I have had my Class 2 for 18 months, but I now want to move onto Class 1’s.
How hard (or easy) is it to make the step up?
Cheers
Stuart.
IMHO…
Reversing is the most significant change. However, if you use a good school, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem (although it might take a while to “click”).
The other major thing is remembering that you’ve got 8 corners instead of 4 - e.g. making sure that the shoulder of the trailer doesn’t hit any traffic lights, etc. Otherwise, driving C+E is pretty similar to driving C. You still need the same sort of anticipation and forward planning, you should still use your mirrors to decide when to steer, etc…
Agree with MrF, reversing is the major change. In my limited LGV driving experiences I have found rigids to be a lot easier than artics to drive and would say the step up was significant for me personally.
As stated earlier choose your school carefully, check out their pass rate and try to get a view from some who have used them.
On your other point I would always prefer an artic, will go around and into spaces you would not get some rigid’s, especially 8 leggers and having driven both…artic every time. 
Reversing is nothing to worry about it is just a matter of practice, practice and more practice.
I took my C+E in a drawbar, it’s easier but I wouldn’t recommend it and wish I had trained in a proper artic.
mrpj:
Agree with MrF, reversing is the major change. In my limited LGV driving experiences I have found rigids to be a lot easier than artics to drive and would say the step up was significant for me personally.
No way!!! 
Id go for an artic every time, theres no way on this earth you’d get me back in a rigid,. The bigger the rigid, the worse it is to manoever (sp?) & get round corners.Id sooner drive a transit than a 17 tonner!
Sometimes, it is easier to get an artic into some places rather than a rigid! 
T.■■
Never driven a rigid,passed in crappy drawbar,got a job in an artic,found it hard to start with,hit a few things,learnt from it,
Absolutely loved it
found out another kid on the way 
Had to give it up for now 
cant wait to go back to it 
Truckette:
mrpj:
Agree with MrF, reversing is the major change. In my limited LGV driving experiences I have found rigids to be a lot easier than artics to drive and would say the step up was significant for me personally.No way!!!
Sometimes, it is easier to get an artic into some places rather than a rigid!
T.■■
That’s interesting, I must admit I’ve only driven an artic a few times and found it difficult whereas I got a rigid job as soon as I passed my test and had no problems.
For me, the hardest thing was not slipping back into “thinking rigid” when I was under pressure - or got too relaxed! I’d been driving Class 2 for a full year (no gaps) when I did my Class 1 (it was only ever a means to an end), so I’d had long enough to be driving on “autopilot” a lot of the time (you know what I mean)…
It’s all very well and good, but I found that when I started to relax in the artic my brain just clicked over into thinking “truck”…which in those very first few days meant “rigid”. Next thing I knew I’d have clipped a kerb by taking the wrong line and my fledgling confidence was shattered all over again…
Same thing when I got scared - I failed my first Class 1 test on the reverse - which I’d done perfectly 10 minutes beforehand - because nerves meant I needed a shunt. I pulled forward all a-fluster and promptly put the thing in what would have been a perfect place for an easy finish in a rigid, but was no use in an artic whatsoever…trailer all akimbo, blind to the box…and because my brain was again thinking “truck”=“rigid” I hadn’t the faintest clue how to get back out of it! 
I also found the same trouble hit me again about 6 months after starting to drive artics “properly”…I’d just got enough confidence to stop bricking it every time I went out and genuinely feel a little more at ease in the larger truck. As I relaxed, my mind relaxed, and ooops…that would have been the edge of the roundabout/junction/whatever I just drove over then… 
It’s one of the main reasons why a lot of firms like you to have a little bit of experience…you’re more likely to have a crunch once you feel you know what you’re doing than when you’re totally green. It’s when you start to “settle in” that you’ll make most of your mistakes - that’s true for both rigid and artic drivers!!! 
It’s exactly the same phenomenom which means that now, 5 years later, having not driven a rigid in anger since, I have to seriously think about what I’m doing before backing under a trailer to avoid steering the wrong way, make a fool of myself in ASDA’s carpark once a week, and regularly park the car two feet from the kerb outside the house… 
Consequently I hate driving a solo tractor unit and avoid driving the car whenever possible…horrible little thing…and the mere thought of getting back in a rigid brings me out in a rash…
My advice? Take a week’s holiday before doing your lessons if you can; if possible get someone else to drop you off and pick you up each day and above all, make a conscious effort to avoid trying to use your rigid experience to help you - it’ll bite you on the arse every time.
Think of it as a whole new skill and mentally start from scratch and you won’t go far wrong…just watch out once you’ve passed, settled into a job where you get to know the truck, and the pressure’s off. 
It’s about as hard as you and your instructor make it . Then the learning curve of the real world comes and you wonder why you bothered with the test Sorry, but I can’t give a difinitive answer. Personally, I’ve just moved from an artic to a drawbar. I now prefer the drawbar, but it’s like passing the test and starting again. If you’ve got the licence and hate it, then it’s money spent , but you can go back to the rigid. If you don’t take it, your forever wondering. Just try an assesment lesson. They cost around £90when I did mine and gave me an idea what the vehicle was like and weather I wanted it or not.
i am moving back from rigid to artic and i have to say that rigids are easier in some ways ie you can always see down both sides. in an artic, all it takes is a slight angle and you are blind down one side of the trailer
i learned in a wagon and drag too and i wouldnt go back to them
choose what you want to do long term. a lot of artic drivers cant drive rigids and people like me who have been driving rigids for a long time cant drive artics. at the moment, i am retraining on artics but i will be driving both as long as i am with Exel depending on what they need me to drive
It can’t be that hard tvradict I passed.
But like Liberace said how hard does depend upon you & your instructor.
Personally I found the both the test hard to pass. But I did both together or as close as I could. So I had only been driving rgids for a week when i passed my class one in a Waggon and Drag. Should have taken it in an artic. I prefer artics to rigids any day, at the moment I drive both every day but mostly artics.
i had a strange problem when I started my class two which hadn’t even crossed my mind until my instructor asked how often I drove. I ride a motorbike it’s my main form of transport, we have a car but my wife drives it mostly, I realised I didn’t drive very often, came as a surprise to me
I would say do it it’s worth the effort.
knight:
i had a strange problem when I started my class two which hadn’t even crossed my mind until my instructor asked how often I drove. I ride a motorbike it’s my main form of transport, we have a car but my wife drives it mostly, I realised I didn’t drive very often, came as a surprise to me
I would say do it it’s worth the effort.
Do you lean into the corners when driving, just like you do if you were on a bike? When I was having my lessons on my class 2, my instructor asked me if I had a motorbike.I said that I did, & he replied ‘I thought so, you keep leaning into the corners!!!’
T.■■
Thanks for the replies
There are some useful insights to whats its like.
I know I will be doing my class 1 very soon, I still have a valid theory test which expires in October, so I aim to be sitting my test in september. One of my biggest problems, and one which caused me some problems in my Class 2 test, is nerves, and my inability to calm down quickly. Consquently, I failed my first test, although I think the Examiner had something against me, he failed me for going round a 90 degree corner with too much hesitation, although I went round it quicker twice as fast as I had been told to by my instructor, strange that. That made my nerves worse for my 2nd test, mainly because I was questioning my training, and again I failed, although nerves didn’t really come into it, I got the back wheel very close to the kerb on a corner, and then felt a thump , fearing the worst, I gave up, and wasn’t really concentrating on the rest of it, made one error for the rest of my test, he told me to pull up at a safe place, I did, but didn’t check my distance and was too far out. Examinar said if I had corrected he would have passed me. The thump I heard turned out to be a drain which had sunk below the level of the tarmac
Passed 3rd time.
I have asked my TM if there is much chance of the company putting me through it, this was back in March and I am still waiting for an answer. If I have to do it myself, which is looking likely, then I will use the same school that I used for my C2.
tvradict:
I know I will be doing my class 1 very soon, I still have a valid theory test which expires in October, so I aim to be sitting my test in september.
I don’t think you need to worry about the theory test at all for C+E, I thought it was purely for C tests. I could be wrong, but that’s how I read it.
Andyroo:
tvradict:
I know I will be doing my class 1 very soon, I still have a valid theory test which expires in October, so I aim to be sitting my test in september.I don’t think you need to worry about the theory test at all for C+E, I thought it was purely for C tests. I could be wrong, but that’s how I read it.
Correct:
Thanks for that.
I phoned a couple of schools and asked that very question and both told me that I did need a valid theory test. I dont understand why they would give me false info, they gain nothing from me doing a theory test.
Good luck with the class 1 tvradict .
Congratulations bikemonkey .
bikemonkey:
found out another kid on the way
tvradict:
Thanks for that.I phoned a couple of schools and asked that very question and both told me that I did need a valid theory test. I dont understand why they would give me false info, they gain nothing from me doing a theory test.
That sounds strange to me as well.