Just a quick post about my Class 1 training experience.
Passed Class 2 and PCV a little under 2 years ago, had a wee spell on the buses (hated it!) then got some a job on Milk tankers doing farm collections. Really enjoyed the job but the company I was working for wasn’t great - and I was put on a shift where I was working every single weekend. Grabbed it though, it’s experience! Anyway, after a year or so I finally got to the point a few weeks ago where I was fed up with the shifts ruining my life, and had built up a wedge of cash due to having no life - so jacked it in and decided to get my Class 1 training done.
Went back to Ritchies Training in Glasgow, done my Class 2 there, and can definitely recommend them - great bunch of guys, all ex-army I think, so they soon beat the bad habits out of you 
Nice tidy equipment too. Went in for an assessment which went well, and got booked in for the first available Mon-Thu course with test on Friday.
Monday went swimmingly, the drives were all fine, although was a bit hesitant with corners and roundabouts due to trying to figure out what the trailer cut-in was like. Took me a while to figure out (despite being told) you can use the wide-angle mirrors to see the trailer axles when you can’t see ■■■■ in the main mirrors. Reversing, was a bit hesitant at first, but once I was shown how it’s done, that came easily - bit of over/understeering, but adjusted it ok on the way back to the bay. Couple & uncouple is a lot more straightforward than I’d thought.
Tuesday, drives got more difficult, down tighter streets & roundabouts, got there though. Cracked the reversing to get it lined up properly at the start, avoiding the need to adjust it on the way back.
Wednesday - this is where it all went to ■■■■ for me. Drives, kept screwing up my approach to roundabouts, was either heading forward into the roundabout too much and taking too much room on the left, and finding I didn’t have enough space on the right and ending up clipping/monting the kerbs on the OS, or not taking enough room on the approach and clipping the NS kerb. Couldn’t for the life of my figure out what I was doing wrong, overall it was just a really scruffy day and definitely a backwards step - dented my confidence a bit. Also kept screwing up the reverse, and again couldn’t figure out why.
Thursday - The previous day of screw ups was still playing on my mind, and my confidence was pretty low. Started off with the reverse, i thought i’d figured out what i’d been doing wrong, so jumped in and gave it a bash - nailed it. And a few more times for good measure. Out for the drives, again was low in confidence, instructor took me through all the tight and twisties… was a bit scruffy with having to adjust my position a few times, but got through it without hitting / mounting any kerbs. Overall, it was a relatively good day, but Wednesday was still playing on my mind.
Friday - TEST DAY! I’d been put in for the 8:45am test 
Got in early, done a reverse then went out for a quick drive to settle the nerves… no major issues with the drive, but that crappy day was still on my mind and it was making me nervous as hell. Just couldn’t get it out of my mind. Anyway, off to the room of doom to wait for the examiner.
When he arrived, I instantly recognised him as the grumpy non-talkative guy that failed me first time round on my Class 2 (silly mistake). Seeing him caused the nerves level to sky-rocket, and the confidence to plummet - but off we go! Couple of simple show me/tell me questions - wipers & wheel nuts then straight onto the reverse. Nailed it 
Got the positioning spot on at the start and straight back into the bay, stopped about 3" from the barrier.
Out for the drive, first few minutes he was pretty quiet - but i noticed he didn’t even have his paperwork/marking sheet out - so at least he wasn’t going to be writing an essay whilst i was drving! Took me right into Glasgow city centre (down past the Royal Infirmary if anyone knows it), then along through the east end of Glasgow. Suddenly, he started being talkative and had a good wee chin-wag with him. That certainly helped me relax.
Someone most have put out a public safety broadcast, after the first 10 minutes, there was ZERO traffic on the roads - to the point where he told me, don’t worry about getting up to the speed limits, we’re going to be 20 mins early at this rate. So i could slow everything down without the “am i going too slow” thought - again, that relaxed me. Bit of dual-carriageway driving, onto the motorway, off, round a few tight and twisty sections and back to the yard.
Un-couple & re-couple, they give you a small wooden stick to use for applying the brake lights when you’ve recoupled and need to check the trailer lights. Forgot to remove it after, but thankfully the truck moved forward so that i could do the double brake-test. Don’t think he noticed that wee boo-boo
Finally, he takes out his paperwork. Scribbles for a minute… End result: Passed it, with only 2 minors I thought i had quite a few more than that though. But, that’s it, Class 1 in the bag !
If there’s anything I can take from this, it’s that the instructors seem to take you round the most difficult sections of road they can possibly find - I guess it’s to try to prepare you for ANYTHING, and they do seem to hold you to a much higher standard and be much more critical than the examiner. If you have a crappy day during the training, try to just learn from your mistakes, then forget about it and move on - dwelling on it will just increase your stress levels.
Now, to find a job !
Cheers,
Chris.
