after just a few minutes today at our place.the agy Class 1 driver who turned up had NEVER coupled or uncoupled a trailer! he’d just come out the Army,and said he’d only drove trucks that were already coupled!
Well at least he had the balls to admit to it. Many would not until they had done hundreds of pounds of damage.
Tbf I did it on my test and then didn’t drive a class 1 for a year after that,so I had to be shown again.
As stated at least he owned up instead of just having a crack at it and seeing what happened!Wouldn’t have hurt to show/teach him how to do it.
Clot, why didn’t he go on youtube to get the basics and/or grab half a days refresher, including coupling up, before putting himself in the firing line.
He could instead have had a poke nose round a truckstop and if he’d asked politely most of us would have given him a run through procedures even if we didn’t actually demonstrate it, stay there an hour and you’ll find somebody doing a changeover, again a chat with the blokes and most of 'em would have gone through it with him in slow motion.
I don’t blame the trainer stopping the assessment, bloke needs to sort himself out a bit.
He must have done a drop and catch when he took his test 
Juddian:
Clot, why didn’t he go on youtube to get the basics and/or grab half a days refresher, including coupling up, before putting himself in the firing line.He could instead have had a poke nose round a truckstop and if he’d asked politely most of us would have given him a run through procedures even if we didn’t actually demonstrate it, stay there an hour and you’ll find somebody doing a changeover, again a chat with the blokes and most of 'em would have gone through it with him in slow motion.
I don’t blame the trainer stopping the assessment, bloke needs to sort himself out a bit.
Wasn’t this army guy was it?
Possibly translates as being in the army trained to what was class 3 standard then upgraded the licence to class 1 as a civvy using a drawbar not an artic.
In which case quite possible that he’d never coupled an artic and had to think up an excuse when he ran out of ideas and initiative.Along the lines of what does that 5th wheel coupling/turntable do on the unit and what does that handle attached to it do.
How difficult can it be to just work out that the trailer sits on the turntable and the pin goes into the jaws of the 5th wheel and the handle is there to release it after it’s been coupled. 
Luckily for him it wasn’t back in the day before assessments were ever heard of.There’s the unit,here’s the keys or keys are in it, you want trailer number so and so. 
Winseer:
Juddian:
Clot,0
Wasn’t this army guy was it?
That’s going back a bit, Beano or Dandy?
As already said at least he admitted he didn’t know what he was doing if he had come on here and asked for advice the majority of replies would have been derogatory which would have left him no better informed and concluding that all drivers are know it all ■■■■■■ To the ones who have criticized him I am assuming that in your long and illustrious driving careers you have never made a mistake or got away with something by the skin of your teeth, no one passed their test and the next day knew it all, if he gained his licence through a system that is less than perfect then that is not his fault. I passed my test on a wagon and drag and never coupled up an artic until in employment, told the boss I didn’t know what to do was then shown what to do by a senior driver but then I was working for someone who appreciated a bit of honesty and didn’t employ a bunch of drivers whose main aim was to ridicule the new boy.
mazzer:
As already said at least he admitted he didn’t know what he was doing if he had come on here and asked for advice the majority of replies would have been derogatory which would have left him no better informed and concluding that all drivers are know it all [zb]. To the ones who have criticized him I am assuming that in your long and illustrious driving careers you have never made a mistake or got away with something by the skin of your teeth, no one passed their test and the next day knew it all, if he gained his licence through a system that is less than perfect then that is not his fault. I passed my test on a wagon and drag and never coupled up an artic until in employment, told the boss I didn’t know what to do was then shown what to do by a senior driver but then I was working for someone who appreciated a bit of honesty and didn’t employ a bunch of drivers whose main aim was to ridicule the new boy.
On the other hand, this bloke went to an agency for work, the agency will be sending out Class 1 drivers (that’s what the client is paying for) and an assessment of competence is quite standard at most agency typical clients, he was daft not to aquaint himself with the rudiments of trailer changing as it would be obvious to anyone still breathing that coupling up would feature in the work.
Its not the client assessors job to teach the bloke how to drive a lorry (coupling up is part of driving an artic), why should he, unless they paid the agency a reduced rate to send someone who hadn’t a clue.
Had he given the bloke a quick training session and subsequently the geezer dropped a loaded trailer on its knees or overshot the pin smashing unit and trailer, who they going to point the finger at?
Had the bloke posted on here the true facts about him being an ex squaddie and had never changed a trailer and asked for help, he’d have been bowled over by the response from the decent majority (any forum gets its minority of idiots) and more than likely several offers to come and learn from someone nearby or parked nearby overnight…an ex squaddie especially would have many offers.
Juddian:
Winseer:
Juddian:
Clot,0
Wasn’t this army guy was it?That’s going back a bit, Beano or Dandy?
Dandy .
Corporal Clott & Colonel Grumbly, Sir ! 
Juddian:
mazzer:
As already said at least he admitted he didn’t know what he was doing if he had come on here and asked for advice the majority of replies would have been derogatory which would have left him no better informed and concluding that all drivers are know it all [zb]. To the ones who have criticized him I am assuming that in your long and illustrious driving careers you have never made a mistake or got away with something by the skin of your teeth, no one passed their test and the next day knew it all, if he gained his licence through a system that is less than perfect then that is not his fault. I passed my test on a wagon and drag and never coupled up an artic until in employment, told the boss I didn’t know what to do was then shown what to do by a senior driver but then I was working for someone who appreciated a bit of honesty and didn’t employ a bunch of drivers whose main aim was to ridicule the new boy.On the other hand, this bloke went to an agency for work, the agency will be sending out Class 1 drivers (that’s what the client is paying for) and an assessment of competence is quite standard at most agency typical clients, he was daft not to aquaint himself with the rudiments of trailer changing as it would be obvious to anyone still breathing that coupling up would feature in the work.
Its not the client assessors job to teach the bloke how to drive a lorry (coupling up is part of driving an artic), why should he, unless they paid the agency a reduced rate to send someone who hadn’t a clue.
Had he given the bloke a quick training session and subsequently the geezer dropped a loaded trailer on its knees or overshot the pin smashing unit and trailer, who they going to point the finger at?
Had the bloke posted on here the true facts about him being an ex squaddie and had never changed a trailer and asked for help, he’d have been bowled over by the response from the decent majority (any forum gets its minority of idiots) and more than likely several offers to come and learn from someone nearby or parked nearby overnight…an ex squaddie especially would have many offers.
True enough but what are the chances that if the agency was stuck they told him to go ahead anyway, after all the agency’s two year rule has obviously gone out of the window.
trux:
Juddian:
Winseer:
Juddian:
Clot,0
Wasn’t this army guy was it?That’s going back a bit, Beano or Dandy?
Dandy .
Corporal Clott & Colonel Grumbly, Sir !
Waves…i’ve got a Desperate Dan pint mug of steaming hot tea in me mitt at this very moment.
Happy memories both comics, and Tiger/Valliant, featuring every boys hero Captain Hurricane, a non PC commando…
carryfast-yeti:
after just a few minutes today at our place.the agy Class 1 driver who turned up had NEVER coupled or uncoupled a trailer! he’d just come out the Army,and said he’d only drove trucks that were already coupled!
No surprises here then. All the ex forces lot can’t drive for toffee. There’s an ex army examiner and assessor at the place I’m at who is always suggesting to the office that they should use him to vet the agency drivers before being let out, yet he can’t reverse for toffee himself and if it’s a tight spot will get someone else (often an agency driver 
) to back it in for him because he can’t do it.
To be fair to the squaddie, most assessments only include a drive and general questioning about tacho rules and general knowledge about the industry.
Each company may have its own rules and procedures about the couple and uncouple of unit and trailor. This can vary significantly from company to company, although the basics are identical.therefore it is normal once a position is gained to have a small amount of company training with a senior driver or trainer to be shown correct procedure and protocol.
mazzer:
As already said at least he admitted he didn’t know what he was doing if he had come on here and asked for advice the majority of replies would have been derogatory which would have left him no better informed and concluding that all drivers are know it all [zb]. To the ones who have criticized him I am assuming that in your long and illustrious driving careers you have never made a mistake or got away with something by the skin of your teeth, no one passed their test and the next day knew it all, if he gained his licence through a system that is less than perfect then that is not his fault. I passed my test on a wagon and drag and never coupled up an artic until in employment, told the boss I didn’t know what to do was then shown what to do by a senior driver but then I was working for someone who appreciated a bit of honesty and didn’t employ a bunch of drivers whose main aim was to ridicule the new boy.
Trust me in the days when a Class 1 meant what it says on the licence yes anyone would have helped a new driver who said that they didn’t know/couldn’t work out how to couple up an artic 
.However with that you’d have expected to not hear the last of it for a while in the form of a few laughs at your expense.
That’s not the same thing as being confronted with a plant haulage wagon with a multitude of different possible anchorage points and the same on the load and then having someone walk over with some friendly advice when you’ve chosen all the wrong ones to tie it down with.
Left hand down!:
carryfast-yeti:
after just a few minutes today at our place.the agy Class 1 driver who turned up had NEVER coupled or uncoupled a trailer! he’d just come out the Army,and said he’d only drove trucks that were already coupled!No surprises here then. All the ex forces lot can’t drive for toffee. There’s an ex army examiner and assessor at the place I’m at who is always suggesting to the office that they should use him to vet the agency drivers before being let out, yet he can’t reverse for toffee himself and if it’s a tight spot will get someone else (often an agency driver
I’d guess that a lot of people are under the mistaken impression that everyone who enters the industry from an army career was a driver by trade in the army.When the fact is the REME/RCT/RCL is a specialist section of the army with relatively few peple employed in it.Many of those ovbviously staying there if/when they’ve managed to get into that niche.As opposed to the general service personnel who’s only link to the transport environment is a limited amount of training to drive four wheelers as and when required ( rarely if ever ).
Left hand down!:
carryfast-yeti:
after just a few minutes today at our place.the agy Class 1 driver who turned up had NEVER coupled or uncoupled a trailer! he’d just come out the Army,and said he’d only drove trucks that were already coupled!No surprises here then. All the ex forces lot can’t drive for toffee. There’s an ex army examiner and assessor at the place I’m at who is always suggesting to the office that they should use him to vet the agency drivers before being let out, yet he can’t reverse for toffee himself and if it’s a tight spot will get someone else (often an agency driver
Don’t worry about it. Get into Wincanton or DHL and you’ll see more ex army who can’t drive either.
"Carryfast:
Luckily for him it wasn’t back in the day before assessments were ever heard of.There’s the unit,here’s the keys or keys are in it, you want trailer number so and so.
Oddly enough this happened to me last night. Got a text with the unit No & trailer I needed to pick up from Blyth,arrived, found unit & coupled to trailer, drove up to Kirkcaldy & swapped trailers. Then a chap approached me asking if I was the agency driver on this job all week, when I said yes he said great, I can take you out for an assessment now!