Ok, thought I’d post a diary of class 1 training so here goes. I got my class 2 with System Group near Carlisle 16 months ago and decided that using the same people again would make sense for class 1 as they did a good job. I have 4 days of training (2-1) and a test on Friday morning.
DAY ONE
Turned up, met instructor (Mick) and other trainee who is a fair bit older than me and drives a taxi. After license check and coffee we do a walk around the vehicle (in the poring rain!). I’m learning in a Mercedes Actros with a 4 by 4 (slap-over) box pulling a tri-axle trailer and was told that the combination is the max length without STGO. So if I can do this I should be able to do anything.
Mick drove us to a lay-bye on the A6, went through the controls, then handed over to me to have first go. Wow was I nervous! We drove up and down the relatively quiet road for about an hour and practiced stops. It took a bit of time to get used to the steering which seemed very sensitive compared to rigid’s. Main complaint was my steering was “jerky”. Was instantly impressed with instructor, telling me clearly what I was getting right and wrong at a rate my brain could cope with. After an hour of driving we parked up for a cup of tea and got a debrief. “For first drive in an artic that was fantastic. Work on smoother acceleration when pulling off, steering is already a lot better”. So felt happy with that. Then other guy had a turn which took us to lunch.
In the afternoon we spend a bit of time looking at diagrams for road positioning at junctions. This was mainly revision for me but the other guy hadn’t done class 2 with this training company so it was good to hear it all explained again. It was drilled into us how checking both mirrors while turning was essential to make sure where the corners of the trailer are. It was a shock at first how quickly the trailer vanishes in the mirrors as you turn in, and the wide angle mirrors suddenly became good friends of mine. After half an hour of that we stopped for a debrief again, and was pleased to be told “well done, you’re swinging it around like a good 'un”. So - so far so good. I was fairly happy, just want to get it all a bit smoother. Again the other guy then had a turn.
Finally we had a chat about roundabouts and road positioning, how it IS possible to stay in lane in many cases. We practised this for the remainder of the day (about 30 minutes each).
End of day debrief = “Mirrors are excellent, steering much better but could be smoother, try to not rush building up speed”. So it feels like I’ve made a good start, still with plenty to improve though.
Tomorrow we start off with reverse and tuck-under then in the afternoon we do more roundabouts and hit the town center for some tighter corners. No kerbs hit so far!
Well done th2013. Past my c+e couple weeks ago. Just listen to everything your trainer tells you. Sounds like your doing good job already. Ill give you bit of advice. Your reversing take it very very slowly. And you should nail it first time. Same exercise as class 2, but the tralier kicks out bit more and obvs longer. Looks easy. I made hash of mine learned hard way and took advise from guys on here. I was rushing the reverse. Just take it really slow. Its not race. Good luck
DAY TWO
I drove to airfield for reversing practice. We started off with straight line reversing which was no problem. Then Mick gave an explanation and a demonstration of the reversing exercise. Then we had three tries each. On all tries I got the beast in the box and would have passed. My problem is that the bit at the beginning never seems to go to plan for me. Start off as far left as possible (fine). Hard right until unit is at 45 degree angle (fine). Straight back towards line then opposite lock to follow yellow line with front wheel. (Hmmm, never seems to quite happen right). The good thing is that I have managed to recover it each time, usually by putting in an early shunt. Mick says I’m great at sorting out the mess, but we need to avoid making the mess in the first place. So more work to do here. Mick says he will try explaining it a different way tomorrow.
Then we did drop and catch. Our outfit is close-coupled so a bit more work/fun that usual. My only problems here were forgetting to check the trailer MOT and plate, and judging when I’m far enough under to stop to connect the suzies. I think this will get easier with practise. But I’m not worried about this.
Then we drove to the town center on one of the test routes, and overall things went great with exception of one corner that I also found hard in rigid test. It’s a right hand turn with it’s own lane, but a very narrow lane, so overhang is an issue. I almost went for the turn then at last minute saw an Ambulance in the nearside lane so had to stop suddenly.
In the afternoon we did some more awkward turns which all went very well, including one I dreaded in the rigid, and to my surprise the artic sails around it. I’m increasingly realizing (and enjoying) just how nicely artics corner! Just after the other trainee commented how neither of us had hit a kerb yet (tempting fate!) I proceed to tidy up some grass on a roundabout, focusing too much on a motorbike nutter in the other mirror. Hopefully won’t do that again. The other trainee soon after also clipped a kerb! Should have kept his mouth shut!
End of day debrief:
95% of forward driving is spot on. Couple of really nasty junctions to tackle tomorrow but all on course. Steering and pulling away fine now. Drop and Catch is also 99% there. Reversing needs more work, I’m good at the hard part but not good the setup (procedural) part.
Looking forward to day 3!. There are now just 4 tight turns and one nasty street that are on test routes that we haven’t covered and we do all of those tomorrow.
Thanks ROG. Hope so! I just read your reversing tips again and watched the videos again and I think sussed what’s happening with my reversing now. Your instructions are virtually identical to what my instructor has been conveying but somehow the penny wasn’t dropping. I think that having got the angle on correctly I’m going back straight too far before lining the unit up parallel to the yellow line. Then I don’t have room to straighten up before the trailer is pointing too far to recover it. So in short I think I need to get parallel to the yellow line ‘quicker’ leaving more room to the right to straighten up unit and trailer as soon as required. We’ll find out tomorrow!
Did 3 good reverses with no shunt and think I have cracked the beginning now. Set angle, then make unit parallel with yellow line, then wait for far garage cone to vanish as trailer obscures view. The distance from the yellow line when you go parallel makes or breaks this, too far out and you are very close to marker cone (or hit it), too near line and you have no room to straighten up and start bending the other way. Don’t know if that makes any sense but it now seems to work for me anyway. Instructor was great, bought along a toy truck and a piece of paper and went through it all again very patiently.
Then did a drop and catch which went like clockwork. He had me and other trainee mark each other on this.
Then we hit the roads. Today we did ALL the tough spots and several times. One especially tight left followed by bend to left takes very careful negotiation, slowly in 2nd gear, as the bulk head and the trailer wheels are only just missing things. The only major thing was leaving the trailer wheels in a box junction, which was just a case of me worrying so much about the steering that I forgot it was a box junction. I managed the (locally) infamous left turn at ‘Dickson’s Chimney’ today so am chuffed about that. No kerbs today! Yay!
So we have one day left to polish it all up a bit and I’m feeling pretty good about it at the moment.
Graft:
Good read mate! what time is your test on Friday?
Test at 10am. Won’t get a drive on Friday before my test as the other trainee has 8:30am test. The good thing is that schools are off so traffic might be calmer - or am I clutching at straws?!
DAY FOUR
Well, if a training dip is your brain going frazzled and everything going wrong, then I had one this morning. It was an eventful morning. Mick asked me to leave him alone with the other guy, and apparently advised him not to take the test tomorrow. I think this was exactly the right thing to do, the guy has improved a lot since day 1 but is just getting the speed and basic control right and observation was almost non existent. There was no way he would honestly pass. I was actually worried his test would be stopped and leave me with no truck for mine! So it is plan B for the morning now, I now get a reverse and a short drive in the morning before test and that is good. My driving wasn’t great this morning, kept forgetting things that I had thought were long ingrained into me, like blind spot checks, and lane discipline was terrible. The good points in the morning was that I managed all the tight turns fine including one that they have now taken off the test route since a visiting examiner from Newcastle took a guy around it and the truck got stuck!
In the afternoon things picked up a lot and I did a mock test. Mick said I was the first bloke since November he couldn’t find a reason to fail the mock test, and he likes to fail the mock test if possible to bring standards up for test. He counted 9 minor faults and apparently that was being picky.
Finished day with 4 reverses and a drop and catch. Brain was so frazzled by end of day that I couldn’t steer the unit on it’s own backwards in the drop and catch without stopping and thinking…! Finally he let me park the truck back at the yard for first time, so must trust me!
So, good night’s sleep and I should be ok! Bring it on!
I should add that the other trainee is getting 1-1 tuition for remainder of tomorrow after my test, and has booked another 3 days training. So it’s not like he’s being abandoned! Tough call to make but I think it was the right call.
th2013:
I should add that the other trainee is getting 1-1 tuition for remainder of tomorrow after my test, and has booked another 3 days training. So it’s not like he’s being abandoned! Tough call to make but I think it was the right call.
How did both you trainees and the instructor cope with both of you at different levels on the 2 to 1 training?
th2013:
I should add that the other trainee is getting 1-1 tuition for remainder of tomorrow after my test, and has booked another 3 days training. So it’s not like he’s being abandoned! Tough call to make but I think it was the right call.
How did both you trainees and the instructor cope with both of you at different levels on the 2 to 1 training?
Well surprisingly this wasn’t too much of an issue. Mick simply took other chap on different roads to me, or rather didn’t start adding the harder bits that I have been doing for 3 days now. Mick was pretty clear that I was pulling ahead and he needed to stretch me as well as keep building up the other guy. There were some frustrations, for example even though my reversing wasn’t A1 it was closer than other chaps, and we spent a long time working on his, and successfully, as today he did one unaided test standard reverse for the first time. I did start to get a bit stressed about the number of times it felt like we were going to plough into waiting traffic due to his very late braking, and had to point out we were drifting lane towards a van at one point. I think that got a bit wearing as I was willing him to improve, but he didn’t seem to learn from mistakes.
e.g. Day 2 he turned trailer brake off before couple when he was supposed to check it was ON. So whole lot runs backwards when he tries to get the pin. Day 3 he doesn’t check it at all.
I didn’t get to observe someone else doing the harder turns and routes and I guess I missed out a bit there. But at no point was any of this a huge issue, and it didn’t cause any resentment because all three of us get on very well. I also have to say that compared to day 1 the other chap is streets ahead of where he was. So I have been chuffed by the instructors attitude, he has been totally fair and handled a difficult situation very well.
One comment today from Mick was “we need to get hold of an automatic artic unit” as the other guy has really struggled with the slap over 8 speed box. It is certainly going to make the test easier (when all training schools have one)
ROG:
During the training dip did you ‘forget how to drive’ ?
Kind of. I started making silly mistakes that didn’t make sense, went into a sort of frustrated impatient mode, rushed things, wound myself up more and more which made things worse. Also did things that I never do, like palming the wheel!
It all came good again in the afternoon, and Mick said he had been concerned that I had “peaked early” but he thinks I’m ok again now, and I just need to stay calm and patient tomorrow and it will be fine.
