another go, backed in and hit the trailer on the off side gouging a big lump out of the trailer…
Reversing is all about minimising the risk of hitting something. It’s about taking the time to do the reverse in a way that can be repeated again and again for many years without incident. No one will remember that you were very slow when you were new. The best advice that I was given is that slow is fast, get out and look, and use all the available space. Don’t even get close to hitting something. Pull forward and have another go. If having a bad day, uncouple the trailer and let the shunter do it.
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.
Harry Monk:
My agency have offered me two jobs in the last month “subject to passing the assessment” and I’ve turned them both down on the basis that I’ve already been assessed by the Government and passed.
“Driver assessments” are in reality simply as extended interview carried out by the company’s most brown-nosing yes-man designed to ascertain how far you are willing to bend over and take it up the back passage without lube, so you should be proud of failing yours and move on to find someone decent to work for.
I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true. I know from my own experience at my current company we’ve got a few very good trainers who aren’t like that at all and are all qualified for the role and are all good blokes who would have cut you slack and helped you for being new. Another company I went to before this one it was one bloke who was also very good. They aren’t all brown nosing yes men.
Maybe I’ve just been unlucky in the past.
My agency offered me an assessment at Hermes in Rugby. I searched on TruckNet and discovered from a previous applicant that this would take five hours, four in the classroom followed by a one hour driving test. And they wouldn’t be paying me for this, despite Hermes being privately owned by a multi-billionaire.
So I phoned the agency back and said “Errr, I won’t be doing that”. There are plenty of places which will give me the keys and the paperwork and I’m driving out of their gate 20 minutes later earning wages.
Harry I reckon me and you have a similar viewpoint when it comes to this. I recently did a shift for Hermes. The induction was more like 2 hours and fully paid before my shift. But was a total joke. It involved you answering questions like ‘how many parcels do we deliver a year?’ and ‘What is our key mission statements?’. After that I did some driving. Got back to their yard, only for them to ask me to tip the truck myself with no forklift (I did it like a fool), then they dropped that they wanted me to help sort the parcels. I was having none of that and told em it wasn’t happening. So they said I couldn’t go back, You dodged a massive bullet there.
That being said… for you (and me a bit now) an induction is annoying and not really needed. We have both pulled different types of trailers, different brands of unit etc. For a brand new driver someone explaining this stuff and how it works can be helpful. Best driving job I’ve ever done was ‘here is the keys, you work out the route and you work out the time you want to start tomorrow’ (driving a flatbed delivering parts for bridges) but that wouldn’t be great for a brand new driver.
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.
Harry Monk:
My agency have offered me two jobs in the last month “subject to passing the assessment” and I’ve turned them both down on the basis that I’ve already been assessed by the Government and passed.
“Driver assessments” are in reality simply as extended interview carried out by the company’s most brown-nosing yes-man designed to ascertain how far you are willing to bend over and take it up the back passage without lube, so you should be proud of failing yours and move on to find someone decent to work for.
I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true. I know from my own experience at my current company we’ve got a few very good trainers who aren’t like that at all and are all qualified for the role and are all good blokes who would have cut you slack and helped you for being new. Another company I went to before this one it was one bloke who was also very good. They aren’t all brown nosing yes men.
Maybe I’ve just been unlucky in the past.
My agency offered me an assessment at Hermes in Rugby. I searched on TruckNet and discovered from a previous applicant that this would take five hours, four in the classroom followed by a one hour driving test. And they wouldn’t be paying me for this, despite Hermes being privately owned by a multi-billionaire.
So I phoned the agency back and said “Errr, I won’t be doing that”. There are plenty of places which will give me the keys and the paperwork and I’m driving out of their gate 20 minutes later earning wages.
That’s the way it was back in the day Harry. Most of us older guys certainly remember turning up at a yard, handed keys, a trailer no. and unit no. and some delivery notes and away we went.
Changed days now though and not all for the better I don’t think. Of course companies want to check a driver is competent but a question I keep asking myself is…Why now? and not then?
What’s gone wrong? Why the change?
Apart from that as I have said many times and from what I can gather from people I know still in haulage etc is the assessment (problem) because that’s what it seems to be for many a driver
including the one in this thread.
It’s all about who carries out the assessment and their training (if any) because I almost guarantee the guy in this case was not qualified at all.(apart from a license) No properly trained assessor would act in that manner. Any assessor should be helpful and give some friendly advice when needed but obviously there are times when a driver is so bad they cannot be passed.
