Don`t do a lot of this but arrived at a place last night and was told the other Driver was in the yard getting the Vehicle ready, swapping trailers.
When I got out there he was walking round the Vehicle looking a bit mystified, when I asked him what was up he said he couldn`t remember how to drop and hook up to a trailer.
He then asked me which lever to pull to release the fifth wheel, I explained one was for adjusting the position of the wheel and the other was to release the pin.
Still here this morning thankfully but who would have refused to go. lol
Says he went to work offshore and had never really driven an Artic before.
Had the license the relevant years though and obviously bluffed it Registering with the Agency.
Says more for you than the other two; at least you showed him what to do rather than just sit there and take the ■■■■.
Also begs the question; did the agency send him in there deliberately knowing that he’d be double-manning (and therefore have some back-up) rather than let him sink or swim on his own? If so, fair play to them; pity a few others don’t have that much forethought. Can’t be a unique situation, I’ve come across similar before where an ex-army bloke came for a job knowing aboslutely zilch about tachos etc; sat him down for a quick half-hour on the basics and he was fine.
Says he went to work offshore and had never really driven an Artic before.
Had the license the relevant years though and obviously bluffed it Registering with the Agency.
Says more for you than the other two; at least you showed him what to do rather than just sit there and take the ■■■■.
Also begs the question; did the agency send him in there deliberately knowing that he’d be double-manning (and therefore have some back-up) rather than let him sink or swim on his own? If so, fair play to them; pity a few others don’t have that much forethought.
I presume once you got out on the road he was OK?
Yes he was sound, had to straighten the trailer up when we got to the hub and the dayshift driver did the same when back at the yard but I managed to shut my eyes for a couple of hours. lol
There was a police chase right in front of us and a white van did a birly and came heading right for us going the wrong way down the M6, I managed to stop and he just missed my nearside and passed us on the hard shoulder, I am glad it was my turn but it shows you anything can happen and you`ve got to trust your other Driver to do that Job, not sure I fancy doing it frequently.
About six Polis cars five minutes later bombing down the other side as the two that were escorting him chucked it, he was in the middle of them and I thought it was an ■■■■■■ for radioactive material or something when he just swung the van into the hard shoulder and did a u turn, nutcase.
gnasty gnome:
Also begs the question; did the agency send him in there deliberately knowing that he’d be double-manning (and therefore have some back-up) rather than let him sink or swim on his own? If so, fair play to them; pity a few others don’t have that much forethought. Can’t be a unique situation,
This is what Driver Hire did for me when I started driving about seven years ago. I had no commercial driving experience and had put myself through my Cat C and C+E. They gave me a few 7.5T jobs to do on different days then sent me to a bakery with another driver from Driver Hire to go from Wigan to Southampton.
It was a great day and I loved it. I was able to get some experience doing the job but wasn’t worried about directions etc. It was only one day and I’ve never double manned since but I’m grateful I started like that.
i had to train a driver who was ex army (australian), hadnt driven an artic for years, instead of whinging about how out of touch he was i just went over the basics with him and he was very grateful and he turned out to be quite a good driver in the end. its not that hard to share a bit of experience, we all started somewhere
beattun:
i had to train a driver who was ex army (australian), hadnt driven an artic for years, instead of whinging about how out of touch he was i just went over the basics with him and he was very grateful and he turned out to be quite a good driver in the end. its not that hard to share a bit of experience, we all started somewhere
Right you are, so an Agency send you into a place for the first time and you meet your co- pilot walking round in circles obviously a nervous wreck and a few doubts don`t enter your head when he says I need to get this right can you help me.
I showed him how to do it from start to finish using suspension the lot.
His Driving ended up fine but its not about the driver its about whats your limit for saying no way is he getting to do a 13 hour night shift with me in the passenger seat ready to kiss my arse goodbye, I still went. lol
Because like us all, you are taught to pass a test, not how to deal with real life
I was lucky cause I was sent with another driver for a few days on cat C and got half a day with another lad on CE.
I like it when experienced people ( I refer to them as the old boys ) give me help and advice, I really dislike some of the ignorant know it all pigs who won’t help anyone except them selves. I have passed on some help and tips on the cat C stuff to new drivers and hope they will do the same in future to new drivers.
