Ok so I’m 3 days in to my first class 1 job and I’m really not impressed with it so far. I’d like to keep the company anonymous for obvious reasons but it’s a fairly small unknown company with roughly 8 tractor units and a couple of class 2s.
I landed the job through one of their employees I knew and being newly passed I grabbed the opportunity with both hands, however… It’s really not what I imagined. The building is a dive and the yard is far too small for the amount of trailers they have. To get in the yard you have to reverse in off the industrial estate road which can sometime have 6-8 arctics all parked on the road waiting to be tipped which can be a nightmare waiting. There’s not a lick of paint on the yard floor, the trailers just get put where they’ll fit.
Most of the trailers are barley legal dogs, battered to hell and are screaming out ‘pull’ and the cabs look (and smell) like a tramps been living in there. I’ve not been out on my own yet but the guy who was with me has been in the game a long time and I’ve learned some invaluable advice but I’ve been told not to bother using the trailer brake when uncoupling as the shunter will just tug it and cause damage 
The type of work can be anything from flatbeds, DDs and fridges which is great to learn but soon I’ll be out on my own in them. Some of the places we’ve been over the past couple of days are quite tight too and my reversing isn’t upto scratch yet. Most of the drivers are agency and they have a high turnover which says it all.
I just get an overall bad vibe from the place. I’m the type of person who likes clean work where procedures are followed by the book which is why I was looking more towards supermarket work. I don’t mind tipping cages myself but I hate waiting round to get tipped it drives me crazy.
So do I carry on and give it more time or contact the ADR network agency and see how I get on at the supermarkets? I don’t want to offend the guy who got me in there and I appreciate him giving me a start but I know it’s not for me.
i would leave that place before you get injured or somebody else does or even worse killed, trailer brakes should be left on when parked that is just safe practice, many yard staff and drivers have been killed by runaway trailers and tractor units, as human nature predicts the best way to stop it is by standing in front of it or trying to climb in the cab, then get crushed under the wheels,
or an email or phone call to the DVSA enforcement office to make them aware of their business practice and modes of operation if the yard is too small, does their operating licence permit allow for too many vehicles and trailers .
If their trailers are fit for junk yard, and you have an accident on the road with it, that is jail time if somebody is killed with a defective trailer ,there are better jobs than what you have described .
You know what the score is mate, it’s a crap operation and job!
However, you do need to keep realistic and accept that as a nil experience newbie, your options are possibly limited…
Yes, go back to the agency and see what else is on offer, but at the same time down burn your bridges!
Most of us had to start at the bottom, and that’s just the way it is. But some places are obviously worse than others, and you need to work out whether sticking it for a few months if there is nothing else on offer. With a bit of experience though, your options will improve, as will your reversing! Maybe you should look at the positives, as they know you’re new and are training you. And with that they know your reversing is not up to speed so you’ll be slower than others. So depending on what the agency say, you might just have to grin and bear it knowing that you will have better options as time goes by…
Best of luck! 
I’d say stick with it for a couple of months, first couple of weeks is a steep learning curve, then it’ll get easier, you can settle into a routine & gain invaluable experience.
If you try to get straight into a supermarket & F Up, they’ll probably just drop you like a stone, whereas this Mob might just give you a chance.
As Evil said, being a newbie your options will be more than likely limited. The supermarkets with their new expensive fleet could be reluctant to take on a newly passed driver as you have to appreciate that they will be handing over keys to a vehicle that is worth about £100,000+ and obviously they want the most experienced driver as supermarket loads are all time slot driven. I’d stick with the rough trucks and use them to your advantage to gain your experience. That said, do your walk around checks and stick to your guns if you find a defect and are told to just take the truck out anyway
Stick with it but also don’t for get chrimbo is looming so retail firms need extra drivers to get the goods to shops or parcel company’s need extra night trunkers
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I see what u guys are saying but I won’t get anymore training now, im on my own. I was thinking being with a supermarket there’d be plenty of room to maneuver and room for error in the yard and training given. I was thinking of applying for b&m, look how many newly passed drivers they have.
Nate187:
I see what u guys are saying but I won’t get anymore training now, im on my own. I was thinking being with a supermarket there’d be plenty of room to maneuver and room for error in the yard and training given. I was thinking of applying for b&m, look how many newly passed drivers they have.
LOL, not all supermarket drops are easy pal! And you can’t be scared of tight drops or try to cherry pick the jobs.
Sorry pal, but I’m going to be brutal and say: Grow a pair!!!
Look at it as a challenge that you KNOW you can achieve, you’re biggest problem at the moment is your confidence and probably feeling pressure. So the best way to deal with that is simple, while you are maneuvering every other road user can go [zb] themselves! Put them out of your mind and tell yourself the maneuver will take as long as it takes. Be that 10 shunts, 10 times getting out the cab to check, or collaring people to help see you back. However do take what they say with a pinch of salt… 
I started on class 1 multi-drop and I was ■■■■■■■■ myself a few times to start with, but that soon changes as your confidence and ability grows. So get out there and believe in yourself, it’s the only way to do it…
I’d stick with it mate, we all have to start somewhere, and if the motors are as crap as you describe, then what better motor to put a few scrapes on as you polish up your reversing. In 10 yrs time, you’ll look back and be able fill newbies in with just how bad your first gig was.
Not My first job, but in the first couple of years of my career, I had an old F12, it was rotting around me, smoked like a train, which looked dead cool out of the enimox stack, and would let castor steer 2nd axle go loose at 60 mph every now and again. The wage was 21% no floor no ceiling, wheels don’t turn you don’t earn, and run as much off card as you dare. They were some of the happiest times I remember, (including the full tilt strip outs) because the other guys I worked with were fantastic, we had proper camaraderie. Muckles came along sometimes shared the driving, just to keep his hand in after he’d got his HGV licence, and before he decided to go full time at another firm after jacking the IT game. The guvnor just said do what you want, but you’ll have to bung him a few quid out your own pocket, which I’ve still to do 25+ years later, don’t suppose he’s missed it stayed for 3 years, bliss
I’ve been doing class 1 just over a year now. Mostly supermarket work and a bit of general haulage. I was exactly the same as you last year, I hated it. Now I’m happy doing my work (most of the time) and definitely better off having got that first year under my belt. Those little gaps you reverse into will start to feel bigger. As others have said stick at it and risk the bumps in those old units.
Ps. Supermarket work can also be a mare to manoeuvre in and unload. Don’t worry about other road users. Do what ever you need to do to get in in one piece.
Good luck.
Yep, nothing better than an old motor to cut your teeth on, and a company that doesn’t ingest the book of H&S rules every hour on the hour.
As for supermarkets having plenty of room for test standard reverses?, yeah right.
Learn to walk before expecting to run.
leave…work for agency in Tosco type job…leave your brain in the carpark and collect it on the way home. work In rdc jobs where you get paid from the neck down and have every h/s rule applied constanty…if you don’t like it.go to a diff agency till nobody else will take you on,then pick another vocation…or…get stuck in and worry about it when they moan at you for not being able to hack it.get on with it and who cares if you wreck something if the jobs dung for you anyway?they can only bag you and you don’t like it anyway.win win.
I think you are looking at things from the wrong perspective mate. Think of it as ’ paid experience '.
Lot’s of newbies can’t get a start on class 1, you already have an advantage. Once you have 12 months artic experience, doors suddenly start opening.
Stick with it and put a peg on your nose.
Nate187:
I was thinking being with a supermarket there’d be plenty of room to maneuver .
Ive done a lot with Tesco, defiantly not the case, some very very tight yards and difficult angles onto bays
I’d say you aren’t in so much of a bad situation as you think mate… the only thing I’d say is to make sure you cover your own backside regarding the law in what you’re driver and pulling: if you think it’s suspect then say so, it’s your licence on the line after all. Apart from that, take it all as experience.
As above give it a go for a few weeks at least, you’ll have done a few months before you know it! My first motor was a corroding shed too, albeit just legal. I hated it the first few days but soon just got stuck into it and kept turning up and doing the job. There is plenty work out there for experienced hard working drivers and you don’t just walk into a good job in this game! Got to start somewhere!
I work for one of the supermarkets and I do prefer the more regulated way of working. However, as said some of our older stores were never designed to accommodate artics and some of the yards are tighter than a ducks behind to manoeuvre in eg reversing in off the road and blindsiding onto bays with a ■■■ paper’s width between the cab and the wall! And most of our units are 5 year old rust buckets!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Lee1976:
However, as said some of our older stores were never designed to accommodate artics and some of the yards are tighter than a ducks behind to manoeuvre in eg reversing in off the road and blindsiding onto bays with a ■■■ paper’s width between the cab and the wall!
The Supermarket at the bottom of My road, used to be Safeway, then got took over by Moribund. When Safeway owned it, the trucks could drive into the goods yard and turn around, artics aswell, But Morrisons stuck a couple of those portable fridge units in there, now the trucks have to reverse blindside of the road, which to be fair is a no through road housing estate, but the reverse looks like a pig, often as not there’s cars parked on the opposite kerb and before the driver clears the gate the blindside becomes right side reverse, in the winter in the rain or at night it looks a mare, seen several remnants of bumpers/steps/mirror glass on the ground there 
I have not even started yet ,My advice is learn in these bangers if you bang them its no big deal.
Keep at it pal its cost you cash to get there .
Id ratger reck a banger than have a brand new tractor on day 1 
Albert1:
I have not even started yet ,My advice is learn in these bangers if you bang them its no big deal.
Keep at it pal its cost you cash to get there .
Id ratger reck a banger than have a brand new tractor on day 1
To be honest, you’d be unlikely to get a brand new tractor on day 1, if you do, then smell a rat. Was 8 years til I got a brand new truck, on my 5th brand new truck now, and another one I took over when it was only 3 months old
But I went through my share of wrecks first, and a couple of barely decent ones in between, you always start at the bottom when you change jobs, no matter how long you’ve been driving, only that previous experience and the right attitude, gets you nearer the top sooner
Transport is a meritocracy, rarely based on how far you can bend over and take it, but more on whether your upfront honest and productive. Tell it like it is, is always the right answer, even though not always appreciated in the heat of the moment, but later when the dust has settled
A let down customer is always a let down customer, but better to give them more time to arrange alternatives, then they’re a more pragmatic let down customer