Passed my class 2 a few months ago but havent been in a lorry since october. Was in for a driving assessment for adr and gears . Passed my test in an automatic. The gears were a bit awkward as ive never driven a splitter gear box before. Arrived back to yard obviously didnt get it . Need more experience . Which is fair enough. Boss said what feed back can we give him to the guy who had me out on assessment said im concentrating so much on driving im not concentrating on everything going on around me and thinks i need 6 months experience in a lorry . Because everything will like be gears and not automatic and theyd be piling on more onto me with adr training aswell.
Fair enough . Maybe so
Is this a bad sign or just a sign i need more experience in a lorry with gears. I passed my test in an automatic and wasnt fully prepared
It is probably quite likely when that truck gets retired and replaced it will be with an auto.
Might be fair to say the more specialised the vehicle the more chance it will be owned for the long run rather than replaced after 5 years.
There will be drivers around now who have never driven a manual truck as the younger generations come into the fold and one or two at our firm who won’t or can’t. Though the only time a manual would be in our fleet would be a short term rental.
I would guess if you picked 10 jobs from a list only one might need someone who can drive a manual so unless its keeping you from an avenue you are after I wouldn’t be concerned.
Wasnt aware the shift to automatic was largely due to the hgv driver shortage to speed up qualification process. Would have actually enjoyed learning to use splitter gear box, i mean like the guy who had me out for assessment said he doesnt know why they do the test in autos if that all you end up being able to drive. Myt be rare these days if switching to autos mostly but at the same time definitley seems worth while knowing how to properly drive with a splitter kind of get the feeling ive been let down a bit by the licensing process as some companies still operate manual
To be fair I passed my test 13 years ago in a split shift and in all my years of driving never driven one. All been automatic. If you want the job then I’d be tempted find a training centre with manual trucks and have a few lessons.
If don’t want the job 99% of other places will be auto trucks
I wouldn’t worry mate you can not be expected to drive a manual truck second nature if you aint been taught…I know of guys in past who had been taught, and still could not drive them properly if they were not synchro.
It wasn’t, but it allowed a lot of baloons to obtain a licence…(NOT referring to you btw, I din’t know you.)
Not really mate tbh, best to learn how to druve efficientlly simething you are likely to drive rarher than something you aint
Just write it off as an experience, because as said you can sure as hell bet the next assessment with the next firm will be on an automatic.
I have seen a couple of adverts in the past for jobs where the firm spec manual trucks, who actually say manual experience necessary…did this lot not?
Just move on mate and don’t let it knock yer confidence..
Good luck.
(Edit…Looks like my spell checker aint working on my …‘‘nyw phern’’ )
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