Recently passed Class 1, looking for first (part-time) work, no experience. Seems Royal Mail are offering opportunities so I’ve applied through Manpower. Have to pass their assessments before having a driving assessment with RM. So I’d like to know if anyone has done the Manpower assessments and if they can offer any advice…what’s involved, how hard is it?
Also the RM assessment…is it like doing a driving test…just doing all the stuff you’ve been taught? More maneuvering involved?
Another thing - I work Mon-Fri (office job), does this count as ‘other work’ even though it’s not a driving job? So if I get into a cab I need to enter all my office hours as manual entries? Does that mean I would only be able to drive one day every other weekend?
I’ve never registered with Manpower but I imagine their assessment is like most other agencies assessments, it’s not a driving assessment it’s just a written assessment mainly about the tachograph and working time regulations.
You will probably be asked to complete a photocopy of a tachograph chart and tick of a few multi-choice type questions about drivers hours, working time regulations, the highway code, possibly one or two simple mechanical questions such as “what happens if the red air line breaks” and that sort of stuff.
Like I said I haven’t done an assessment for Manpower so hopefully someone who has may be able to be more explicit but what I’ve said is generally what you can expect on an agency assessment.
Again I haven’t done an assessment for Royal Mail but assessments tend to be pretty much the same all over, more written multi-choice questions as above and a drive of about 30 to 45 minutes, you’ll be asked to couple and uncouple a trailer and probably reverse the vehicle into a parking area/bay.
Usually assessors are looking for a safe drive as much as anything else so if you see the bloke gripping the door handle and his knuckles turning white while you’re driving expect to fail
Seriously though, drive carefully and steadily and do not let the trailer tyres touch a kerb as most assessors will tell you that’s an instant fail, the assessor should not be looking for perfection just a safe drive by a driver who knows what he’s doing.
To be honest I’ve generally found that assessors are friendly enough people who will usually try to put you at ease, they will generally talk to you whilst your driving if they feel comfortable and confident but never let the conversation distract you from your driving, remember it’s a driver assessment.
Good luck and don’t forget to let us know how you get on
ive worked for RM assessment drive dont hit anything do a good drive and your through. also need to know how to use a digital tacho as there all digis usually daffs or mans they have both autos and manuals. incidently where is your assessment.
exit:
…and the office job…does that count as ‘other work’ and need to be entered manually…anyone?
Sorry for some reason I missed that part of the question.
I’m not sure if Royal Mail work work to domestic regulations but I believe they do in which case you wouldn’t need to worry about your current job as domestic regulations allow you to work 7 days a week.
You will however be restricted to 10 hours driving and 11 hours duty time during any 24 hour period.
Vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum
permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes that
are used:
by universal service providers as defined in
Article 2(13) of Directive 96/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of community postal services and the improvement of quality service to deliver items as part of the universal service;
These vehicles shall be used only within a 50 km radius of the base of the undertaking and on the
condition that driving the vehicle does not constitute
the driver’s main activity.
The only universal service provider in the UK at the time of publication (September 2007) is the Royal Mail. Universal service provider vehicles must have a tachograph fitted.
If the part time job is in a LGV over 7.5 tonnes then it seems that comes under EU regs.
That being the case then as you work from mon to fri you will only be able to do one driving shift every other weekend
In the week that you come under EU regs the office work will need to be recorded OFFICIALLY using seperate analogue cards (one for each day with nam, date, start & finish times), on digi printout roll or inputted manually into the digi (long winded) - a simple diary or time sheets (unless domestic regs work) will not suffice
Someone will correct me if my take on this is incorrect
Driving assesment at RM (I took mine at the National Distribution Centre at DIRFT) will consist of hitching up to a trailer, taking it for a 30 minute drive, and then dropping the trailer onto a trailer parking bay. They didn’t ask me to put it on a loading bay when I did mine. I’d no experience when I did the asessment and took 2 shunts just to get it on the parking bay and I still passed. Their main concern is safety, when connecting the trailer, when out on the road, and when dropping the trailer. Mine was done in a Daf CF with an auto box, If you’ve never driven one tell the driving assessor he will talk you through all the controls first, the box is just a rotary knob, forward, forward crawl, reverse, reverse crawl and neutral. They also have plenty of 6-legger CFs with manual boxes which will be a 4 over 4 with a splitter. The high /low switch is a rocker switch on the front of the gearknob and the splitter is a rocker switch on the side of the gearknob, but you won’t need to use that as you’ll be pulling an empty box trailer.Take your time and you’ll be fine.
Oh and they run to EU regs so any week that you use a tacho you will be subject to drivers hours regs and WTD for any work done in that week.
An update - there will be no assessment, not going for it at this time. I was being ambitious going for Class 1 work with no trucking experience, but I thought I’d give it a go…and the first agent I spoke to was very keen to get me in (despite the lack of experience). However, she left, the next guy I talked to said they wouldn’t put me forward into Class 1 work straight off. If that’s how it is then I’m glad he’s been honest about it.
Doesn’t bother me as I’m in no hurry, looking for part-time work to start getting experience. Might chance it and stick to class 1 and see if I get lucky, nothing to lose, if it doesn’t come off then I’ll ‘relent’ and look for class 2
