Hello all,
Today I started my class 2 training with Jcoates in Park Street. I was originally supposed to start yesterday but my instructor didn’t turn up… 
I now have a different instructor for the rest of the week, and he is fantastic so far!
Additionally, my test was supposed to fall on the last day of training (Friday 4th August), but apparently the DVSA cancelled the test and it has no been rescheduled for two weeks time! 
Day 1 - 01/08/2017
My training started at 7 this morning and I had 4 hours of training which, if my mathematics are correct, means that I would finish by 10…11. 
I woke up nice and early at 5am in order to allow plenty of time to get myself mentally and physically prepared for the first day of training; I had a shower, breakfast (weatabix), and wore some nice clothes.
I left home at around 6:30 as it’s only a 20 minute drive down the A414 to Park Street. When I arrived I parked up and walked in to where the reception and offices are located; my instructor walked in from the yard minutes later and asked to see my license - he then proceeded to scan it for his records.
Walking out to the vehicle at only a few minutes past 7am, I was shown the lorry and learnt what to look out for during a daily check of the vehicle. The lorry is 10m long and 12" 8’ high, weighing 18 tonnes; the gearbox is an 8 speed (with reverse and crawler) ‘slap-over’ for gear ranges. After about 20 minutes we set off and I felt relatively confident in my ability after being put at ease by my instructor! Previously I had only driven a lorry for a couple of hours so I am not sure where the onset of confidence came from. 
We drove south down the A5183 which consisted of a fair amount of parked cars, zebra crossings and speed limit changes. By this point I was changing gears alright (I was getting used to the gearbox quick!), but I was just shy of the speed limit as the size and ride height of the vehicle made it look like we were going fast to me. Turning left down a smaller and more country like road I did a good job at Mirror Signal Manoeuvre and we headed towards the M25. I couldn’t believe I was about to merge onto the M25 when I’d only had around 3 hours driving experience up to now, but that didn’t bother me, motorways are easy! Merged fine at junction 22. We drove for about 2 junctions and I didn’t realise the amount of separation that you have to have between you and other vehicles ahead when you’re driving an LGV - It is definitely a much larger gap.
Moving on, today’s focus was definitely on gears, lane positioning and this was all achieved through roundabouts - so a lot of the time we were driving in areas with roundabouts whilst also heading towards the M1 to give that a try. Joining the M1 at junction 8 and leaving at junction 9, we stopped in my first ever truck stop; It was the Flamstead Truck stop. If any of you were at Flamstead at around 9:00 today, let me know
Basically that, as well as a lot of theory was achieved today!
Notes for myself: should slow down a little bit sooner when approaching roundabouts and junctions (although not too bad). change gears earlier so that I don’t have to do everything all in one go. (Ka, typical car driver here).
Day 2 - 02/08/2017
Today started off in a very similar manner to yesterday, in that I woke up at about 5:30 and got ready to go out for another 4 hours of training. I didn’t want to have breakfast this morning (at least a good quality one), so I just bought a cheeky McDonalds breakfast wrap… lol!
I arrived at 6:55 and we started at 7 on the dot. We spent about three quarters of an hour doing the reversing exercise in the practice area that Jcoates have at their training centres. Reversing a rigid is much like reversing a car, to be honest, it was incredibly easy and nailed it first time. I actually think that reversing a rigid lorry is easier than a car because of how big your mirrors are! Much better visibility going backwards when you’re using the mirrors. 
A full on 3 hours of driving (non stop) occurred thereafter and we drove in and around St Albans and Leighton Buzzard - I have never driven in Leighton Buzzard before and so I didn’t know what to expect; in the centre the streets are quite tight with lots of mini roundabouts and parked cars everywhere. At one point I almost took my nearside mirrors off with a telephone pylon! 
I also got to see the test centre and watched a few people on their test doing their reversing exercises; we kept out of the way and made sure we didn’t put any pressure on them.
That was basically it today. So happy that the reversing exercise was easy as pie, my instructor said that the two cones with poles in on the offside of the lorry were my mum, and my girlfriend… My two favourite people! (So don’t hit them!) 
Until tomorrow, drive safe all.
Notes to myself: Slowing down much better on roundabouts and junctions now. Forgetting mirrors occasionally and not being obvious enough when checking them. Gears were better today. Definitely starting to feel more comfortable.
Day 3 - 03/08/2017
First of all, I’d like to apologise for the late edit on this post as I have been absolutely exhausted with all this driving and learning! Today is Saturday and so that means I have finished my training 
Day 3 was more of a consolidation day - We drove as many test routes around Leighton Buzzard that we possible could have and I brushed up on some of the issues that needed addressing. Prior to starting my CAT C training, I took out three CAT B driving lessons with my old instructor in order to get the basics sorted (I can’t remember if I’ve already mentioned this), therefore, my basic driving was rather good coming into the training.
The things I needed to improve on tended to be my steering technique and the speed in which I approached hazards. Being in a car, it’s all too easy to know the width of your vehicle and instantly know if you can fit through a gap or not - there were a couple of situations when on training that I approached a road with parked cars on my side and traffic moving in the opposite direction on the other side; the middle road markings did curve around to keep two equally sized lanes, but I kept going a little too fast past the parked vehicles. The good news is that I had this aced after this day.
Gear changing is on point as well as normal driving! time for the last day… 
Day 4 - 04/08/2017
Today I started a little later, at 8:50, and had a different instructor that I had never met before. It was a very good having a someone beside me that had never seen me drive because it simulated having an examiner there. He also didn’t try to make conversation with me which allowed me to completely focus on doing everything right. We did two reverse exercises before we left the yard and executed both to perfection.
We drove across the A414 and joined the M1 at Junction 7/8 and made our way to Leighton Buzzard via Dunstable Downs (very scenic when you get to the top 
). Cutting to the chase, when I asked my new instructor what I needed to improve on ready for the test, he said ‘nothing - you were spot on mate’. I was very happy; I knew that I had driven well and confidently.
I know I sometimes forget about changing down a gear if I’m slowing down for a corner at an especially slow speed, so that is something to think about. But my instructor was very confident that I would be able to pass the test with flying colours. (Hopefully a clean sheet like my car test, although we’ll see hehe)
Test Day - 18/08/2017
Test was at 1350 today and I had been panicking and making silly errors in the hours of driving leading up to the test. I was very worried and petrified!
Long story short, this 18 year old has PASSED his cat C driving test today at Leighton Buzzard
