barber90:
Update:Passed my class 1 today. 4 minor faults.
Nice one, congrats, now the real learning begins.
Evil8Beezle:
Well done pal!Now prepare yourself for a slating if you passed in an Auto…
No me old matey manual all the way
Wigo91:
Good luck. I’ve got my test on the 15th I’m training Tuesday to Friday with 1020 test with 4 hours a day training. I’m hoping should be ok after 3 years shunting.
I had been shunting in the yard for a year and a half, I had the full 4 days 4 hours training and smashed it with a clean sheet so I think you will be fine.
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Well done to all who have passed, you have achieved a good standard.
I may open up a can of worms but…
How can we be expected to be treated as ‘professional drivers’ after a few hours training? It is common for 40 hours training then a test (pass) and then expect to be classed as a professional driver 
not recognised by some/most insurance companies. Taxi drivers are 
and bus/coach drivers - I can understand the latter better but come on.
I think the words profession and professional has become confused by some people. I drive by profession but don’t consider myself a professional because I don’t know it all!
dri-diddly-iver:
How can we be expected to be treated as ‘professional drivers’ after a few hours training? It is common for 40 hours training then a test (pass) and then expect to be classed as a professional driverI think the words profession and professional has become confused by some people. I drive by profession but don’t consider myself a professional because I don’t know it all!
I agree completely. When I did mine I did 6 hours a day in the Class C for a full week followed by two hours immediately before the test a week later. Then I did the same again with Class C+E a month or so later. So I had 32 hours plus test in each class before I got the pink card. Then I went off to Norbert and had three weeks of training there, the first week with the driver trainer including a couple of decent length runs then a week working alongside an experienced driver on days and a week alongside an experienced driver on nights.
After that they broke me in gently, three weeks night trunking out of Luton to Bury St Edmonds and Gloucester so I had a chance to get used to driving the vehicle with minimal worries about other traffic and where I was actually going. Five years on and I now consider myself a driver “aspiring to be a professional”.
Not that I’m digging at the OP, with a year or so’s shunting experience under his belt he obviously has the mechanics down pat, coupling, uncoupling, manuvering and taking in to account that its a bit longer than a Corsa. All he would have needed is a little road familiarisation and a crack at the pointless reversing maneuver before the examiner climbed aboard.
Congrats OP.
Best of luck to you mate, we all need to work and I understand your plight but as I said recently in my first post, pass or not, (and I really hope you do pass), the training in the UK is far too short.
I had 4 days at 4 hours per day and an hour before my test and that was it. Passed with 5 minors and to be honest my trainer was class. He was so thorough.
I consider myself extremely lucky. I took my test 4 weeks ago, went on a two week holiday, arrived home on the Monday last week, started a new Class 1 driving job on Thursday with 6 other relative novices, picked our units up from Tilbury Friday and started in earnest on the Monday.
I was carrying 40 ft containers back and forth from Teesport and spent my first night out in Scotland.
Absolutely bricked it when I went to Wetherby, Thorp Arch last Thursday after my new Snooper Truckmate tried to take me down a road unsuitable for HGVs. After a baptism of fire with reversing, (actually I did ok as it wasn’t too tight), I just lost it with anxiety at Wetherby services. The only place where I could park was a blind side reverse. Nerves and lack of practice/experience got to me after a couple of attempts. I wasn’t doing too bad nor taking too long but the impatience of others squeezing me and their gestures was the final straw.
I asked a guy walking past for help. he was absolute class. He told the other driver to wind his neck in then offered to guide or finish it for me. Due to lack of sleep and a fried brain I opted for the latter. It turned out that he was nearly as nervous as me. He’d only passed his test 3 months ago and said that he’d experienced exactly the same at Wetherby and that’s why he hovered a little and half expecting me to ask for help. What a gentleman.
In fairness that’s the only bad experience I’ve encountered but it’s put me off calling in at Wetherby and very anxious about visiting truck stops and I’ll need to as I’m “Tramping”. Since I started driving 3 months ago I’ve had nothing but help from old hands.
Back in the deep end tomorrow. Probably sleeping out and don’t know where to start to find overnight parking.
Sorry to go on for so long but my biggest scare was when I was driving back to the depot late dark and tired. (Last Friday 1am). I couldn’t really make out the back of the trailer through corners and when trying to reverse into a slot because I could barely see the side of the container.
Security lights, rain and another trucks lights seemed to be blinding my mirrors. Again someone parked it for me. What was he doing that I wasn’t/couldn’t? Grateful to him but I need to learn myself.
Spent half the weekend watching reversing videos haha but they were all in the light with plenty of space.
Putting total HGV novices on the road is like giving a loaded shotgun to a baby with the safety off.
The few other drivers I’ve spoken to at my local depot all had a week with another driver and mentor so that they could get to know the ropes even though they had been driving for years.
Any and all advice is welcome.
Cheers for reading.
Totally agree that the training for any hgv should be a lot longer. Some of us have experience and have a background in the industry but the next guy is straight out an office job and doesn’t have the faintest idea about it, yet can pass his test after a week and straight out with a 44ton machine wiping out half the town on the way out the yard. I passed and had the first week with another driver. Which is great because in the real world on your own is completely different than being sat with a trainer who is telling you how to pass the test. Not how you would normally drive or behave on the road dealing with so many situations in any given day.
My booking was for 1200pm. My examiner came to me at 1030am whilst I was waiting and asked me do I wanna go now? So I did and passed.
Wigo91:
Totally agree that the training for any hgv should be a lot longer. Some of us have experience and have a background in the industry but the next guy is straight out an office job and doesn’t have the faintest idea about it, yet can pass his test after a week and straight out with a 44ton machine wiping out half the town on the way out the yard. I passed and had the first week with another driver. Which is great because in the real world on your own is completely different than being sat with a trainer who is telling you how to pass the test. Not how you would normally drive or behave on the road dealing with so many situations in any given day.
There is no way of making the training more realistic unless courses were longer and more expensive, or the DVSA adjusted the emphasis of some of the standards that are currently trained ad finitum, to more real world skills.
Similar to yourself, I think there should be a proper syllabus with instructor assessed elements to standard along the way with a final test. The syllabus should include realistic to the job reversing and training on real world problems coupling trailers.