Class one Training blog test result now included!

[ash_001]

Well Guys the time has come, Class one training this week with my test on Friday. I am writing this training blog to hopefully help any newbies that have fears of doing their class one, or anyone that is doing their class one soon and would like an understanding of what happens throughout the week.

Well as many of your know I have been slightly nervous about my class one training, I also had a work BBQ last night and a birthday party to attend to, I had a few drinks to calm my nerves, which I definitely regretted this morning and the fact I didn’t get to bed until 1am. But luckily my training did not start until 10.30am today .

So I arrived at the 2 start LTD for 10.30am, I went straight in and was greeted by many of my previous instructors and the staff. I sat down and had a chat with Reg(A previous instructor of mine) why I waited for my instructor, I had Robin today. Robin had a pupil on test this morning so was running late, but Reg chucked me the keys and told me to go get comfortable, so off I trotted to the ridiculously big artic . I completed my full walk around checks while I was waiting for Robin, I noticed the air suspension on the trailer unit was not quite right. As soon as Robin got to the truck I let him know, by now it was already 10.40am .

Robin agreed it was not quite right and went to get some tools, so I sat around in the cab just patiently waiting why they adjusted the suspension. By the time they was done it was just after 11am, I was ready to get in and drive by now, Ollie did explain I wouldn’t lose time and I would have half hour extra during the week. That made it ok but I was still eager to just get on the road and drive, Robin explained he was going to do a demo drive first so I knew the standard to which I had to drive to. We left the training centre and was finally on our way, as Robin drove we caught up and talked about what I had been doing and he was delighted to hear I had landed a new job driving class 2 vehicles. Finally after 20 minutes, which felt like hours we made it to a layby which Robin pulled in and said you can drive now but first I must get a breakfast roll. So I got comfortable again and was ready to drive by now its 11.30am and I am itching to drive!

Robin comes over with a roll in hand and explains we are going to drive up and down this road to get a feel of the vehicle ect, personally I think it was just so he could eat his breakfast properly as this road was pretty straight . So off I go, I pull out when its safe to do so, God these things pull off slow compared to the class 2 vehicles. I go up and down the long road twice, there’s a roundabout at either end which I negotiate my way around avoiding hitting any of the kerbs , by this time Robin has finished his breakfast So we move on. Robin explains I will be driving for around 2 hours now just get to get to know the vehicle and what you can and can not do.

So off I drive following his instructions, I drive perfectly fine no real problems but we have not negotiated any difficult junctions or roundabouts, so there’s definitely time for ■■■■ ups still to be made. We approach a small ish roundabout which I am instructed to turn right at, so this is the real test. I approach the roundabout with my right indicator on and take the whole roundabout, I manage to negotiate the roundabout without hitting anything or anyone, what a bonus! This driving lark with a trailer isn’t as bad as I thought as long as you position correctly you should be fine I keep telling myself. Next off I drive on and negotiate a couple of easier roundabout no real problems really, I am out in the sticks a bit so there is not many obstacles to manoeuvre around if you know what I mean:).

Next off I come to a real hard junction on to a busy road and I am turning right, the road is very thin so I have to position perfectly or my trailer will hit the kerb. So I take it wide and swing out towards the bollard I stop just shy of the junction, believe it or not my trailer is clear of the kerb by a foot or so, I believe this is to do with the fact that robin told me exactly how to position myself correctly . Now to get out of the junction, this is a very fast road so is going to be difficult. Within no time at all a lovely member of the public flashes me out, I pull out taking the whole road and swing it around to take the right hand turn successfully. I didn’t hit any cars or any kerbs, I am very proud at this moment in time, but things can change rather quickly.

We head back towards the training centre now, a few times Robin tells me to ease off because I was going to fast for the situation, thin roads, trees over hanging, parked cars ect. I have just got to get in to my head how big this thing really is! I now understand how long it takes for a lorry to slow down, because to be honest I hardly used my accelerator much at all its all about momentum with an artic. You are carrying a lot of weight on board so just make sure you ease off the accelerator and cover the brakes in plenty of time, If you think class 2 driving is slow, well class 1 is half the speed again! Its very easy for you to let the lorry get carried away with itself down hill so I was covering the brake the majority of the time to prevent this. The annoying thing was the brakes squeaked so every time I covered the brake he new exactly what I was doing, so if I wasn’t covering the brakes he knew and gave me a right telling off lol.

Sorry to keep it short but sweet guys, the main thing is I made it back in one piece and I am alive. Training starts at 7am tomorrow, I need to catch some sleep and will definitely not be consuming any more alcohol for the rest of the week. I keep you updated throughout the week day by day, so please read through and let me know what you think guys.

And yes I now have the artic driving bug! I want more and more, I think I am going to really struggle driving class 2 vehicles now when I have drove an artic! I know what I am going to be dreaming about tonight guys don’t you?

[th2013]

Well done mate, sounds like a good start. Reading your post reminded me of so many things I’d forgotten about my first impressions, especially the weight and running away downhill. As you now know they are great fun to drive, and you are dead right about slow and steady! Enjoy tomorrow…

[swampey2418]

That’s the key…slow and steady, take as much room as you need to negotiate junctions…watch out for idiots on roundabouts that don’t use indicators… relax and enjoy the experience…
I can remember the first time back in 2008 when I drove what I considered a baby artic…An ERF with a single axle trailer which was just on the requirements for the test, but due to not passing first time ( Bus lane issue ) I changed providers and ended up passing my test on a DAF 95 with a tri axle trailer…

[ash_001]

th2013:
Well done mate, sounds like a good start. Reading your post reminded me of so many things I’d forgotten about my first impressions, especially the weight and running away downhill. As you now know they are great fun to drive, and you are dead right about slow and steady! Enjoy tomorrow…

Yes thoroughly enjoyed today, yes first impressions they are massive but once you get in and start driving they are not as bad as you think. Lots of fun to drive just got to slow it down a notch or two tomorrow I believe. Ile let you know what kind of ■■■■ ups I make tomorrow don’t you worry .

Swampey2418:
That’s the key…slow and steady, take as much room as you need to negotiate junctions…watch out for idiots on roundabouts that don’t use indicators… relax and enjoy the experience…
I can remember the first time back in 2008 when I drove what I considered a baby artic…An ERF with a single axle trailer which was just on the requirements for the test, but due to not passing first time ( Bus lane issue ) I changed providers and ended up passing my test on a DAF 95 with a tri axle trailer…

Yep I am getting there with the slow and steady bit, I don’t care how much I hold people up I need the time and space so they just have to be patient. But as we all know patience is not a thing the lovely general public on the road these days have acquired! Mine is a duel axle trailer, I forgot to add we covered coupling and re-coupling today as well pretty straight forward. I believe going over it one more time and we will have it down to a T, Its just remembering which cables go where!

[th2013]

ash 001:
Its just remembering which cables go where!

Actually, there isn’t a single one you can get wrong. Nothing will fit anywhere it shouldn’t go!

[chunkychunk]

Just remember with the air lines… push hard on the couple and catch on the uncouple…lol

[eagerbeaver]

Good read that Ash, well done mate. Artics are much nicer to drive IMO. You will find that other vehicles are far more willing to flash you out, and tend to stay well away from as you approach roundabouts. Use your size (if required), to command the road in a safe manner.

After my first assessment drive in a class 1, I had a bigger grin on my face than ‘The Joker’.

In my view, you know straight away if its for you or not. Looking forward to tomorrow’s entry pal.

[ash_001]

th2013:

ash 001:
Its just remembering which cables go where!

Actually, there isn’t a single one you can get wrong. Nothing will fit anywhere it shouldn’t go!

Ohh really, sweet so I can look like a knob getting it wrong but I will get it right eventually, like a jig saw puzzle

ChunkyChunk:
Just remember with the air lines… push hard on the couple and catch on the uncouple…lol

Yes that kinda happened today I didn’t realise how hard you had to push! looked like a bit of a ■■■■ in front of trainer and another trainee lol

eagerbeaver:
Good read that Ash, well done mate. Artics are much nicer to drive IMO. You will find that other vehicles are far more willing to flash you out, and tend to stay well away from as you approach roundabouts. Use your size (if required), to command the road in a safe manner.

After my first assessment drive in a class 1, I had a bigger grin on my face than ‘The Joker’.

In my view, you know straight away if its for you or not. Looking forward to tomorrow’s entry pal.

Thanks for the advise beaver , Yes much nicer to drive! People actually give way to you, and like you said stay well clear which is a bonus because if they get too close ile wipe the ■■■■■■■ out . I will use my size but will not bully the other drivers like my trainer would say I did have a massive grin on my face driving around I loved it!

[evil8beezle]

A very nice post Ash, and well written!

Glad you had a great time and it obviously sounds like an Artic is right for you! Which is probably important, as you have to feel confident in a vehicle and I believe you drive better in it like that. Which means; I must be scared to death, if you look at the way I drive! Hopefully you will get to do the test reverse tomorrow, and I can’t want to hear how that goes. As I KNOW that’s your biggest fear! But I’m sure you will be fine, after you’ve dug the tractor unit out of the adjacent field.

What is your lesson and test schedule mate?
Plus, what exactly was wrong with the air suspension?

Hope all goes well tomorrow, and with a bit of luck, you won’t be picking holes in the instructors kit

[th2013]

Evil8Beezle:
Hopefully you will get to do the test reverse tomorrow, and I can’t want to hear how that goes. As I KNOW that’s your biggest fear! But I’m sure you will be fine, after you’ve dug the tractor unit out of the adjacent field.

He honestly shouldn’t worry about it. If taken one stage at a time it isn’t that bad. Main thing is to understand what each stage is doing and how to be sure you have missed the marker cone and have a good angle even though you can’t see anything at all that side at that point.

[ash_001]

Evil8Beezle:
A very nice post Ash, and well written!

Glad you had a great time and it obviously sounds like an Artic is right for you! Which is probably important, as you have to feel confident in a vehicle and I believe you drive better in it like that. Which means; I must be scared to death, if you look at the way I drive! Hopefully you will get to do the test reverse tomorrow, and I can’t want to hear how that goes. As I KNOW that’s your biggest fear! But I’m sure you will be fine, after you’ve dug the tractor unit out of the adjacent field.

What is your lesson and test schedule mate?
Plus, what exactly was wrong with the air suspension?

Hope all goes well tomorrow, and with a bit of luck, you won’t be picking holes in the instructors kit

Thank you, I took careful consideration when writing it just to keep you happy . Yes really good to drive enjoying it so far, lots more fun still to come though reverse is tomorrow. So you will have to wait for the entertaining post tomorrow:), now I am off to write day 2 .

He honestly shouldn’t worry about it. If taken one stage at a time it isn’t that bad. Main thing is to understand what each stage is doing and how to be sure you have missed the marker cone and have a good angle even though you can’t see anything at all that side at that point.
[/quote]
Great … hopefully all goes well but we shall wait and see .

[ash_001]

Right guys, day two has arrived! So today I start training at 7am, this proves to be a struggle, considering I have to get out of bed at 5.20am! So again I leave a little late this morning, I am rushing about and don’t leave my house until 6am. So foot down all the way there, obviously not breaking any speed limits because I am a good boy , I make it with 5 minutes to spare.

So I go in to the staff room and retrieve my keys to begin my walk around checks, I notice the trailer has its legs down and electrics are not hooked up so I know what’s coming! I do my visual checks of the cab and all lights apart from the trailer lights obviously, today I have Don as a trainer. This is trainer number two I am sure this is going to be a talking topic on the forums by the end of the week but likewise this is proving not to be an issue at all with me. So Don comes out and explains you don’t know who hooked up the trailer last night so I want you so drop it and hook back up please. So I do all my checks, check the trailer brake is on, the legs are down properly pull the kingpin out along with the dog clip and check that all electrics are stowed away safely. So I pull out slowly allowing for the tractor units suspension to adjust when I pull out, all Is going well so far. Then once I have dropped the trailer I reverse back underneath it, I stopped to check to see if the tractor unit would fit under the trailer which it obviously would as I just dropped the bloody thing there! But I was lazy and did not get out the cab, I had my ear bent by Don because of this, but I hooked up perfectly. Once the trailer clicked twice I gave it two tugs to make sure its locked in place correctly, then hand brake neutral engine off, I then get out and reattach the dog clip and then re hook up all the electrics with a little assistance from Don as I forgot which order to do them in . I then grabbed my pretend number plate from the cab and attached to the trailer, now I can wind my legs up and fold the handle away, before releasing my trailer brake double checking you have applied the handbrake in cab first! I completed this exercise successfully Don was very happy, He then assists checking my trailer lights are all in working order, right we are ready to roll, I jump in and off we go!

I head off down the road Don explains we will be driving all test routes today, covering many tricky roundabouts and junctions but not to worry as he will tell me exactly how to approach/negotiate these correctly. We talk through how I got on yesterday, he sees from the notes on my paperwork I approached a few situations too fast. So I have to explain myself, there is no explaining myself really or getting out of what I had done, I was in the wrong and just drove to quickly a couple of times for the current situation. So we head off through Botley, which is where the test centre is, the town is very tight and windy with a couple of places where you have to stop if large vehicles are coming the other way. I negotiate this with no problems at all, I just take it easy keeping it under 20mph so I have time to assess the situation and plan what I am going to do ect.

I then move on, I negotiate some very hard mini roundabouts where I have to turn right, many small roundabouts you approach when driving class one you have to straddle lanes to get around the roundabout without hitting the kerbs or anything else for that matter . I get to a roundabout where I have to turn right it has a very small bollard and raised kerb to negotiate the artic only just fits through here so you have to position perfectly! I can see exactly why Don told me this as I get through I have about an inch between my trailer unit wheels and the kerb, and that was positioned perfectly, could you imagine if I ■■■■■■ that up! So I made it around there correctly and safely. The next few roads have lots of parked cars half way down so again same as the class 2, indicate and position yourself correctly to avoid the cars as long as the oncoming path is clear move out and pass safely watching your speed.

Don spots a bird walking past and comments on the size of her arse, I reply with they must be breeding around here, to which he smiled at me and says how he wished it was the small variety not the enlarged type . We stop off at one of Dons favourite laybys that conveniently has a burger van in, he orders a bacon and egg roll and orders himself a tea and one for myself, which was very kind of him. When we get back in the cab Don says to me well done keep it up that was a good drive so far. You can imagine the grin on my face right now, looking like a Cheshire cat .

So we move on again just general driving, we hit some tight left and right turns, but with the right positioning and making sure no ■■■■■ are coming up the side of me no real problems. I just have to make sure I am following my trailer through on the turns all the time as I forgot to do this a few times, causing me to be uncomfortably close to the kerb . But I make it back to the training centre hitting a big fat ZERO kerbs and cars, not bad for day two if I do say so myself!

So this has taken me like 2 hours to write I can not think what else I covered today, as we covered so much. It’s all just a blur, thoroughly enjoying it so far would recommend anyone to do it! Tomorrow I know I am back with Robin focusing on the reversing, so if you think todays training log is a bit of a blur then tomorrow will be worse . I know that I am going with another pupil tomorrow so we maximise our time down at the reversing site as it is a good half hour drive from the centre, so my lesson is 7am until 2.30pm which is going to be a long one. This may prove difficult but we will have to wait and see . Hope you have enjoyed the read please come back tomorrow for more .

[swampey2418]

Another great second day so I see…Lets see how you get on tomorrow with the reversing…

If your test is out of Botley and your asked to turn right at the end of the road down Station hill …watch them buggers coming up the slight hill as they come around that corner at some pace and quite a few ppl have been caught out on there tests because of it…

[rog]

Reversing means you need to remember to go backwards

[ash_001]

Swampey2418:
Another great second day so I see…Lets see how you get on tomorrow with the reversing…

If your test is out of Botley and your asked to turn right at the end of the road down Station hill …watch them buggers coming up the slight hill as they come around that corner at some pace and quite a few ppl have been caught out on there tests because of it…

Thank you, is that the full road name I will google it now see if I have been down there, Test centre is Botley same as my class 2, are you on about where you pull out of the test centre because that’s a ■■■■■■■

ROG:
Reversing means you need to remember to go backwards

Thanks for the tips ROG where would I be without you, this is the only thing I am worrying about if I am honest ha.

[ash_001]

Also ROG here is one for you just wishing to check your knowledge here, traffic comes to a stop, there is a bus stop marked out on the road. My guess is you stop before it and not in it, but if its in the road and there’s a queue of traffic nothing can get to it either so does it matter? Also if a bridge is unmarked weight wise is there a limit?

[swampey2418]

are you on about where you pull out of the test centre because that’s a [zb]!

I admit it happened on my class 1 test…some jerk speeding up that road and due to him having to slow down …I ended up getting failed for it which in my view is a joke…but the instructor told me it speeding was a common thing on that road and more than once ppl had been failed test due to this fact

[evil8beezle]

Again a great diary Ash, but I’m starting to wonder why you get a new instructor every day?
Do you think they are in the office before your lessons playing a game of short straws?

Best of luck with going backwards pal, you manage it with most others things…

[swampey2418]

Evil8Beezle:
Again a great diary Ash, but I’m starting to wonder why you get a new instructor every day?
Do you think they are in the office before your lessons playing a game of short straws?

Not good mate… you want 1 to 1 with the same instructor …

[evil8beezle]

Swampey2418:

Evil8Beezle:
Again a great diary Ash, but I’m starting to wonder why you get a new instructor every day?
Do you think they are in the office before your lessons playing a game of short straws?

Not good mate… you want 1 to 1 with the same instructor …

Agreed, and Ash had 3 different instructors on his class 2.

Personally I’d maybe like a second instructor for my last lesson to make it like a simulated test.
But to have a different instructor every day seems wrong to me…