Driving a 7.5 tonne

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

ok
so im newly qualified class c. did my 3 day course and test in the space of 2 weeks in an automatic lorry.

been applying for jobs all over but companies seem reluctant to employ me because of lack of experience.

Because of this, i felt the only way to build up experience was to do some agency work . so i signed up with my local agency and explained to them i was a new driver and a little nervous. also that fact that i learned and passed in an auto.

The agency promised me that i would get work in an auto which i was ok with…
anyway , i got a days work delivering for a freight company.
When i got to their premises first thing in the morning they gave me the keys and said do your vehicle checks and wait for your drivers mate to arrive.
i was ok with the vehicle checks as i managed to retain what i learned on my cpc.

However, when i got in the cab i noticed the lorry was manual geared with 6 gears. i was concerned about this but thought ,i have to give this a go anyway…

the first couple of hours driving and i could not get the vehicle into 1st and second gear. i was constantly pulling away in 3rd which i knew was bad for fuel consumption.

As the day went on i learned that i literally had to use all my strength to force it into the correct gears. i got used to this and i was fine at driving it after a few hiccups to begin with

As this was my first day driving for a living i asked if someone could help familiarize me with the tacho as i had never used one before.
Needless to say , no one would help me with this and they just told me that it updates automatically and to just makes sure i break for 45 mins every 4.5hours.

i did this, however im still concerned now that the tacho wont have registered my breaks, even though i pressed the bed symbol whilst resting.

As a new driver, i really regret doing my first shift with an agency as they are very little help for new drivers.i drove for probably 8 hours the whole day which i was fine with but also had to unload furniture,white goods and many other heavy items up flights of stairs in peoples houses without the use of any lifting aids .i.e trolleys etc…

This was exhausting but i managed to do the 8 drops,When i got home 12 hours later i was in agony with my back .
what ■■■■■■ me off though is that when i signed up with this agency, i was asked if i had any health problems. On the application form i explained that due to a back condition i was unable to lift heavy goods,or anything over 25kg. They said this was fine and i could still work for them doing no handball.

i phoned in sick the next day as i was unable to work because of the pain in my back . upon explaining this to the agency they have had little sympathy and told me they wont be contacting me again and that if i cant lift then i have chosen the wrong career.

i feel this is absolute bs as its against health and safety regs in any employment to lift such weights without any aid.

i feel because of the shortage of drivers in this country being a problem. people are being rushed through their courses and test too soon without substantial training. This is gonna become a problem with frequent road accidents with hgv drivers.

all in all a negative experience which has dented the little confidence i had in driving a class 2.i also ran a red a light aswell which i know is my own fault.

im gonna try vans in future

2

Ok, I’ll bite.
Welcome to the real world.
There are so many contradictions in your post its unreal, but I’ll point out one.
H/S says 25Kg and that’s for fit people. You’re not fit, so your max lift should be lower. See a doctor.

3

Sumsmeister:
Ok, I’ll bite.
Welcome to the real world.
There are so many contradictions in your post its unreal, but I’ll point out one.
H/S says 25Kg and that’s for fit people. You’re not fit, so your max lift should be lower. See a doctor.

yeah well maybe i got the actual weights wrong but either way im not fit enough to single handedly carry washing machines and wardrobes up flights of stairs which weigh in excess of 25kg anyway

4

Being stitched up with zb 7.5 tonner type work with a Class 2 licence I can sympathise with.The answer to that is avoid it and don’t listen to anyone who says otherwise.

However being ‘nervous’ and not being able to drive when you’ve got your licence I can’t sympathise with.In which case the next move is forget all that and do your class 1 and make sure this time you learn to drive on a proper artic with a proper manual box and stop being nervous and just get on with it.

5

Getting an artic licence will limit handball work. The heaviest thing i have to carry are the chains when securing plant/trucks on to a low loader. The rest of the time its easy:

Tipper trailers: Open/close the back door a couple of times a day. Press a lever and out goes the material.
Curtain sider: Open curtains for forklifts then close again.
Walking floor: Same as tipper.
Ejector trailer: All doors are hydraulic, maybe you might have manual winders for the nets.
Flat bed: Occasionally your climbing up and down the bed a couple of times when strapping.

As a heads up, don’t work for K&N, DHL Tradeteam, Carlsberg doing beer delivery to pubs as thats really hard work.

6

As with most things in life, you have a choice.

You chose to do a job you knew you couldn’t do.

As I tell my kids, school is the best years of your life. It’s not fun being an adult.

7

mrginge:
Getting an artic licence will limit handball work. The heaviest thing i have to carry are the chains when securing plant/trucks on to a low loader. The rest of the time its easy:

Tipper trailers: Open/close the back door a couple of times a day. Press a lever and out goes the material.
Curtain sider: Open curtains for forklifts then close again.
Walking floor: Same as tipper.
Ejector trailer: All doors are hydraulic, maybe you might have manual winders for the nets.
Flat bed: Occasionally your climbing up and down the bed a couple of times when strapping.

As a heads up, don’t work for K&N, DHL Tradeteam, Carlsberg doing beer delivery to pubs as thats really hard work.

thanks for the info

8

Many cars have a straight 6 manual gearbox so a C1 with the same box should have been easy

9

Honked:
As with most things in life, you have a choice.

You chose to do a job you knew you couldn’t do.

As I tell my kids, school is the best years of your life. It’s not fun being an adult.

i did not choose a job i couldnt do. read my thread properly i stated to the agency before doing any work that i have a back condition with prevents me lifting heavy goods. im ok to lift up to a certain weight but not to the point where it breaks health and safety rules

10

ROG:
Many cars have a straight 6 manual gearbox so a C1 with the same box should have been easy

dont get me wrong… i did struggle to begin with but after a while i was fine with driving it. i managed to drive it all day and complete every drop

11

pjm_82:

Honked:
As with most things in life, you have a choice.

You chose to do a job you knew you couldn’t do.

As I tell my kids, school is the best years of your life. It’s not fun being an adult.

i did not choose a job i couldnt do. read my thread properly i stated to the agency before doing any work that i have a back condition with prevents me lifting heavy goods. im ok to lift up to a certain weight but not to the point where it breaks health and safety rules

Jeepers are bosses holding guns to heads now?

Pick up that fridge

No

Bang bang

Next.

12

Honked:

pjm_82:

Honked:
As with most things in life, you have a choice.

You chose to do a job you knew you couldn’t do.

As I tell my kids, school is the best years of your life. It’s not fun being an adult.

i did not choose a job i couldnt do. read my thread properly i stated to the agency before doing any work that i have a back condition with prevents me lifting heavy goods. im ok to lift up to a certain weight but not to the point where it breaks health and safety rules

Jeepers are bosses holding guns to heads now?

Pick up that fridge

No

Bang bang

Next.

fair point but it doesnt look very good if you refuse does it. it still doesnt excuse the fact they expect you to do this

13

But by doing it you have hurt yourself, had to take time off, lost money, lost faith, blahblah

So you had a choice.

14

pjm_82:
i did not choose a job i couldnt do. read my thread properly i stated to the agency before doing any work that i have a back condition with prevents me lifting heavy goods. im ok to lift up to a certain weight but not to the point where it breaks health and safety rules

It depends on how serious it is but usually if a back problem is serious enough to be an issue it’s often serious enough to put you out of the industry in general.As for not wanting to do zb heavy handball type jobs there’s no need to make any excuses to avoid those.On the basis that it’s a health risk mugs game of which there’s no need for.That’s why we’ve got mechanical shovels and cranes and fork lifts and pallet handling kit etc etc and leave the washing machine and fridge deliveries etc etc to those who choose to do it.In this case that obviously means leaving the C1 work to C1 drivers.

15

Id say well done on completing your first shift, dont worry about the naysayers here, try a different agency and tell them no handball jobs.

16

andy12:
Id say well done on completing your first shift, dont worry about the naysayers here, try a different agency and tell them no handball jobs.

Or to put it less diplomatically tell the angency to stuff the 7.5 tonne or building trade handball zb work you’ve got a class 2 licence so you expect class 2 ( palletised bulk deliveries collections for example ) work. :bulb: :smiling_imp: :laughing:

17

Carryfast:

andy12:
Id say well done on completing your first shift, dont worry about the naysayers here, try a different agency and tell them no handball jobs.

Or to put it less diplomatically tell the angency to stuff the 7.5 tonne or building trade handball zb work you’ve got a class 2 licence so you expect class 2 ( palletised bulk deliveries collections for example ) work. :bulb: :smiling_imp: :laughing:

Just because it’s Cat.C work, doesn’t mean there’s no handballing. Doing foodservice (Brakes/3663/etc.) or local shop deliveries (e.g. Nisa) is a lot of handball. Dragging heavy (often overloaded) pallets or cages around can be pretty bad for your back, especially on uneven ground.

18

andy12:
Id say well done on completing your first shift, dont worry about the naysayers here, try a different agency and tell them no handball jobs.

thanks for the positive comment .appreciate that

19

MrFlibble:
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Just because it’s Cat.C work, doesn’t mean there’s no handballing. Doing foodservice (Brakes/3663/etc.) or local shop deliveries (e.g. Nisa) is a lot of handball. Dragging heavy (often overloaded) pallets or cages around can be pretty bad for your back, especially on uneven ground.

As I said a serious back problem is often enough to put anyone out of the job in general bearing in mind that it will by necessity involve anything from strapping or sheeting loads to shifting pallets around and cages etc among other physical jobs as a given.

But it’s reasonable to expect that Class 2 work doesn’t have to mean actually hand balling loads which is the point and which isn’t the same thing as pallet or cage handling if/when required.While bulk deliveries/collections by definition usually mean that drops and collections are relatively few and far between.On that note that type of work on the agency was one of the best jobs I ever did regardless of vehicle type.Which ended up in an argument between myself and the agency when for ‘some’ reason I was taken off it against the customer’s wishes and put back on zb 7.5 t multi drop and class 2 building site scaffolding and shuttering work where I was more a labourer than a driver.At which point I walked away.

20

Dont really know what to say m8 as i can lift 2 washing machines at once. Perhaps you should consider hairdressing :laughing: