So I’m 2 days in training. I have 2 days left and then test day
I don’t have much hope for passing but I’m trying to stay positive!!! I’m getting ear bushings off my instructor for speed. I don’t know the roads very well “at all” I’m training away from my city.
if I miss a speed sign then I’m sat puzzled not wanting to brake the speed limit but on the flip side holding everyone up being caution on what I think the speed limit is. So many signs to look at. No different to a car I know but I have to pay more attention to directional signs and roundabout markings and such so if I miss that one speed sign I’m screwed
I was going up a hill " with 2 lanes for our side" 40 mph road I knew that haha but I was sat behind the bus doing 30 Im being told off for not over taking him. I’m sorry sir but I don’t know the road and your kidding me if I’m going to pull over to the right hand lane and try and get passed this bus if I don’t know what’s over the top of this Hill… it could go down to one lane the right hand lane could have ended up being a right hand turn or anything. Needless to say I ended up pulling out when safe engaging kickdown getting up the side of this bus and then what happened the frigging road went into one lane so I was told not to overtake. It WOULD have been OK if I had started the manoeuvre closer to the start of the hill WHEN SAFE but like I said don’t know the road so I ain’t chancing a poor decision. Instructor said it would have been a fail… do you think he was over reacting ■■?
KERBS
Man these kerbs are the bane of my life I can manage not to be magnetised towards them when driving in a straight line now " adopted a new driving road position… truck is obviously wider then my car so need to stay to the right more… OK penny’s dropped with that one but roundabouts and my back end just don’t go well together. I think the penny dropped towards the end of today’s driving… if I’m going around and exiting like the 3rd exit then I need to stear towards the kerb to the left in the new Road if I don’t then my back right hand side will hit the middle traffic light kerb bits
If I’m exiting on the first exit then I need to take wide and aim towards the middle bit of the road or my left and side will cut in to early and mount/hit the kerbs so I think the penny’s falling with that.
So yeah if I’m going to fail it’s going to be speed or kerbs… I do hope I pass though would make life much easier and less stressful.
Any tips/ info you guys can give would be very much appreciated
Some thing I’m wondering though is what the average price of a retest would be ya know full cost including truck hire… avg price anyone can suggest would be good.
Thanks for reading feel better I’ve got the above off my chest
If I was your instructor on the hill bit then I would have asked you why you were not passing followed by a safe stop later on and discussing it with you …
ROG:
If I was your instructor on the hill bit then I would have asked you why you were not passing followed by a safe stop later on and discussing it with you …
That sounds reasonable! And constructive. Don’t get me wrong maybe I was in the right maybe I did mess up by staying behind I feel I did the right thing though as I was unsure of the roads I probably would have done the same in my car until I could see over the crest of the hill. At least now positively if I go up their on my test I know what’s at the top and I can judge a pass if needed
You sound like you are getting all worked up and panicking, which will only make things worse…
It takes a little while to get used to driving a truck, for the very reasons you mentioned! So why do you think you should be able to do it instantly? Yes you are making mistakes, but that’s called learning pal!
Trying to read between the lines, it may be that you’re not jelling very well with the instructor, which again isn’t going to help. It maybe that he has a point, or he may just be a crap instructor! But you can’t change that now and need to relax SLOW DOWN and stop panicking. Yes slowing down will at times result in you getting the hurry up from him, but it’s better than feeling it’s all a bit too much and making mistakes. It might be worth having a word with him that you feel he’s making you nervous, or maybe not! But you can only try…
Don’t be already thinking about a retest pal, as that again isn’t going to help as you’ve basically accepted defeat and given up on the training. Whether you pass or fail, treat the training you are doing now as serious and give yourself the best chance you can, don’t write it off…
I had two instructors in one week,
One told me to take the truck for a sunday drive and the other told me make sure you “drive” the truck as test instructors like to see that,
The second instructor was right they like to see you have the confidence in driving the truck and doing to appropriate Speed when safe to do so,
You sound a lot like I did after two days training , your in your head already assuming the worse ,
Like yourself my training was in a unfamiliar area but the instructor was always taking me down roads that could be on the test so by the end of it I had familiar knowledge of the area, on the 3rd day even took us out of the area for a bit of a extra challenge,
One tip learn where all the no hgv roads are as on the test they won’t tell you not to go down there when your doing your independent drive,
As said above keep calm this is the time to make mistakes and learn from them,
I clipped a kerb on a island every single days training but not one the test and passed even tho I felt I did not do as good as I had in lessons
The place where I went the cost of a retest was £350 that included 2 hours training before the test
but deal with that IF it come to it,
I don’t know the roads very well “at all” I’m training away from my city.
bit. I have folks training with us from all over the UK on a continuous basis (approx. 100 per year). These drivers are in an unfamiliar area but cope perfectly well.
Maybe the issue is with your inability to spot and register signs. This can be dealt with quite quickly by a trainer who knows what he’s doing. As for the “hill” incident, you need to be able to make a judgement as to how long it will take to pass another vehicle with a 10mph gain. There again, easily taught so you should master that without hassle.
A retest is normally IRO £300. Hopefully this will help you concentrate on passing first time!!!
You sound like you are getting all worked up and panicking, which will only make things worse…
It takes a little while to get used to driving a truck, for the very reasons you mentioned! So why do you think you should be able to do it instantly? Yes you are making mistakes, but that’s called learning pal!
Trying to read between the lines, it may be that you’re not jelling very well with the instructor, which again isn’t going to help. It maybe that he has a point, or he may just be a crap instructor! But you can’t change that now and need to relax SLOW DOWN and stop panicking. Yes slowing down will at times result in you getting the hurry up from him, but it’s better than feeling it’s all a bit too much and making mistakes. It might be worth having a word with him that you feel he’s making you nervous, or maybe not! But you can only try…
Don’t be already thinking about a retest pal, as that again isn’t going to help as you’ve basically accepted defeat and given up on the training. Whether you pass or fail, treat the training you are doing now as serious and give yourself the best chance you can, don’t write it off…
Best of luck!
Thank you evil8beezle I am calm and not particularly nervous to be honest. Sorry if my post came across a little un-calm this was not intentional. As far as jelling with my instructor your not far wrong. But pointless going into this as it is what it is. I’ll do what I can with what I have. He’s been driving for 30 odd years he’s a good driver but gives little instruction opting for the if done wrong I’ll tell you. Not my personal style of instruction. Regardless it’s only me who can pass the test so I won’t ■■■■■ too much
Peter Smythe:
Good advice from the contributors above.
I have no time for the
I don’t know the roads very well “at all” I’m training away from my city.
bit. I have folks training with us from all over the UK on a continuous basis (approx. 100 per year). These drivers are in an unfamiliar area but cope perfectly well.
Maybe the issue is with your inability to spot and register signs. This can be dealt with quite quickly by a trainer who knows what he’s doing. As for the “hill” incident, you need to be able to make a judgement as to how long it will take to pass another vehicle with a 10mph gain. There again, easily taught so you should master that without hassle.
A retest is normally IRO £300. Hopefully this will help you concentrate on passing first time!!!
Pete
Hi Peter thanks for taking the time to reply. Your probably right it shouldn’t make a difference where you drive although a local area will I feel be easier non the less if your good enough registering every sign etc while doing everything else shouldn’t be an issue… I guess this will come with time
Browsing this forum for last few months while I was going through my training I also had a bad second day I went back to where I was staying while training really angry with myself. Try not to beat yourself up with it and just think you already know what you’ve done wrong . Go in tomorrow with the attitude that you will put these right and determined to have a good day. Worked for me!Good luck with rest of training and test.
Update after 3rd day. Things looking better kurbs are now OK ALL day. I did rub one around a right round about while exiting but had it in my mirror and felt in control.
Speed is still an issue not going over speed but rather being caution I’m doing 35 in a 40… But getting my hand slapped…
Only bad thing now are roundabouts my lane disaplin is a little poor. Perhaps tomorrow we will keep going around them so I get used to them
Thanks all only one more day of training
Also got my case study CPC in a few hours. Which I fully exptect to pass with out issue
Good, it sounds like you’re feeling a bit more positive!
It’s good that you’re a little self critical and not arrogant.
Your lane discipline should improve as you get more used to the dimensions of your vehicle.
Not on what was expected so that’s sort of positive
I failed on being too close to a ■■■■ cyclist on a duel carriageway I could not pull out due to cars on the right and ended up too close to the cyclist. Wasn’t on top of him but yes I was to close even though I could not have pulled out I should have hung back my bad I’ll take that one and not do that again !
2nd reason which I think was an a ■■■■■■■■■■ minor failing was on roundabout due to OBS signaled and looked in mirrors as one should before entering a roundabout but once on the roundabout I found myself adjusting my position SLIGHTLY to the left to allow me more room on my offside so not to mount kurbs/roundabouts but he marked me down for not left mirror checking when doing this thought a little harsh to be fair as I looked before entering I was taking up pretty much all of the roundabouts so did not expect to need to look as nothing would be to my left and I was also looking in my mirror and signaling when actually leaving. Not once did my instructor ever pick up on this. But never mind he’s the examiner hehe. At least I know what’s expected next time
Cannot get back in until the 30th though so that’s a little worrying having a 2 week break… Whats your thoughts ?
Well except for the cyclist, it sounds like you didn’t do too bad, although you can almost never be checking your mirrors enough…
So sort that misjudgment out and get a bit hotter on your mirror checks, and you should nail it.
A lot more positive than you started at the beginning of the week!
Firstly bad luck for today but you sound positive.
As regards the serious for following distance examiners are trained to follow the 2 second rule regardless of speed. Once inside that gap a fault has occurred. Now it’s about time and distance. ie close for just a second or 2 won’t be marked, longer than that a driving fault (minor) has occurred but over any considerable distance a serious and finally dangerous fault will be marked. The examiner cannot mark twice for the same fault so he will wait until the incident is over before deciding where the ink goes.
The mirror direction fault is marked differently. This is a low risk / high risk situation. In your case a nearside mirror check prior to moving left is perfect. Any movement left without a mirror check is a fault. Looking instantly afterwards where the left move has no or minimal effect on others is a minor issue but no mirror check is always a serious fault regardless of whether anyone is there or not.
Evil8Beezle:
Well except for the cyclist, it sounds like you didn’t do too bad, although you can almost never be checking your mirrors enough…
So sort that misjudgment out and get a bit hotter on your mirror checks, and you should nail it.
A lot more positive than you started at the beginning of the week!
I’ll get there at least after today I know I’m bloody capable of driving a truck without having difficulty. I was 100% all over my mirrors trust me, just a shame I was not checking when repositioning on roundabouts I mean OK I’ll sure do this next time but my 1 foot of left movement to take it wider while on the bout I feel did not worrent a check my instructor never picked up on the problem and after 4 days of training I’m sure this mirror thing wasn’t a new issue not arguing the toss like I’ll just make sure I do this next time no biggy
The bike yeah bugger! Never came across one on training looking back I got to close probably wouldn’t have got that close would it have been a bus was indicating to overtake but couldn’t and ended up getting closer and closer
being caution on what I think the speed limit is. So many signs to look at. No different to a car I know but I have to pay more attention to directional signs and roundabout markings and such so if I miss that one speed sign I’m screwed
But you can only try…
