Well just got home from day one of my artic training.
Same instructor as I had for my rigid tuition so that’s a result as we got on very well.
Have t say I didn’t quite know what to expect but i was pleasantly surprised as to how quickly things came back to me from my rigid course. I havnt driven a lorry since passing my test on 13th jan.
Gearbox was the same 4 over 4 pattern so that was cool. We just did. General drive around to ge tback into driving a large lorry again. Approaching and joining roundabouts for a while and then a few goes at the reversing exercise. I did it 4 times and only needed a minro shunt once which i was chuffed with.
Tomorrow is town driving on narrow roads tight corners etc etc.
Forgot to mention driving an old ish Volvo unit nice to drive though.
Still got to get used to following the trailer with the cab when reversing but instructor said all my attempts we an easy pass but I would like to get them as good as I can.
Got a couple curbs on tight corners in traffic, and also messed up a reversing exercise.
Needed two shunts to get it in, as I messed up the first part of it, by trying to go too quickly. Slowed it right down for my last attempt and got it bang on.
Also did a couple trailer coupling/uncoupling both went well.
great news on passing your cat c and now training for artic.
just wondering did you not get any work doing cat c work its just i start my cat c training on thursday and i am seeing more artic jobs than rigid so i am thinking of doind my artic straight after.
do you reckon doing c+e straight after is a better option than driving rigids for a few mths
nice to see your diary i have started one but havent updated it since passing theorys etc
Wanna-b-a-newbie:
great news on passing your cat c and now training for artic.
just wondering did you not get any work doing cat c work its just i start my cat c training on thursday and i am seeing more artic jobs than rigid so i am thinking of doind my artic straight after.
do you reckon doing c+e straight after is a better option than driving rigids for a few mths
nice to see your diary i have started one but havent updated it since passing theorys etc
john
Sorry to hijack the thread.
I often wondered about going for my artic straight after I passed my rigid, but you have to think you’d be well and truly throwing yourself in at the deep end with a vehicle twice as long as you’re probably used to. Definitely a challenge and if you take it on, a challenge worth documenting! Keep us informed
I did not look for class 2 work too hard because i had always planned for doing my Class 1 ASAP after passing class 2 it is however just shy of 2 months since i passed my class 2. I did apply for class 2 positions of which I am yet to hear about. I also was waiting for my digi card to arrive to allow me to work agency as many require a driver digi card and also i had to do my Driver CPC.
I like to think of it this way, yes an artic is much longer however i find it handles better than a rigid in terms of following the tractor unit around corners etc etc. The only bit that is significantly different is the reversing which if you take your time doing whilst learning and testing is not too tricky, but obviously my skills will improve with experience on the job. Having the class 1 licence opens up yet more possibilities for work. I know most require 2 years experience however there are places that will take on new drivers and having both classes on my licence only increases my attractivness to companies in my view.
I also wanted to get them both done and ut of the way, not having to find a week to do my class 1 further down my driving career.
Well it’s day 3 and it’s turned eventful. We had done some tight town driving and were on our way back to the Orwell crossing truck stop for reversing and trailer drop practice but stopped off for a coffee first at a burger van in the shell garage. Pulled truck in to park forwards as it was busy and finished the coffee, started to reverse her out all hunky dory then bang trailer brakes slammed on tractor brakes slammed on. Can hear serious air loss from behind us.
I said I think we’ve blown a suzie and voila the red line hose had actually snapped at the connector. That was at 1015am still waiting for repair man to turn up as we could not get the remaining piece of hose out from the connector. The nut is just on too right even for 2 men to remove.
He turned up at 1135am. Another guy was waiting for the lorry to train from 11am so late finish for my instructor today.
My time has been added onto tomorrows training so no problem there.
It takes some moving a trailer with its brakes on lol the shunt brake button thing wouldn’t work either so it was drag it or leave it in the way, which we couldn’t really do.
I had a 4 day course for my rigid and tested on a thursday afternoon 1400 in ipswich, straight after a friend of mine had failed his second rigid test. Wasn’t fun telling him i passed later that day after he’d fallen to bits in his test.
Test for arctic is Friday morning 830am in Ipswich which should be interesting if examiner takes me into town centre at 9am ish after I’ve done my reversing and/or trailer drop.
Tomorrow is gonna be starting with reversing and trailer drops then a bit of driving and another reversing and trailer drops again.
Well driving is fine, fingers crossed for the roundabout gods being kind tomorrow. Trailer drop is fine, but for some reason my versing has gone to pot!
It did come back towards the end of the day and I would have passed the reverse test but I would have liked it a bit better, but ats just me I think.
I hope so