Another interesting shift

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
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So i had today another shift which might be interesting for newbies.

got a call from an agency asking if i can do 3am Saturday shift on a manual rigid with an analogue tacho. The tacho bit was quite worrying :confused: so i had a look at a number of youtube videos on analogue tachos. :sunglasses:

i could say no and get a class1 multidrop shift but i wanted to try it, get a new experience and “tick another box” on my CV agency and vehicle wise.

So i turn up onsite at 2:30am. For whatever reason the guy there was very surprised and quite upset that it was my first time at this site and i had no idea what to do. So here we go through the paperwork and induction which was like this: sign here and here and that’s it. No real induction / training whatsoever :open_mouth: . However I was not really worried as been told it was an easy RDC to RDC job.

Got the keys, it appears to be a 55 plate Axor curtainsider with a straight 6 gearbox and cassette type analogue tacho. With the youtube knowledge i filled it in (though still not sure if everything was correct there or not) and started my checks. a note here - gel-type pens do not work well with the tacho charts, the ink gets all over the place as soon as you accidentally touch it (and of course i did :slight_smile: )

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As i completed the checks successfully and was about to go i realised the dashboard lights were not working so i could not see any of the gauges as soon as i turn the cab light off. Found another driver, he had a look but could not find any switch. Anyway we agreed it was still legal so off i went periodically switching the cab light on to check the speed :smiley: :blush:

it was nice to be in a manual truck again, and i generally had a positive feeling driving it, i also found it easier as i did not have to concentrate hard on where the end of the trailer is as i had no trailer :sunglasses:

The drive went well apart form the fact mentioned in another thread - the NavTeq maps routed me through some narrow lanes which were perfectly fine for a rigid, but i suspect i would be in trouble if i were in an artic, and i did have artic setup on the sat nav :frowning: that’s really disappointing :angry:

Arrived at RDC, asked drivers where to park and off to find someone who know what to do with me. It appears the goods have not arrived yet so i have to wait, i have also texted my RDC to let them know of the delay.

Finally an artic turned up and i was about to be loaded. Now, the Axor is a curtainsider and i only did fridge work so far, so i ask another driver to show me how to do the curtains. I have checked youtube the night before so managed to undo the buckles on my own :sunglasses: but decided it was the right thing to ask for help with that bat and the locking mechanism. It was not clear on the video how it works if you have never done it and it is difficult to write it down so i won’t bother, excuse me :sunglasses:

I thought i was ready to go back but it appeared i needed to wait for another artic in to complete my load, so i wait again. It turned up pretty quickly though, and the forkies loaded the truck really quick. The load was like clothing and general parcels so it wa quite light. however i was in for a surprise - the pallets were loaded but there was nothing to strap them. So i go and find a local driver asking wtf? Unlike my fridge “unsecure” load i mentioned in my previous thread i was not sure what they do here. The driver was quite relaxed about it saying that’s how they do it all the time, the load is not very heavy and VOSA won’t be really interested. For some reason i felt i agreed with it but decided to keep it mind when turning.

A question to other experienced and not so experienced curtainsider warriors - what;s your view on this? Was i wrong?

So a quick help from another driver to close the curtains and back i go, using now TeleAtlas maps. Which have there own issue - the Dartford crossing is marked as 7.5t limit. Luckily i realise the thing wants to route me through Blackwall quite quickly, stop and force the satnav to go via Dartford Crossing making a u turn at the next roundabout.

a moped was overtaking me using a bus lane, his lights were so low it was really hard to notice him in the mirror. Luckily i saw him way before he started overtaking and was monitoring what he was going to do.

On my way back i notice in my mirror that one of the buckles got undone so i pull in a layby to fix it.

shortly after that i arrive at my RDC and reverse on a bay for unloading.

But that was not the end of it, i will have to put it on hold and complete the post later today as need to pop out

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When loading I will normally try and be on the deck so I can swing a internal strap over stuff if needed. There are things we take that don’t need strapping while others I won’t move the truck till its secure. The more you drive curtain siders, the more you learn about strapping :grimacing:

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I’m waiting for part 2 before passing comment/criticism! :grimacing:

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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ok, let’s move on

During my trip i managed to see an artic that was using two lanes and the hard shoulder swerving from one to another on M25. Don’t know if he was on his phone or falling asleep but that was very bad. Also a number of vans that were let me put as not very legally overtaking me, very impatient and i caught myself thinking about how good van drivers are, or not so good. Obviously i could not expect anything else but at the depot i saw something like this

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effectively i was at the enemy’s base :stuck_out_tongue:

when i thought i was finished for the day i was approached and asked to shunt the artics inside the warehouse for the weekend. Now that was a surprise. :open_mouth: The area is quite tight and all those vans and 7.5 tonners did not help

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These pics have been taken from the same spot. Effectively i had to reverse in between these units and do a sharp blindside reverse to get into the tight warehouse entrance. :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: That’s probably not a problem for an experienced driver, but not for me i am afraid. At this point i had to prepare myself mentally and decided to visit the facilities for a proper ■■■, excuse my French, just in case, as they say “book now to avoid disappointment”. :blush: :sunglasses:

And that reversing was difficult for me indeed. i probably would get less pounds for the shift than the number of shunts i have made, was sweating like hell jumping in and out of the cab. At one point i got really close to the yellow post (or whatever it is called) on my offside during the blindside reverse than i thought, i was lucky i did not hit it. Though i was moving very slowly all the time so should not have made much damage. at least i hope.

To be honest, at some point i was really thinking of giving up and saying i am not capable of reversing an artic in such tight places :blush: :neutral_face: but i kept calm carried on. Eventually, all the required trailers and units were in, what a relief. But that really was a valuable experience in reversing, i am actually happy i had the chance to do it :sunglasses:

The key thing was not to get out of the cab when in doubt but get out of the cab as often as required to confirm your positioning. Can’t thank enough all those people who told me “get your arse out of the cab and bloody look if not sure”

Question for Merc drivers

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i suspect the (1) symbol next to the bar gauge indicates that driver 1 is in charge. But what does the yellow rectangle at the very top mean? i suspect it goes on when i switch the sidelights but surely it means something, does not it?

PS. The new Actros units seem very nice and comfy
PPS with all that shunting i forgot to defect the dash lights on the rigid and later i realised the rear sidelights at the top of the body were not working :open_mouth: :blush: not sure if they were supposed to work though.

Back for class 1 multi drop tomorrow :smiling_imp:

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Radar19:
When loading I will normally try and be on the deck so I can swing a internal strap over stuff if needed. There are things we take that don’t need strapping while others I won’t move the truck till its secure. The more you drive curtain siders, the more you learn about strapping :grimacing:

i don’t think there have been any strapping devices at all in the body :slight_smile:

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Evil8Beezle:
I’m waiting for part 2 before passing comment/criticism! :grimacing:

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

fire it now :slight_smile: :laughing: :sunglasses:

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Well I enjoyed reading that! :smiley:

No comment about the reversing mate, I’ve never done it, so can’t criticise, even though I want to! :grimacing:
But on ya for getting it all done, and yes it’s got to be good experience and practice…

As for needing to watch a youtube vid to know how to do the buckles■■? Where do i start mate? :open_mouth:
It’s a buckle mate that need to be tensioned and snapped closed, not Einstein’s theory of relativity! :laughing:
As for internal strapping, yes i thought it was a joke the first time I saw it, but if you look at from the perspective of having interlocking pallets, you can see how putting an internal strap can help (along with the curtains) restrain the load. However they won’t really help much when it comes to keeping that load on the ■■■■■■■ pallet! :laughing:

How did you find the turning circle of the rigid mate? It’s shocking on my 26t MAN with rear steer. But at the same time, it’s got so much tail swing when turning tight, it’s probably for the best! LOL

Regarding your sat nav, I think they are all crap regarding what roads are properly defined as unsuitable for HGV’s, as I was sent down one of Friday by mine (while I was having to got around a road closure) that sent me down a road that quickly turned into something cut by the width of tractor tyres! :laughing: Thank ■■■■ I managed to find a spot to make an interesting reverse and u turn! :smiley:

Keep it up and i’d love to hear more about your antics, especially the differences with class 1 against your day in a rigid! :smiley:

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Priest:
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i suspect the (1) symbol next to the bar gauge indicates that driver 1 is in charge. But what does the yellow rectangle at the very top mean? i suspect it goes on when i switch the sidelights but surely it means something, does not it?

The 1 is showing the air pressure of tank number 1 as mercs don’t have two air guages. You have to push a button and it will switch to tank 2 with its respective pressure on the same gauge.

Yellow light comes on when any warning is flagged up (I’ve yet to find more than a handful of mercs that don’t always have a warning light on) looking at the light symbol at the top of your LCD display, it’s most likely its on because you have some sort of bulb out.

To dim and brighten the dials there’s usually a + and - button on the dash. Push and hold and the display brightness adjusts.

Well done for not being afraid to get out and physically go and look how much space you have when reversing. It’s not a bad habit to get into until you learn to judge it.

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cheers Evil,

well its good to learn as much as i can on youtube, even though it is simple, at least it makes me mentally prepared (though not always true) :laughing:

As for the internal straps - could not see any, though to be honest i did not search hard at all

An interesting question re the turning circle. I personally have not had any trouble with it which probably means it is either close to an artic :exclamation: or it is an easy thing to judge on a 18t Merc.

Did you new posh satnav brought you to the point where you had to do an interesting reverse or the Nozatec one?

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Cheers m1cks, that really helps.

so it looks like i had a lucky escape with the bulbs, i will contact the agency to see if they allow me to speak to the driver who normally does that work (agency as well). I actually thought that yellow “bulb” indicator shows that that lights were on :blush: but having a second look at the photo today i know agree that this indicates a fault :open_mouth:

Also thanks for enlightening me on the (1) thing, sure you had a smile on your face when you read my comment about it the first time :blush: :laughing: